Vaggeyakara is one who composes and sings musical pieces. A Vaggeyakara should be proficient in composing poems within the framework of a definite raga and tala and be able to sing. He should be gifted with the knowledge of composing, writing, and singing. It is believed that the Shaivite Nayanars (7th – 8th Century CE) as well as Vaishnava poets, the Alvars (8th century CE), were vaggeyakaras. The Dasa poets of North India and the Vacana poets of Karnataka were also vaggeyakaras.
Carnatic music was enriched by various vaggeyakara such as Purandaradasa (1484 – 1564 CE), Annamacharya (1500-1600 CE), Saint Thyagaraja (1767 0 1847 CE), Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775 – 1835 CE), Shyama Shastri (1813 – 1840 CE, among others. They composed different types of songs in their mother tongue and the songs were known as kritis or kirtanas. Sri Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma Maharaja, who himself was a great poet, musicologists, and composer, wrote songs in different patterns like kirtana, pada, varna, swarajathi, tillana, bhajan, etc., in different languages, too. Singers like the late G.N. Balasubramaniam, M.D. Ramanathan, and some senior musicians of the present time like Lalgudi Jayaraman, Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, Dr. Muthiah Bhagavatar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, and K V Narayanaswamy, also have their own compositions.