Tallapaka Annamacharya తాళ్లపాక అన్నమాచార్య
A statue of Annamacharya atDwaraka Tirumala, in Andhra Pradesh, India
Background information
Also known as	Annamayya, Pada Kavitha Pitaamahudu
Born	(1408-05-09)9 May 1408 Tallapaka,Rajampeta,Vijayanagara Empire (modern-dayRajampet,Andhra Pradesh,India)
Died	23 February 1503(1503-02-23) (aged 94) Tirumala,Vijayanagara Empire (modern-dayAndhra 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 asAnnamayya, born in Thallapaka, Rajampeta (now Rajampeta Town) was aTelugu musician, composer, andHindu saint. He is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs calledsaṁkīrtanas. His devotionalsaṁkīrtanas were in the praise ofLord Venkateswara, a form ofLord Vishnu.

Annamayya is said to have composed as many as 32,000saṁkīrtanas in the praise of Venkateswara, of which only about 14,904 are available today. He wrote the mostkīrtanas in the praise of Lord Vishnu of all time.^[1] Themusical form of thekīrtana songs that he composed, which are still popular amongCarnatic 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 theuntouchable castes in his era.

He is believed to have been theavatar ofNandaka, the sword ofVishnu. He is widely regarded as theĀndhra 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) inTallapaka, NearRajampet Mandalam, a village in present-dayAnnamayya district ofAndhra Pradesh, India.^[5] Even though his parents belonged to theNandavarika Niyogi Brahmin community ofSmarta tradition, he was givenSamashrayana initiation by Ghana-Vishnu, and became aVaishnava of theRamanujaSri Vaishnava Sampradaya tradition.^[6][7][8] He decided to go toAhobilam in order to receive instructions from Satakopa Swami, the founder ofAhobila Matha. He spent many years in Ahobilam where he acquired the knowledge ofNaalayira Divya Prabandham and the philosophy ofVisistadvaita. His wife,Timmakka,^[9] had writtenSubhadra Kalyanam, and is considered the first female poet inTelugu 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 ofCarnatic 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 32,000samkirtanas (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 ofVenkateswara and his consortAlamelu, while others describe thebhakti of his devotees.

In his later Samkeertanas, he espouses subjects such asmorality,dharma andrighteousness. He was one of the first few who opposed the social stigma towards theuntouchable 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 ofTelugu 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 theVenkateswara temple atTirumala, 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 lateDr. M. Balamuralikrishna as its head. He set music to over 800 compositions of Annamacharya. He was theĀsthāna 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 awardedPadmashri 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 ofTirumala 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 IndiaR. Venkatraman and Bharat Ratna-winning singerM. 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]}

ATelugu film namedAnnamayya was made on him byK. Raghavendra Rao in 1997. It starredNagarjuna in the lead role as Annamacharya and also featuredSuman as Venkateswara andBhanupriya 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 byKuldeep M. Pai) has garnered over 11 million views and made the child singers Sooryagayathri andRahul Vellal household names for their flawless rendering of the classic keerthana. Professional singersP. Unnikrishnan^[14] andSreeranjini 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 seeRomanization of Telugu)

అన్నమయ్య పాటలు (All Annamayya songs lyrics in Telugu Script)

• List of Carnatic composers
• Annamacharya sankeertana
• List of composers who created ragas
• Check out "సంకీర్తన లక్షణము" on Wikisource at https://te.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B8%E0%B0%82%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%B0%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%A4%E0%B0%A8_%E0%B0%B2%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B7%E0%B0%A3%E0%B0%AE%E0%B1%81

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAnnamacharya.

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

• Carnatic composers
• Hindu poets
• Telugu poets
• History of Andhra Pradesh
• Tirumala Venkateswara Temple
• Bhakti movement
• 1408 births
• 1503 deaths
• People from Rayalaseema
• People from Kadapa district
• 15th-century Indian poets
• 15th-century Indian musicians
• Indian male classical musicians
• Indian male composers
• Musicians from Andhra Pradesh
• Poets from Andhra Pradesh
• Indian male poets
• Kirtan performers

• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Indian English from August 2021
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Use dmy dates from May 2015
• Articles with hCards
• Articles containing Telugu-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2023
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2022
• Commons category link is on Wikidata