Annamacharya

Tallapaka Annamacharya తాళ్లపాక అన్నమాచార్య
A statue of Annamacharya at Dwaraka Tirumala, in Andhra Pradesh, India
Background information
Also known as	Annamayya, Pada Kavitha Pitaamahudu
Born	(1408-05-09)9 May 1408 Tallapaka, Vijayanagara Empire (modern-day Rajampet, Andhra Pradesh, India)
Died	23 February 1503(1503-02-23) (aged 94) Tirumala, Vijayanagara Empire (modern-day Andhra Pradesh, India)
Genres	Carnatic
Occupations	saint, poet, composer, writer
Instrument	Tambura

Tallapaka Annamacharya (Telugu: తాళ్ళపాక అన్నమాచార్య, romanized: Tāḷḷapāka Annamācārya; 9 May 1408 – 23 February 1503), also popularly known as Annamayya, was a Telugu musician, composer, and Hindu saint. He is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called saṁkīrtanas. His devotional saṁkīrtanas were in the praise of Venkateswara, a form of Vishnu.

Annamayya is said to have composed as many as 32,000 saṁkīrtanas in the praise of Venkateswara, of which only about 14,904 are available today. He wrote the most kīrtanas in the praise of Lord Vishnu of all time.^[1] The musical form of the kīrtana songs that he composed, which are still popular among Carnatic music concert artists,^[2] have strongly influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions.^[3] His compositions are classified as Adhyatma (spiritual) and Sringara (romantic). Annamacharya is remembered for his saintly life, as one of the greatest musicians and is honoured as a great devotee of Vishnu by devotees and saintly singers.^[4] He was one of the first few who opposed the social stigma towards the untouchable castes in his era.

He is believed to have been the avatar of Nandaka, the sword of Vishnu. He is widely regarded as the Āndhra Pāḍākavita Mahāpita (Telugu: ఆంధ్ర పదకవితాపితమహుడు.), which means the "grandfather of Telugu songwriting."^[1]

Tallapaka Annamacharya was born on Vaishakha Shuddha Pournami in the year Sarwadhari (22 May 1408) in Tallapaka, Near Rajampet Mandalam, a village in present-day Annamayya district of Andhra Pradesh, India.^[5] Even though his parents belonged to the Nandavarika Niyogi Brahmin community of Smarta tradition, he was given Samashrayana initiation by Ghana-Vishnu, and became a Vaishnava of the Ramanuja Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya tradition.^[6][7][8] He decided to go to Ahobilam in order to receive instructions from Satakopa Swami, the founder of Ahobila Matha. He spent many years in Ahobilam where he acquired the knowledge of Naalayira Divya Prabandham and the philosophy of Visistadvaita. His wife, Timmakka,^[9] had written Subhadra Kalyanam, and is considered the first female poet in Telugu literature. Their son, Pedda Tirumalacharya, and grandson, Tallapaka Chinnayya, were also composers and poets. The Tallapaka compositions are considered to have dominated and influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions.^[3] Annamacharya lived for 95 years until Phalguna Bahula (Krishna) Dvadashi (the twelfth day after the full moon) in the year Dhundhubhi (4 April 1503).

Annamayya is said to have composed as many as 32,000 samkirtanas (songs) on the praise of Venkateswara of which only about 12,000 are available today. He is also the author of musical treatise called "Saṁkīrtana Lakṣaṇamu".^[1]

Annamayya considered his compositions as floral offerings to Venkateswara. In the poems, he praises the deity, describes his love for him, argues and quarrels with the deity, confesses the devotee's failures and apprehensions, and surrenders himself to Venkateswara. His songs are classified into the Adhyatma (spiritual) and Shringara (romantic) samkirtanas genres. His songs in the "Sringara" genre worship Venkateswara by describing the romantic adventures of Venkateswara and his consort Alamelu, while others describe the bhakti of his devotees.

In his later Samkeertanas, he espouses subjects such as morality, dharma and righteousness. He was one of the first few who opposed the social stigma towards the untouchable castes in his era,^[10] with his samkirtanas explaining that the relationship between God and humans is the same irrespective of the latter's colour, caste and financial status, in his songs "Brahmaṃ Okkatē Paraḥbrahmamokkatē" and "ē kulajuḍainanēmi evvaḍainanēmi". His prodigious literary career earned him a place among the all-time greats of Telugu literature.^[11]

While he enjoyed popularity in his days, his compositions were forgotten for over three centuries. Mentioned in 1849,^[12] they were later found engraved on copper plates, hidden for centuries inside the Venkateswara temple at Tirumala, just opposite the Hundi, concealed in a very small room. An English translation of 150 of these verses was published in 2005.^[13]

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, also known as TTD, has been endeavouring to preserve the rich heritage of his compositions. In the year 1950, The State Government of Andhra Pradesh created a committee and appointed the musician late Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna as its head. He set music to over 800 compositions of Annamacharya. He was the Āsthāna Gāyaka of the Tirumala temple at Tirupati for two decades. He is regarded as a legend for rendering devotional music in classical style, especially the Annamacharya Sankirtanas. ^{[citation needed]} He was also an acclaimed poet, singer, and musicologist. In 1979, the singer Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi's album Balaji Pancharatna Mala came up with Annamacharya samkeerthanas like Vande Vasudevam, Bhavamulona, Sriman Narayana and many more.^{[citation needed]}

Shobha Raju is the first recipient of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams scholarship in 1976 to study and set a trend for the propagation of Annamacharya's compositions, and was also chosen as the first exclusive artiste for the propagation of Tallapaka's compositions in 1978. Her first audio album, "Vēnkatēśvara Gīta Mālika" is globally popular among the Telugu community. She is the founder of Annamacharya Bhavana Vahini (ABV) in 1983, which is located in Hyderabad, India. She has been awarded Padmashri by the Government of India, in 2010 in recognition of her efforts to promote Annamayya Compositions. Garimella Balakrishna Prasad, a Carnatic music exponent and the Asthana Vidwan of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has set tune to more than six hundred songs written by Annamacharya, gave audio recordings for TTD, published books with musical notations and conducted classes, teaching the songs to make them more popular.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, reputed Bharathanatyam artist Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala, also the daughter-in-law of the singer Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao, for the first time produced and presented a mammoth dance production as a tribute to the divine composer titled "Annamaiyah". Rare and popular songs were woven into a story format and music by stalwarts was set to action. This production was inaugurated by the former President of India R. Venkatraman and Bharat Ratna-winning singer M. S. Subbulakshmi and later that year for the Tirumala Brahmotsavam. In 2009, a DVD of the production was launched which included several places visited by the saint himself.^{[citation needed]}

A Telugu film named Annamayya was made on him by K. Raghavendra Rao in 1997. It starred Nagarjuna in the lead role as Annamacharya and also featured Suman as Venkateswara and Bhanupriya as Goddess Padmavati in important roles.^{[citation needed]}

In 2017, one of Annamayya's compositions, Brahmam Okate, became a YouTube sensation. As of early 2019, this video alone (produced by Kuldeep M. Pai) has garnered over 11 million views and made the child singers Sooryagayathri and Rahul Vellal household names for their flawless rendering of the classic keerthana. Professional singers P. Unnikrishnan^[14] and Sreeranjini Kodampally^[15] have their performances of the composition on YouTube.

This is a partial list of some of the most famous Tallapaka Annamacharya compositions.

• Note – (చ=Ca; ఛ=Cha; శ=Śa; ష=Ṣ. For more see Romanization of Telugu)

అన్నమయ్య పాటలు (All Annamayya songs lyrics in Telugu Script)

• List of Carnatic composers
• Annamacharya sankeertana
• List of composers who created ragas

• Jackson, William. 'Religious and Devotional Music: Southern Area' (1999). In Porter, James; Rice, Timothy; Goertzon, Chris. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. New York & London: Taylor & Francis.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Annamacharya.

• Sri Annamacharya Project of North America
• Sri Venkateswara Annamacharya Society of America