Krishnamayya composed an astonishing 400,000 vachana keertanas dedicated to Simhadri Appanna, far surpassing Annamayya's celebrated collection of 30,000 keertanas in praise of Lord Venkateswara.
Visakhapatnam: The birth anniversary of Kanta Krishnamayya, the 14th Century poet of Simhachalam, will be celebrated on Monday in a grand manner, particularly after literary scholars and temple historians have shed light on the poet’s incredible works.
The works of Krishnamayya, a prolific lyricist, remain preserved in Simhachalam from the 14th Century, reveal a hidden treasure of devotional literature that had been lost to time for centuries.
A statue of the poet had been installed at the Simhachalam Temple 30 years ago. His birth anniversary on Monday will be celebrated with Krishnamayya’s own kritis and special pujas.
According to scholar and member of Team of Research on Culture and Heritage (Torch) Sai Kumar Kethineedi, the discovery of 14th Century poet’s work has brought to forefront the remarkable legacy of Krishnamayya, who came two centuries before the famous Annamayya.
Krishnamayya composed an astonishing 400,000 vachana keertanas dedicated to Simhadri Appanna, far surpassing Annamayya's celebrated collection of 30,000 keertanas in praise of Lord Venkateswara.
Manuscripts and historical records, including a noting of Peda Tirumalacharya, Annamayya's grandson, indicate that Krishnamayya had the honorific “Prathamandra Vachana Sankeertanacharya.” The 14th Century poet had been a source of inspiration for Annamayya himself. This revelation places Krishnamayya as a trailblazer of Telugu devotional literature, something that had remained in shadows for far too long.
Research at Simhachalam Temple has unveiled evidence of Krishnamayya's influence on devotional music and literature. The recovered works demonstrate that he had been the first to introduce “vachana sankeertanas” in Telugu literature, laying the groundwork for a tradition that would inspire countless devotional poets in the years to come, Sai Kumar emphasised.
Krishnamayya lived in Simhachalam for more than 94 years and composed around 4 lakh vachanas. He inscribed all these vachanas on bronze plates and sent them to Srirangam, as he himself mentions in one of his vachanas.
The texts discovered tell an extraordinary story of Krishnamayya, born blind in the village of Santuru. Historical accounts from the temple archives recount how his parents threw him into a well, only to be rescued by a wandering sage named Krishna Kuvvaru, who took the boy to his ashrama.
One of the most remarkable episodes documented in the manuscripts recounts a pivotal moment in Krishnamayya's life when he was just 12 years old. During a visit to Simhachalam with his guardian, he had been left at the base of the hill while Krishna Kuvvaru proceeded to the top for darshan. When his guardian failed to return for three days, the frightened blind boy called out to Simhadri Appanna for assistance. According to the preserved accounts, Appanna came as a child and offered him a glass of milk. Consuming this milk brought sight to Krishnamayya.
