Musical pioneer
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LAKSHMI DEVNATH on the contribution of Tallapaka Annamacharya to music on his 502nd death anniversary on February 23.
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IN history, only certain periods qualify as eras because of significant events they unfurl. The years between 1424-1503 were granted this exalted status. For, during this time, Carnatic music emerged with a distinctive new feature.
A major compositional form, the kirtana — with its three-fold division of pallavi, anupallavi and charanas — was born. Its architect was Tallapakam Annamacharya. He was also the pioneer of the Bhajana tradition that stresses chanting God's name for salvation.
Sources
Annamacharya was born at Tallapaka, a village in the Cuddapah district of Andhra Pradesh. Apart from his songs and other sources, information on Annamacharya's life and works stems primarily from the Annamacharya Charitramu, a biography in Telugu by his grandson Chinna Tiruvengalanatha.
From these we learn that Annamacharya, besides composing 32,000 sankirtanas, also composed other works, many of which have been lost.
The extant includes almost 12,000 sankirtanas classified as adhyatma (with a spiritual import) and sringara (those that portray divine love), a satakam (100 verses) on Lord Venkatesvara, Sringara Manjari and the Venkatachala Mahatmyam in Sanskrit.
His treatise on music, the Sankirtana Lakshanam (in Sanskrit), is available only through a Telugu translation by his grandson Chinna Tirumalacharya. This work first refers to terms like kriti and mudra. But the words anupallavi and charanam are not to be found. The treatise also reveals Annamacharya's knowledge of several historic works on music, his familiarity with the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva and his knowledge of several languages.
Quantity apart, variety was the hallmark of Annamacharya's compositions. A myriad variety of musical forms from the classical to folk, in a range of ragas, from the popular to the obscure have come down to us.
The message of his songs, sometimes plaintive and didactical, predominantly stress on the Vaishnava concept of Saranagati or total surrender to the Lord.
Creditably, he stood firm in his resolve not to sing on any human, despite threats from royalty. He also adopted many variations of Lord Venkatesvara's name as his signature and eschewed his own.
Few survivors
Only 14,523 songs, including the compositions of his descendants, have survived the ravages of time. These are inscribed on copper plates and mention only the raga and not the tala. The credit for this goes to his son Peda Tirumalacharya.
The copper plates lay undetected for many centuries and were traced by references made by a British officer, Campbell, in his book on Telugu grammar. Stone slabs with portions of Sankirtana Lakshanam inscribed on them were also discovered at the temple in 1949.
Truly, this Sankirtanaacharya and Padakavita Pitamaha (progenitor of padams) has immortalised himself for times to come.
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