There is such a wide variety in his compositions that it is very easy to get lost in technicality when one resorts to categorization.
Annamayya sankeertanas how to#
It is now apparent to me that nobody clearly knows how to do this. When I started listening to Annamacharya, I did not know how to categorize his compositions. This is a song about mother Alimelumanga as she dances to impress Lord Venkateswara. Some parts of this song are just some sounds that do not necessarily mean anything they are the rhythmic syllables that are part of a dance sequence. This song did not make any sense to me for the longest time. You may listen to this composition using the control below: We will end this discussion with just one more composition, tiro tiro javarala titti titti. Such is his devotion that there is nothing in this world that cannot be connected back to Lord Venkateswara. How does Annamacharya connect this to Lord Venkateswara? The song ends in Lord Krishna telling Arjuna – “if you think carefully you will know that I planted myself as Lord Venkateswara”.
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Similarly bhoomilona chocchi sarva bhoota praanu is about Lord Krishna and His discourse Bhagavad Gita. For Annamacharya Lord Vishnu and Lord Venkateswara are one and the same. The above song vinaro bhagyamu Vishnu kadha is about Lord Vishnu, but it ends with a note that listening to these stories of Lord Venkateswara is a gateway to the abode of Lord Venkateswara. He interjects in the pallavi mode to tell his intellect to listen to what Krishna is saying and in effect sing His glory.Įvery composition of Annamacharya invariably connects the theme of the song to Lord Venkateswara and His glory. Annamayya narrates a discussion between Lord Krishna and Arjuna. Instead it started with a charanam! When you hear this song for the first time, you will not understand who is saying what! This song is a simple summary of the Bhagavad Gita. The variation in this song is simple the song did not start with the pallavi. Listen to this composition and you will understand the variation instantly. However there are other variations to this standard. What we studied in the previous composition is something that is typical of majority of his compositions. Such improvisations are allowed as long as the singer does not tinker with original literature ( sahityam). The chanting of om namo naarayanaya at the beginning of the song is an improvisation of the singer. If you noticed at the end of each stanza and pallavi, the composer is drawing the listener back to the importance of vishnu kadha. The stories of Vishnu are sung daily and treated on par with Vedas these stories are narrated by sage Vyasa and sung by sage Narada.
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There is no story of Lord Vishnu in this composition instead it talks about the importance of the stories of Vishnu. That is the primary theme of the composition. In this composition the author is exhorting the devotees to listen to the stories of Lord Vishnu because they provide us with great strength and comfort. If the above control does not work, click here With this basic understanding let us listen to one of his compositions vinaro bhagyamu vishnu kadha: He rarely mentioned his name in his compositions. Annamacharya’s mudra always consisted of Lord Venkateswara irrespective of on what deity his composition was on. This is usually the name of the composer or the name of the composer’s favorite deity. Mudra is the mark or signature of the composer. Each composition consists of a mudra in the last charanam. One of his longest known compositions has 25 charanams. Annamacharya’s compositions typically have 3 charanams.
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A repetition of the pallavi after each charanam draws the listener back to the central idea behind the composition. These compositions typically start with a pallavi that conveys the main theme where as the charanams consist of a subset of ideas beautifully connected to the main theme. Royal Patronage is the previous article in the series.
Annamayya sankeertanas series#
This is the fourteenth article in my series of articles on Annamacharya. A padam is a poetic composition, which has a pallavi or refrain and one or more charanams or stanzas. These padams are devotional in content and nature they are in praise ( keertana) of a deity, so they are also called keertanams or sankeertanams. The compositions of Annamacharya are called padams. In simple terms a Padam is a song. To discover the uniqueness of Annamacharya’s compositions one must understand the basic organization of his sankeertanas.