Anai Ayya are composers and singers in the early part of the 19th century CE in Thanjavur. Anai and Ayya were brothers and their full names were Anai Iyer and Ayya Iyer. They were born in a village called Vaiyaicheri in Thanjavur district and belonged to the brahcaranam sect of Tamil brahmansas.
Anai and
Ayya were well versed in Tamil, Sanskrit and Telugu. They composed kritis
(songs) in Tamil and Telugu under the pseudonym of uma-dasa (follower of
Goddess Uma, the consort of Bhagavan Shiva). The brothers performed together
and both became the samasthana vidvans (court poets) of king Serfoji of
Thanjavur (1798 – 1824 CE). One of the disciples of Anai Iyer was the
celebrated singer Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer, who belonged to the same village as the
brothers.
The
compositions of Anai and Ayya are well known and sung even to this day. Some of
them with their corresponding ragas (melodic units) are
- Intaparaka (Nadanamakriya)
- Bhajana Savaye Manasa (Kedaram)
- Mahima Teliya Tarama (Shankarabharanam)
- Parakela Bala (Ritigaula)
- Ennattukkudavi Ikkayam (Suddha Saveri)
- Kanakkannayiram (Nilambani)
- Eliyenai (Yadukulakambhoji)
- Podum Podumayya (Punnagavarali)