Annamacharya

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Sri Tallapaka Annamacharya (శ్రీ తాళ్ళపాక అన్నమాచార్య) (1408-1503), the mystic saint composer of the 15th century is the earliest known musician of South India to compose songs called “sankeertanas” in praise of Lord Venkateswara, the deity of Seven Hills in Tirumala, India. He is widely regarded as the Telugu pada kavita pitaamaha (Grand old man of simple poetry).

Biography

Annamacharya was born on Vaisakha Poornima in the year Sarwadhari (May 9, 1408) in Tallapaka, a remote village in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, India. He lived immaculately for 95 years until Phalguna Bahula Dwadasi (12th day after full moon) in the year Dhundhubhi (February 23, 1503). His wife, Thimmakka is also a poet and had written Subhadra Kalyana and considered as the first Telugu women poet.

Sankirtana (songs)

An ardent devotee of Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati, AP, Annamacharya( also known as Annamayya) successfully composed more than 32,000 Sankirtanas (a Carnatic composition) in the carnatic music tradition, a feat which is near impossible to replicate! Enjoying popularity in his own days, his compositions were forgotten for over three centuries for some inexplicable reason. They were later found engraved on copper plates, hidden for centuries inside the Sri Venkateswara temple atTirumala.

Annamacharya considered his compositions as floral offerings to God. In the poems, he praises Venkateswara, describes his love for him, argues and quarrels with the Lord, confesses the devotee’s failures and apprehensions, and surrenders himself to Venkateshwara. His songs are classified into Adhyaatama (spiritual) and Sringaara (romantic) samkirtanaas.

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has been successfully endeavouring to preserve the rich heritage of his compositions. The sustained efforts of dedicated scholars and musicians during the last thirty years have also helped revive their popularity among the Telugu people.

The sankirtanas engraved in Copper plates were found in Tirumala Temple just opposite to the Hundi concealed in a very small room.It is said only 12000 of the 32000 sankirtanas are available no evidence is available to trace the remaining sankirtanas. Some project personnel involved in decipering the plates say that people of those days could have melted the copper plates for personal use.

Works of Annamacharya

In addition to devotional songs, Annamacharya wrote some more works both in Sanskrit and Telugu. Venkatachala Mahatmyamu and Sankirtana Lakshnamu are his Sanskrit works. His Sankirtana Lakshnamu in Sanskrit was translated into Telugu by his grandson Chinna Tirumalayya. But it is unfortunate that the Sanskrit version of the book is not available at present. Dwipada Ramayanamu, Sringara Manjari, Venkateswara Satakamu are his works in Telugu. Among these works the Dwipada Ramayanamu is not available.

Movie

Main article: Annamayya

A film on the poet, Annamayya was released in 1997 and starred Akkineni Nagarjuna in the lead role of the poet. The actor who won the Golden Nandi Puraskaram for this Movie. The film was directed by K. Raghavendra Rao and featured ANNAMAYYA kirtans as songs in the movie. The movie was a major box office hit and the success of the movie spurned the actor and director to come again in 2006 to make a movie on another famous Telugu religious figure, Bhadrachala Ramadasu.

External Links

• Short Biography of Annamacharya
• http://www.tirumala.org/music1.htm ( Sri Annamacharya Sankeerthanalu From Annamacharya Project,TTD,Tirupati. Realformat Audio files )
• AnnamayyaKeerthanalu ( Lyrics for Sri Annamacharya Sankeerthanalu in Telugu and English)
• http://www.svasa.org
• http://www.esnips.com/r/hmfl/doc/6fb71dd9-80d0-4b1c-9935-7c7c9376ee00/AnnamayyaKeerthanalu ( Sri Annamacharya Sankeerthanalu: Pdfs in Telugu)