Annamayya Keerthanas Alara Chanchalamaina

Overview

Alara Chanchalamaina is a Telugu keerthana by Tallapaka Annamacharya (1408–1503 CE), dedicated to Lord Venkateswara. The title means "restless and wavering," referring to the mind's agitation. The song uses the theme of mental restlessness to direct the devotee toward surrender at the Lord's feet and belongs to the South Indian Vaishnava Bhakti tradition.

What are the benefits of chanting Alara Chanchalamaina?

• Recitation is said to calm the restless mind and bring inner stability.
• Devotees sing it to deepen devotion to Lord Venkateswara.
• The keerthana guides the listener toward surrender and trust in the divine.
• It is used in daily worship to settle the mind before meditation or prayer.
• Regular chanting cultivates spiritual steadiness over time.

When is the best time to recite this?

Alara Chanchalamaina is recited during morning and evening puja, during meditation, and at any time the mind feels agitated or scattered. It is also sung at devotional gatherings and Vaishnava festivals.

Historical and traditional background

Annamacharya was a prolific Vaishnava saint-poet of the Vijayanagara Empire who composed over 32,000 keerthanas dedicated to Lord Venkateswara. This keerthana is set to a specific Carnatic raga and tala, reflecting the musical tradition of temple worship at Tirumala. His compositions were inscribed on copper plates and are preserved at the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. The keerthanas belong to the South Indian Bhakti movement.

Available scripts

This text is available in 14 scripts: Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Bengali, IAST, Gurmukhi, Oriya, Assamese, Sinhala, ITRANS, HK. Use the script selector to read it in your preferred script.

Related Texts

• Venkateswara Suprabhatam — the morning hymn to Venkateswara recited daily at the Tirumala temple.
• Annamayya Keerthanas Adivo Alladivo — another celebrated keerthana from the same Annamacharya collection.