What really is the purpose of "base" keyword in c#?

The base keyword is used to refer to the base class when chaining constructors or when you want to access a member (method, property, anything) in the base class that has been overridden or hidden in the current class. For example,

class A {
    protected virtual void Foo() {
        Console.WriteLine("I'm A");
    }
}

class B : A {
    protected override void Foo() {
        Console.WriteLine("I'm B");
    }

    public void Bar() {
        Foo();
        base.Foo();
    }
}

With these definitions,

new B().Bar();

would output

I'm B
I'm A

You will use base keyword when you override a functionality but still want the overridden functionality to occur also.

example:

 public class Car
 {
     public virtual bool DetectHit() 
     { 
         detect if car bumped
         if bumped then activate airbag 
     }
 }


 public class SmartCar : Car
 {
     public override bool DetectHit()
     {
         bool isHit = base.DetectHit();

         if (isHit) { send sms and gps location to family and rescuer }

         // so the deriver of this smart car 
         // can still get the hit detection information
         return isHit; 
     }
 }


 public sealed class SafeCar : SmartCar
 {
     public override bool DetectHit()
     {
         bool isHit = base.DetectHit();

         if (isHit) { stop the engine }

         return isHit;
     }
 }

If you have the same member in class and it's super class, the only one way to call member from super class - using base keyword:

protected override void OnRender(EventArgs e)
{
   // do something

   base.OnRender(e);

   // just OnRender(e); will bring a StakOverFlowException
   // because it's equal to this.OnRender(e);
}