Annamacharya

Tallapaka Annamacharya (తాళ్ళపాక అన్నమాచార్య) (22 May 1408 – 4 April 1503), also popularly known as Annamayya, was a musician, composer, and a Hindu saint. He is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called samkirtanas. His devotional samkirtanas were in the praise of Venkateswara, a form of Vishnu. Annamayya is said to have composed as many as 32,000 samkirtanas (songs) in the praise of Venkateswara of which only about 12,000 are available today. He wrote the highest number of Kirtanas of all time in the praise of Lord Vishnu The musical form of the kirtana songs that he composed, which are still popular among Carnatic music concert artists, have strongly influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions. 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. 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 "Andhra Pada kavitā Pitāmaha" (Grandfather of Telugu song-writing).

Personal life
Tallapaka Annamacharya was born on Vaishakha Shuddha Pournami in the year Sarwadhari (22 May 1408) in Tallapaka, Near Rajampet Mandal, a village in present-day Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Even though his parents belonged to the Nandavarika Niyogi Brahmin community of Smarta tradition, he accepted initiation into Vaishnavism and became a Vaishnava of the Ramanuja Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya initiated by the Jeeyar of Ahobila Mutt. His wife, Timmakka, 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. Annamacharya lived for 95 years until Phalguna Bahula (Krishna) Dvadashi (12th day after full moon) in the year Dhundhubhi (4 April 1503).



Literary career


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 "Samkirthana lakshanamu".

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 keertanas, 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, 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.

Legacy


While he enjoyed popularity in his days, his compositions were forgotten for over three centuries. Mentioned in 1849, 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.

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. 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 keerthanas like Vande Vasudevam, Bhavamulona, Sriman Narayana and many more.

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.

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.

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.

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 and Sreeranjini Kodampally have their performances of the composition on YouTube.

Famous compositions
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)