Annamacharya’s Lyrical Beauty Inspires Bankers To Turn Writer

Hyderabad: Venkat Garikapati still remembers the first line that stayed with him. He had heard an Annamacharya composition, “Vinaro Bhagyamu Vishnu Katha”, as a young student. Something about the words felt different. “The lyrical beauty struck me immediately,” he says now. “I felt there was something unusual in those lines, and that curiosity slowly turned into a lifelong pursuit.”

Four decades later, that early fascination has turned into a body of work that continues to grow. Garikapati, who serves as general manager and director at the State Bank Institute of Rural Development in Hyderabad, has written 25 books so far. Twenty-three of them revolve around the 15th-century Telugu saint-poet Tallapaka Annamacharya. Another is a poetry album, while one compiles essays on personality development through Indian mythology.

The newest addition to that list will arrive on March 15. Telangana Saraswatha Parishath in Boggulakunta will see the release of Garikapati’s latest book, Dasavidha Dharmaraksha, during a programme that commemorates the 523rd Aradhana of Annamacharya.

The event includes a commentary-led musical presentation titled Annamayya Nava Mohana Geethika, where singers from the Little Musicians Academy will perform a set of compositions while Garikapati explains the lyrics and the rare Telugu expressions within them.

The book continues a line of inquiry that has occupied him for decades. “Annamacharya is regarded as the first saint-poet of Telugu and is often called Padakavita Pitamaha,” Garikapati says. “The structure of devotional songs we recognise today, the pallavi and charanam, began with him. Later composers like Tyagaraja, Kshetrayya and Ramadasu followed the path he laid down.”

Many readers associate Annamacharya with devotion to Lord Venkateswara. Garikapati argues that the poet’s work is more expansive than that. “He prayed to God, pleaded with God, played with God, and at times he even questioned God.”

Annamacharya’s compositions fall into different streams. Spiritual verses sit alongside songs of romantic devotion, and the language he writes in is also important. “He chose the language of the common person,” he says. “Literature reaches very few people if it remains confined to pundits.”

Tradition credits Annamacharya with about 32,000 compositions dedicated largely to Lord Venkateswara. Historians recovered roughly 13,000 of them from temple archives in Tirumala. Garikapati says those surviving verses alone contain a vast philosophical range.

“They speak about how to live,” he says. “He tells us to avoid harming others, not to run after unnecessary wealth or prestige, and to remain honest. If you can help someone, do it. If you cannot, at least do no harm.”

The ethical ideas in those songs appear with one recurring message questioning the restless chase for money and status. Another insists on equality. “He says there is no higher caste and no lower caste,” Garikapati says. “Everyone is equal before God.”

The new book focuses on a different theme. Dasavidha Dharmaraksha looks at the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu through the lens of Annamacharya’s poetry. Garikapati has selected twenty-two verses that refer to these avatars and built a commentary around them.

Garikapati, who joined the State Bank of India in 1988, said his time for research comes after office hours. “There is no stress if you plan your time well,” he says. “I prefer the phrase work-life harmony. I complete my professional duties first. I sit down to write late in the evening, and write almost every day.”