Sri Tallapaka Annamacharya (1408-1503) was the earliest composer of kirtanas in Telugu in south India and the father of the bhajana paddhati. The kirthana, in its rudimentary form, had ahead appeared in Kannada at the time of sri padaraja (1422-1480) and sri vyasaraja (1447-1539 (who was contemporary of annamacharya but their compositions were known as padas.