What does Purandara mean?

I am having a doubt from a very very long time about the word Purandara. Purandara is believed to be the Hindu god "Indra". Purandara is also used many times with Vittala as in "Purandara Vittala". Also there was a great saint in the vijayanagara empire by name "Purandara Dasa" who championed the Bhakti movement in Karnataka in the 15 century A.D.

But i am not able to decipher the meaning of Puradara. For me its Pura+Dara. As far as i know (of course i have no knowledge of sanskrit(assuming the word is from sanskrit)), Pura means city and dara means destroyer, so purandhara means destroyer of cities. Is my understanding correct? If so why is god given such a negative name? If i am wrong, what is the actual meaning of purandhara?

To find the answer to this problem (ಜಿಜ್ಞಾಸೆ). I tried finding the solution from first principles. I referred few books and asked a number of people. Below are the set of answers i got/found.

1) The actual meaning of Purandara is indeed destroyer of cities

(http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/cgi-bin/dictionary/search.cgi?scheme=our&startrow=0&exact=yes&word=pur@dr&domain=dict&mask=0&mode=0)

(http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Purandara.html)

2)Purandara is given as a name of Indra as destroyer of strongholds.A link is still needed between him and Vittala.

3)"The Aryans were vigorous nomadic people. They entered India not as invaders but as peaceful emigrants, with their flocks of cattle, their household goods and gods. Soon however , they seem to have come into conflict with people living in fortified areas (Puras and Durgas)under their own kings and chiefs. The rig Veda itself speaks of hundred pillared forts of enemies that the aryans had to contend with. Many of the hyms of the Vedas are addressed to the gods for assistance in fighting these enemies and it is significant that the high god of the Vedas, Indra, is described as purandara, the shaker of cities. There is also an interesting statement about an attack on a hundred towns of an aboriginal king ( Source:Panikkar K.M. "A survey of Indian History". PP 6.)

( If this argument is to be accepted then we can say that, the high god of Vedas destroyed cities, caused harm to people and used force to drive out aboriginal people.( However we still do not know if the original people were causing any harm to the invaders.) In the modern context, if this theory is to be accepted,then Israelis are doing no harm to Palestine. If gods in Vedas can drive out aboriginal people then why cant Israel? This however is moving away from the original context. Why god is given a negative name(Assuming aboriginals were not causing harm))

4)Human body is also called pura. (Humans are referred to as Purushas because of this meaning.) Hence, Purandara means Destroyer of body. The Jeeva in a body is surrounded by many layers – External one or the first one being Sthoola deha or Physical body, and the last layer which is a cover attached to the jeeva called Linga deha.Jeeva is subjected to rebirths, everytime acquiring new physical bodies.The other layer Linga deha is kind of permanently attached to the jeeva and will move from birth to birth along with the jeeva.When the Linga deha is removed or destroyed the Jeeva is liberated and attains moksha. The destroyer of pura, the body thus liberates the Jeeva or grants moksha. Thus Purandara is a name of God, the moksha-dayaka(giver). The meaning is not negative when you look at it as granter of the greatest of wishes.(Purandara dasaru is poet saint who has called himself dasa (servant) of the God (Purandara).

This argument opens the Pandora's box and raises many controversies. In this sense god becomes self contradictory. Why at all should he create lives and grant them moksha? Should he create life in the first place and make people long for moksha? Why people go and pray to purandara if they don't get married or don't have children? Purandara in this sense of the term is supposed to be the destroyer of of body and liberator of souls. These questions can go on. Concept of moksha can be pulled on into many controversies. Moksha actually means liberation from the cycle of birth and death. I shall revisit this concept some other time. (If everyone in this world genuinely believe that the idea or purpose of life is to get Moksha, then the world must stop procreating. In that way, every couple will be helping one atma(linga deha) to get moksha.)

5)In Vishnusahasranama, 335th nama is Purandara. Its meaning is recorded as “He is the destroyer of cities. He is “Purandara” because He destroyed the cities of Asuras. He destroys the bodies of the souls, or the covering of the soul by what is called “Lingadeha” and grants salvation. He destroyed Hiranyakashipu and saved His devotee Prahlada. (This meaning is found in the book by Aralu mallige Parthasarathy).

6) Puram darayati iti purandarah. In tripura samharam (Destruction of three Cities of gold, silver and Iron belonging to Tarakasura's children Vidhyunmaali, Taarakaksha and Kamalaaksha respectively) by Siva, Bhagavan Vishnu became the arrow for Siva, and in addition, being the antaryami for him, helped in the destruction of the three cities. Since, Vishnu was the arrow that destroyed these cities, He (Vishnu) got the name "Puran-dhara" [Source "Puramoru munrerittu" - tiruvai mozhi1.1.8 (Sr V.V.Ramanujan)].  

7) Sri Raadhakrishna Sastri points out that the term puram is also used to refer to the three Sariras viz. the sthula,sukshma, and karaaa sariras. He is purandara because he has torn apart these three and is the Atma beyond these three Sariras.

Looking at the above versions, one thing is definitely correct. Certainly the name Purandara is used in the destroyer/destructor sense of the term. God has done and is doing many benevolent acts, but i do not know why a name used in a destructive sense has become one of the popular names of god.

The discussions took me to a kannada professor one day who altogether refuted the the destroyer meaning in "dara" of word "Purandara". He was of the opinion that purandara is "Sustainer or holder of cities" . He compared this with Muralidhara (One who wears/holds the flute).

Yet to find a convincing answer!!! The ಜಿಜ್ಞಾಸೆ continues.