Rallapalli Ananta Krishna Sharma (23 January 1893 – 11 March 1979) was a noted composer of Carnatic music, singer, Telugu literature, teacher and Sanskrit scholar. He was responsible for discovering and cataloguing many forgotten compositions of

Annamacharya Tallapaka Annamacharya () (09 May 1408 – 23 February 1503), also popularly known as Annamayya, was a Telugu musician, composer, and a Hindu saint. He is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called '' samkirtanas.'' His devoti ...

.Anantha Krishna Sharma Rallapalli, Luminaries of 20th Century, Part I, Potti Sriramulu Telugu University, Hyderabad, 2005, pp: 8-9. These compositions revived by Sharma would be sung by successive singers like S. P. Balasubramanyam and M. S. Subbalakshmi bringing popularity to the songs. Sharma authored prose works like ''Vemana'', ''Natakopanyasamulu,'' ''Ganakale,'' ''Sahitya Mattu Jeevana Kale'' and ''Saraswatalokamu.'' He also translated 395 (out of 700) ''Gathas'' from original

Prakrit Prakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Ind ...

into

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

language titled ''Shalivahana Gatha Sapta Saramu'' in 1931''.'' Sharma is the recipient of ''Central Sangeet & Natak Academy Fellowship'' (1973), ''Gana Kala Sindhu'' (1961), ''Gana Kala Prapoorna'' (1969)'', Sangeeta Kala Ratna'' (1974) and ''Sangeeta Sahitya Asthan Vidwan'' honours along with an Honorary Doctorate from TTD University,

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

Early life

Rallapalli Ananta Krishna Sharma was born on 23 January 1893 to parents Karnamadakala Krishnamacharya and Alamelu Mangamma. He was born in Rallapalli village in Kambadur taluk,

Anantapur district Anantapur district, officially Ananthapuramu district, is one of the eight districts in the Rayalaseema region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The district headquarters is located in Anantapur city. It is one of the driest places in South ...

, Andhra Pradesh. Sharma and his sister Yadugiramma used to sing religious hymns inside the local fort at Rallapalli. Sharma arrived in Mysore in 1905 at the age of twelve years and spent a year at

Parakala Matha Bramhatantra Swatantra Parakala Matha, commonly known as Parakala Matha, is a Hinduism, Hindu Sri Vaishnavism, Sri Vaishnava Matha, monastery founded during the Hoysala Empire in 1268 at Mysore, Karnataka, primarily worshipping Vishnu and Lakshmi ...

under the guidance of Krishnabrahmatantra Swamy. Sharma helped Swamy in bringing out '''Alankara Manihara''' - a treatise on Alankara Sastra. After his tenure at Parakala Matha, he went to Pandit Ramashastry in

Chamarajanagar Chamarajanagara is a city and headquarter of eponymous Chamarajanagar district in the Karnataka state of India. It is named after Chamaraja Wodeyar IX, the erstwhile Raja of Mysore, Chamarajanagara was previously known as 'Arikottara'. Hist ...

to learn Sanskrit. Later, in 1911, he married Rukminamma. Sharma lacked formal college or university education, but his proficiency in the traditional

Sastras ''Śāstra'' ( ) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on 'zAstra'' The word is ge ...

and musical compositions became his main strength. He composed his first Sanskrit composition at the age of 14 years. It was a composition dedicated to

Goddess Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, , ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty, and abundance. She along with Parvat ...

titled Jalarashi Balelole'''.

Musical Training

While in Mysore, Sharma frequently visited Carnatic musical concerts by Veena Seshanna, Veena Subbanna, Karigiraya,

Mysore Vasudevacharya Mysore Vasudevacharya (28 May 1865 – 17 May 1961) was an Indian musician and composer of Carnatic music compositions who belonged to the direct line of Thyagaraja's disciples. Vasudevachar's compositions (numbering over 200) were mostly in Telu ...

Bidaram Krishnappa Bidaram Krishnappa (1866–1931) was a musician and composer of Carnatic Indian music in the court of King Chamaraja Wodeyar IX (1862–1894) and King Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV (1884–1940) of the Kingdom of Mysore. Bidaram Krishnappa was a ...

and Chikka Ramaraya. He repeatedly attempted to persuade them to take him as a formal student of music but was unsuccessful. Finally, Bidaram Krishnappa agreed to teach Carnatic music to him. Krishnappa convinced Sharma not to participate in public expositions of his music in concerts and so on. When

Muthiah Bhagavatar Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar (15 November 1877 – 30 June 1945), commonly known as Muthiah Bhagavatar, is one of Carnatic classical music's famous twentieth-century composers. He also created about 20 ''ragas''. Early life Muthiah was bo ...

wanted to arrange a private concert for the ruling

Maharaja of Mysore The maharaja of Mysore was the king and principal ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore and briefly of Mysore State in the Indian Dominion roughly between the mid- to late-1300s and 1950. The maharaja's consort was called the maharani of Mysore. In ...

- Nalwadi Krishna Raja Wodeyar, Sharma declined it.

Teacher

Sharma was appointed a Telugu Pundit (a scholar) by Sir

Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy Sir Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy (10 December 1880 – 24 February 1951), also popularly known as Sir C. R. Reddy, was an educationist and political thinker, essayist and economist, poet and literary critic. He was a prominent member of the Jus ...

, Principal of the

Maharaja College of Mysore Maharaja's College, Mysore (1889) constituent college to Mysore University. History The college finds its origins in the English-school known as "Maharaja Patashala" established by Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wadiyar III in 1833, at th ...

in 1912 and worked there until 1949. After teaching, he joined the Sri Venkateshwara Oriental Research Centre, Tirupathi. The then executive officer of

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is an independent government trust in India managed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The trust primarily oversees the operations and finances of the richest and the most visited religious center Venkatesw ...

, Chelikani Anna Rao entrusted Sharma with simplifying the compositions of the songwriter-singer-saint

Tallapaka Annamacharya Tallapaka Annamacharya () (09 May 1408 – 23 February 1503), also popularly known as Annamayya, was a Telugu musician, composer, and a Hindu saint. He is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called '' samkirtanas.'' His devoti ...

. These compositions (or

kritis A ''kriti'' () is a form of musical composition in the Carnatic music literature. The Sanskrit common noun ''Kriti'' means 'creation' or 'work'. A kriti forms the mental backbone of any typical Carnatic music concert and is the longer format o ...

) were stored for centuries in the Tirumala temple Bhandagaram (storehouse) on copper plates. Sharma received the project after his predecessor, Veturi Prabhakara Sastry died. He worked on tuning the songs and helped publish the seventh and eighth volumes of Annamacharya's compositions. Sharma went on to edit nearly 300 compositions and brought out five more volumes of compositions between 1951 and 1956. He also wrote the notation for 108 compositions and 87 of them were published in the

Andhra Patrika ''Andhra Patrika'' was an Indian Telugu-language newspaper founded by Kasinathuni Nageswara Rao on 9 September 1908. It was initially a weekly publication and later transformed into a daily newspaper. It played an influential role in India� ...

. Sharma was closely associated with eminent journalist, biographer and writer S. R. Ramaswamy who learnt for a period of time the subtle nuances of Carnatic music from him. Among his students were D. L. Narasimhachar, M. Chidananada Murthy, K. V. Puttappa, G. P. Raja Ratnam, M. V. Seetharamaiah, T. S. Shama Rao, B. Kuppuswami, G. S. Shivarudrappa, Banagiri Lakshmi Narasimhachar and M. S. Venkata Rao.

Major works

* ''Ananta Bharati'' (collection of Sanskrit works) * ''Meerabai'' (1913) (Telugu Khanda Kavya) * ''Taradevi'' (1911) (Telugu Khanda Kavya) * ''Vemana Natakopanyasamulu'' (1928–29) * ''Shalivahana Gatasaptashati Saramu'' (1932) (translation work from the Prakrit into Telugu) * ''Saraswatalokamu'' (1954) * ''Chayapa Senaniya, Nrita Ratnavali'' (1969) (Translation into Telugu) * ''Arya'' (1970) (Translation of Sanskrit work of Sundara Pandya into Telugu) * ''Natakopanyasamulu''

Literary works in Kannada

* ''Ganakale'' (1952), * '' Sahitya Mattu Jeevana Kale'' (1954 ) * a few published talk.

Awards

* He was honored as "Astana Vidwan" by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams in 1979 * "

Sangita Kalanidhi Sangita Kalanidhi () is the title awarded annually to a Carnatic musician by the Madras Music Academy. From 1929 to 1941, the award did not exist. The award was conceived in 1942 by Academy President K. V. Krishnaswami Iyer and on 1 January ...

" in 1974 * Honorary Doctorate (

D.Litt. Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

) by

Sri Venkateswara University Sri Venkateswara University (commonly referred as S. V. University or SVU) is a public state university located in Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, India. The university is named after Lord Venkateswara, whose shrine is located in the city. The un ...

, Tirupathi in 1974 * "Ganakala Sindhu" at Sangeeta Sammelan organized by Sri Prasanna Seetarama Mandiram,

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

in 1961 * "Gana Kala Prapurna" by Andhra Pradesh Sangeeta Nataka Academy * "Sangeeta Kalaratna" by Bangalore Gayana Samaj

Death & Legacy

Sharma died on 11 March 1979 in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and was survived by three daughters and two sons. On 23 August 2008, his life-size bronze statue was installed in Tirupathi. The Birth Centenary Celebrations of Sharma were organized in 1993. A Centenary Souvenir was edited by Medasani Mohan and published by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams in 1994.

References

External links

Official website of Rallapalli Anantha Krishna Sharma

Biography of Rallapalli Ananta Krishna Sharma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Rallapalli Ananta Krishna Telugu people Carnatic composers 1893 births 1979 deaths Indian male composers People from Anantapur district Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship Telugu-language writers Academic staff of Maharaja's College, Mysore 20th-century Indian composers Sri Venkateswara University alumni Writers from Andhra Pradesh Musicians from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian male musicians