Jai Sriman Narayana !!
Sri
Tallapaka Annamacharya was born on 9th May, Vishakha Shuddha
Pournami day in the year 1408 to Sri Narayana Suri and Lakkamamba a pious
Telugu Brahmin couple lived in the village Tallapaka in Andhra Pradhesh,
India. There was a time an acute famine
broke out in Varanasi, many of the people includes scholars and Vedic Brahmins
were migrated to the southern parts of India seeking for livelihood. The family of Annamayya was also one amongst
them. Some of the families were settled
down in a town called Nandavaram ruled by the King Nanda. These migrants were famously known as
Nandavarikas, consequently Annamayya and his forefathers were belonged to this
family.
Sri,
Narayanayya grandfather of Sri Annamayya was very weak in scholastic studies. Those days it was essential to have knowledge
in Vedas and Sastras. Narayanayya was unsuccessful
in learning, so he had to undergo severe punishments from the masters. He was totally dejected and decided to take
away his life. He went to his village
temple of Goddess Sri Chinthalamma and shoved his hands into a snake pit contain
venomous cobra. Soon, Goddess Sri
Parvati appeared before him and discouraged from the very act to well serve the
purpose of his life to have a grandchild, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu’s
Panchayudha-Nandakam.
Narayanayya’s
son Narayanasuri was married to Lakkamamba, this couple had no offspring for a
long time. They visited Lord
Venkateswara at Thirupati, while prostrating before the Dwjasthamba, a dazzling
brilliance from the sword of Lord Venkateswara embraced the couple for a
moment. In due course of time,
Lakkamamba conceived with a child and gave birth to a stunning boy child on a
Vishakh Pournami day. They named him
Annamayya who was passionately devoted to Lord Vishnu, later he was famously
known as Saint Annamacharya / Telugu Pada Kavita Pitamaha. It was believed that
Sri Annamacharya was the reincarnation of one of the Panchayudham /
Nandakam/Sword of Lord Vishnu. At the
age of 5 years, Annamayya was initiated to Brahmopadesha and studies on Veda
and Sastras.
Annamayya
composed nearly 32000 Sankirtanas, 12 Satakas, Srungara Manjari, Venkatachala
Mahathmyam, Srimad Ramayan in the form of Dwipadas and Sankirtana Lakshanam. All those compositions were written on a palm
leaves, later Tirumalacharya, son of Annamayya engraved them on a copper
plates. These copper plates were
remained unidentified for more than 400 years; it was safely vested on the
oldest cellar opposite to the donation box at the Tirumala Temple. In the year 1922, there were 2500 copper
plates comprises 14,000 Sankirtanas were recovered and brought to the attention
of public. Later, these gems like
composition of Sri Annamacharya hold the attention of millions and millions of musicians putting great efforts to publicize
the amazing musical genre, astonishing literature work.
Sri
Annamayya was married to Tirumalamma/Thimmakka, who was a renowned woman poet wrote
Subhadra Kalyanam. This couple had a son
Pedda Tirumalacharya/Vageyakkara who was also a great composer and poet. Their grandson Tallapaka Chinnaya inherited
all that skills from his father and grandfather as well, who was the composer
of ‘Annamacharya Charitham’.
Annamayya
was a passionate devotee of Lord Vishnu from his childhood. At the age of sixteen his devotion and
dedication to Lord Venkateswara streamed out as flawless verses that had no boundaries. His
gems like composition were the reflections of various emotions include Bakthi
& Srungara. The Bakthi Sankirtana
reveals the untainted devotion to Lord Venkateswara and the Srungara Sankirtana
depicts the enthralling beauty of Lord Venkateswara and his triumphant on
Goddess Sri Alarmel Mangai.
Sri
Annamacharya visited many holy shrines and sung praising the glories of Lord
Vishnu. Later, under the supervision of
his Guru Sadgopayathi of Ahobilam, he has attained profound knowledge in scriptures,
Vedanta, Divyaprabandham and Saranagathi Sastra/Srimad Ramayanam. The philosophical knowledge in Saranagathi
Sastra provided inspiration for the composition of the same into Sankeertana
format which gained wide popularity.
Sri
Narasingaraya, chief of Kingdom of Vijayanagara reverentially invited Sri
Annamacharya to his home; he was spell-bounded at the unblemished streams of
poetry praising the glories of Lord Venkteswara and his consort Goddess Sri
Alarmelmangai. Sri Narasingaraya
received his guest with great honor and requested to stay with him. Surprisingly, Sri Narasingaraya was promoted
to become the ruler of Penugonda state in Vijayanagara. Sri Annamacharya embellished the court with
his mellifluous compositions on Lord Venkateswara & Goddess Sri
Alarmelmanga which was capable to melt the heart of listeners. Once,
Annamacharya marvelously sang with a unassailable rhythmical skill about the loveliness
of Sri Alarmelmanga that was overflowing with Srungararasa, Goddess Sri Alarmelmanga
was tantalizing by her associates after witnessing her gorgeously coming out of
their private chamber after a pleasurable night with Lord Venkateswara. Sri Narasingaraya was fascinated at the presentation
of the wonderful rivulet of poetries of Sri Annamacharya, the ruler requested
to compose a poem praising his glories as well.
Sri Annamacharya flatly refused to follow the orders of Sri
Narasingaraya. In a little while, the
harsh sentence was followed; Sri Annamacharya was chained and locked in a
prison. Sri Annamacharya passionately
sung praising Lord Venkateswara and earnestly prayed to Lord. Soon, the chains were broken and released
from the clutches. The guards were mystified
at this incident; eventually Sri Narasingaraya realized his folly and begged
for forgiveness.
Later
years, Sri Annamacharya spent rest of his life in active participation of organizing
rituals and ceremonial festivities in the Tirumala Temple. In the meantime he composed numerous poetries
praising the Lord, as a result received abundance of wealth from his admirers
in the form of land and financial aid those were lavishly spent for the interests
of the temple festivities. On one
occasion, Sri Annamacharya marvelously performed Thirukalyanostavam of Lord
Venkateswara & Goddess Sri Alarmelmanga assuming himself as the father of
the bride.
In
the year 1503 on Phalguna Bahula Dwadashi Day Sri Annamayya attained the lotus
feet of Lord Venkateswara.
Jai Sriman Narayana !!
1 comment:
Good job Annamacharya Keerthanas
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