Talapaka Annamacharya is a well known composer. He is sung in almost all Carnatic classical concerts. He was a saint and scholar who lived 600 years ago (May 9, 1408 – February 23, 1503).
Below is a story of Sri Annamacharya which was narrated by Prince of Travancore Rama Varma in a concert. I have tried to reproduce the story here in verbatim.
Annamacharya lived in Tirupathi and was a great devotee of Lord Venkateshwara. He and Purandaradasa lived in the same time around 600 years ago. His compositions were popular all over south india at that time but later they disappeared.
In 1940s there was a gentleman living in Tirupathi who was a great devotee of lord Venkateshwara called Veturi Prabhakara Rao (Sastry). As he was doing pradakshina of Venkateshwara temple in Tirupathi, there was a statue of Annamacharya. Each time he passed the statue, he would feel a strange feeling, he could never explain what it was. But he noticed that he felt that strange feeling when he passed that particular point (Annamacharya's statue).
He was a gigantic person. He went and touched the statue of Annamacharya and it was moving. So he removed that and found one very small hole (This is in 1940s). Though he was a big man, he managed to squeeze inside and there was a room with hundreds and hundreds of copper plates with lyrics of Annamacharya songs engraved on them.
The first ten pieces from these copper plates were handed over to Padhma Vibhushana Dr Magalampalli Balamurali Krishna and the first song he tuned was "Narayanathe Namo Namo" in the raga Behag.
It is said that this song was discovered in 1940s but the amazing thing is that in Trivandrum Navaratri Mandapam, Everyday before the concert at 6 O clock, there is a singing of Thodaya Mangalam by many musicians and they sing Narayanathe namo namo. They have been singing this for hundreds of years. It is in a different raga. Though only Swathi krithis are sung at the Navarathri Mandapam, this composition is officially credited to Annamacharya.
Below is a story of Sri Annamacharya which was narrated by Prince of Travancore Rama Varma in a concert. I have tried to reproduce the story here in verbatim.
 |
| Veturi Prabhakara Rao |
In 1940s there was a gentleman living in Tirupathi who was a great devotee of lord Venkateshwara called Veturi Prabhakara Rao (Sastry). As he was doing pradakshina of Venkateshwara temple in Tirupathi, there was a statue of Annamacharya. Each time he passed the statue, he would feel a strange feeling, he could never explain what it was. But he noticed that he felt that strange feeling when he passed that particular point (Annamacharya's statue).
He was a gigantic person. He went and touched the statue of Annamacharya and it was moving. So he removed that and found one very small hole (This is in 1940s). Though he was a big man, he managed to squeeze inside and there was a room with hundreds and hundreds of copper plates with lyrics of Annamacharya songs engraved on them.
The first ten pieces from these copper plates were handed over to Padhma Vibhushana Dr Magalampalli Balamurali Krishna and the first song he tuned was "Narayanathe Namo Namo" in the raga Behag.
It is said that this song was discovered in 1940s but the amazing thing is that in Trivandrum Navaratri Mandapam, Everyday before the concert at 6 O clock, there is a singing of Thodaya Mangalam by many musicians and they sing Narayanathe namo namo. They have been singing this for hundreds of years. It is in a different raga. Though only Swathi krithis are sung at the Navarathri Mandapam, this composition is officially credited to Annamacharya.
This was brought to my notice some years back for my comment. In response, I typed a rather lengthy comment, but before I could save or Post it there was a power failure and my response vanished.I did not try to retype and post. Now that the same narrative is repeated I comment here very briefly. With due respect to Prince Rama Varma's respect and devotion to VPS (my revered father), Annamayya and Lord Sri Nivasa I differ with his narration and details. If only the message he wanted to convey by his narration is that Annamayya was brought to focus and light by VPS in the forties (1949 to be more specific) he is absolutely correct. But the details of the story like the hole, squeezing in, and getting the lyric engraved copper plates out of the spacious cellar hall etc have attained legendary dimensions woven around an eminent personality such as Gurudev VPS out of great respect but they are not facts. By this utterance let no one mistake me of being impolite. It is true that bunches of songs were distributed to Vidwans for tuning, including the legendary Mangalampalli Balamurali krishna, but we find his name only in the (1950) second jayanti festival(14th March, 1950 along with his Guru Sri Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulugaru and not in the first jayanti festival held in 1949. I witnessed and enjoyed all the performances in 1949 and 50s as a 19-20 year old student at Tirupati. I fully agree that Dr.Balamurali Krishna's rendering was supreme.
ReplyDeleteIt is also true as Prince Rama Varma wrote that long before their discovery and print in the early 1930s and 40s Annamamcharya's songs were sung. Like the popular'Jo Achyutananda" lullaby and several other songs like the Thodaya mngalam group of songs in the Bhajana Sampradaya Paddahati were being sung from centuries back , even without knowing the name of the composer, which was later revealed to be Padakavita Pitamaha Tallapaka Annamacharya.