Tirupati, Mar 07: The 501st Annamacharya Aradhana Sapthaham festival will be celebrated for a week from March 18. The venue for the first day's celebrations would be would be Narayanagiri gardens at Tirumala. During week days, the festival would be celebrated at Mahathi Auditorium and Annamcharya Kalamandiram at Tirupati, and simultaneously, during the first three days, at Asthana Mandapam at Tiruchanur, Dhayanamandiram at Thallapaka, which was the birth place of Sri Annamacharya, a TTD release said here yesterday. Processional deities of Sri Varu with his two consorts, along with the idol of Annamacharya, will be taken out from Srivari Temple to Narayanagari Garden, Tirumala.

Special programmes, such as nagara sankeerthanams, bhajans, gostiganam, brindaganam and vedaparayanam, will be organised during the inaugural session on March 18. According to legends, Annamacharya sang 32,000 song hymns in praise of Lord Sri Venkateswara and is acclaimed as the 'Padakavitha Pitamaha' and 'Vaggeyakara'.

His compositions are divided into 'Adyatma' and 'Sringara' and folklore. His folk songs are very popular among the Telugu people. He died in the year 1503 at the age of 95 years.

Bureau Report