Tallapaka Annamacharya (; 9 May 1408 â 23 February 1503), also known as Annamayya, was a Telugu composer and Hindu saint. Born in Thallapaka, he composed devotional songs known as saá¹Âkërtanas in praise of Venkateswara, a form of Vishnu. He is the earliest known Indian musician to utilize this song form.
Annamacharya composed approximately 32,000 saá¹Âkërtanas, of which 14,904 are extant. His kirtanas are classified into adhyatma (spiritual) and sringara (romantic) genres and are credited with influencing the structural development of Carnatic music. His work also addressed social issues of his era, including the status of untouchable castes.
In the Sri Vaishnava tradition, he is identified as an avatar of Nandaka, the sword of Vishnu. He is referred to in Telugu literature as ("Grandfather of Telugu Songwriting").
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. 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. 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 Vishishtadvaita. 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 (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 "Saá¹Âkërtana Laká¹£aá¹Âamu".
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 the deity 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, 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 "Brahmaá¹ OkkatàParaḥbrahmamokkatÃÂ" and "àkulajuá¸ÂainanÃÂmi evvaá¸ÂainanÃÂmi".
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 ÃÂsthÃÂna GÃÂyaka 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 samkeerthanas 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, "VÃÂnkatÃÂà Âvara Gëta MÃÂlika" 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.
This is a partial list of some of the most famous Tallapaka Annamacharya compositions.