Statues at Tank Bund -V : Annamayya Pada Kavita Pitamaha

Tallapaka Annamacharya, popularly known as Annamayya is a saint composer of the 15th century. He was born on May 9, 1408 (died February 23, 1503) and is the earliest known musician of India to compose songs called “sankirtanas” in praise of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala.

The musical form of the keertana songs that he composed have strongly influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions, which are still popular among Carnatic music concert artists. Annamacharya is remembered for his saintly life, and is honoured as a great Bhakta/devotee of Lord Venkateswara by devotees and saintly singers. Annamayya is widely regarded as the Andhra Pada Kavita Pitamaha (grand old man of Telugu song-writing).

Personal life
Annamacharya was born on Vaishakha Shuddha Pournami in the year Sarwadhari in Tallapaka, a village in current day Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, India. He was born into a Nandavarika Telugu Brahmin family. He later converted into a sri vaishnavite saint initiated by lord Venkateswara himself. His wife, Timmakka, had written Rukmini Kalyanam, and is considered the first female poet in Telugu 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 of Carnatic music compositions. Annamacharya lived for 95 years

Literary career
Annamacharya is said to have composed as many as 36,000 sankeertanas (songs) on Lord Venkateswara, of which only about 12,000 are available today. Annamacharya considered his compositions as floral offerings to Venkateswara. In the poems, he praises Venkateswara, describes his love for him, argues and quarrels with the Lord, confesses the devotee's failures and apprehensions, and surrenders himself to Venkateshwara. His songs are classified into the Adhyaatma (spiritual) and Sringaara (romantic) sankeertanas genres. His songs in the "Sringaara" genre worship Venkateswara, by describing his amorous and romantic adventures of Venkateswara and Alamel Manga, while others describe the Bhakti of his devotees.

Adhyatma sankeertanas affirm the primacy of spiritual values over the purely mundane, and express inevitable tension between these and oneself. They emphasise the need for bhakti and virakti. Like Bhaktikoladi vade paramatmudu. Despite such faith Annamayya was troubled by tensions because of opposing pulls in him. "To live and move aimlessly has been my lot. When do I learn, O Lord, fixity of purpose? So unsteady am I, while I desire renunciation.." (Kalakalamunitte kapurapu badukaye). Temple festivities gave Annamayya many occasions for songs in which he saw symbolic enactments of cosmic truths. In the song "Alara Chanchalamaina" he describes the dola of Venkateswara and his consorts in all its magnificence.

The Sringara sankeertanas express love and longing for the Lord and his surrender to Him. Here Annamayya speaks for himself and for others who similarly long for god in terms of rakti rather than virakti. Some songs describe Alamelumanga's love for him (Alarulukuriyaga Aadenade). The sankeertanas have a common structural pattern. Each song comprises a pallavi, very occasional anupallavi, and usually three metrically and musically identical four-line charanas. In general, the songs exhibit a high degree of literary craftsmanship in which he uses both colloquial and literary Telugu.

In his later keertanas, he espouses subjects such as morality, dharma and righteousness. He was one of the first few who opposed the social stigma towards the untouchable castes in his era, with his sankeertanas explaining that the relationship between God and human is the same irrespective of the latters' color, caste and financial status, in beautiful yet powerful usage of words in his songs "Brahmam Okkate Parahbrahmamokkate" and "E kulajudainanemi evvaḍainanemi"

His choice of words gives a mellifluous tone to his songs, charming the listener. His prodigious literary career earned him a place among the all-time greats of Telugu literature. While he enjoyed popularity in his days, his compositions were forgotten for over three centuries for some inexplicable reason. Mentioned in 1849 they were later found engraved on copper plates, hidden for centuries inside the Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala, just opposite the Hundi, concealed in a very small room. An English translation of 150 of these verses was published in 2005.