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Mantra · Annamacharya's drum-song: king and servant sleep the same sleep

Brahmam Okkate

तंदनान आहि तंदनान पुरॆ तंदनान भळा तंदनान

Also known as Tandanana Ahi

In Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.

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What the Brahmam Okkate is

Brahmam Okkate, printed under its opening refrain Tandanana Ahi, is a Telugu sankirtana by Tallapaka Annamacharya in which every line argues that the one Brahman, Sri Hari, lives equally in every creature. It belongs to his adhyatma songs, the songs of spiritual teaching, as distinct from the sringara songs on the love of Venkateswara and Alamelu. The copper plate that preserves it names raga Bauli (Bowli), the raga it is still sung in, to Adi tala. Five charanams follow a pallavi of drum syllables. The first states the thesis: Brahman is one, there is no higher or lower, and Sri Hari is the antaratma, the inner Self, of all. The next three test it on paired opposites: a king's sleep and his servant's, the ground under a Brahmin and an outcaste, hunger for fine food and for spoilt, wind over stench and over fragrance. The fifth sets one sun on an elephant and a dog, and closes on the name of Sri Venkateswara, which shelters the virtuous and wrongdoers alike.

A village drum-song carrying Vedanta

The refrain gives the song its shape. Tandanana, ahi, pure and bhala carry no dictionary meaning; they are the beat-syllables and shouts of the tandana padam, a folk song kept to the dappu, the frame drum of village celebration. Annamacharya took that rough, danceable form and filled it with the central claim of Vedanta, so that people who already sang tandana songs could carry the teaching in their own rhythm. He had learned that teaching at Ahobilam, where, according to the accounts of his life, he studied the Tamil hymns of the Alvars and the Vishishtadvaita of Ramanuja's school under Satakopa Swami. Born into a Smarta family, he became a Sri Vaishnava, and his songs at Tirumala speak from that faith. The second charanam is the one most often quoted. It places the Brahmin and the chandala, the outcaste of medieval society, on one and the same earth, and the king and his servant in one and the same sleep. Annamacharya is counted among the first Telugu poets to speak against the stigma laid on the untouchable castes, and this song, with his E Kulajudainanemi ('whatever caste one is born in'), is the usual evidence. It survives because it was engraved on copper, on plate 177 of the Tallapaka plates. A 2017 recording by two child singers carried it to millions of new listeners.

The mantra, in six scripts

DevanagariSanskrit & Hindiतंदनान आहि तंदनान पुरॆ तंदनान भळा तंदनान

Tamilதம்தநாந ஆஹி தம்தநாந புரெ தம்தநாந பளா தம்தநாந

Teluguతందనాన ఆహి తందనాన పురె తందనాన భళా తందనాన

Kannadaತಂದನಾನ ಆಹಿ ತಂದನಾನ ಪುರೆ ತಂದನಾನ ಭಳಾ ತಂದನಾನ

Malayalamതംദനാന ആഹി തംദനാന പുരെ തംദനാന ഭളാ തംദനാന

EnglishRoman transliterationtaṃdanāna āhi taṃdanāna pure taṃdanāna bhaḷā taṃdanāna

“Tandanana, ahi! Tandanana, pure! Tandanana, bhala! These are the rhythm syllables and cries of delight of a folk work-song, sung here in joy.”

తందనాన: taṃdanāna — a drum syllable of the folk beat
ఆహి: āhi — ah, a cry of delight
తందనాన: taṃdanāna — a drum syllable of the folk beat
పురె: pure — come on, a shout of encouragement
తందనాన: taṃdanāna — a drum syllable of the folk beat
భళా: bhaḷā — bravo, well done
తందనాన: taṃdanāna — a drum syllable of the folk beat

Brahmam Okkate lyrics in full

The pallavi and five charanams as engraved on the Tallapaka copper plates, with the famous Brahmam okkate lines opening the first charanam.

All 6 verses, in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English, each with its meaning. Choose a script:

Download the Brahmam Okkate PDFAll 6 verses with their meanings, in Sanskrit. Free to print and keep.

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Pallavi

तंदनान आहि तंदनान पुरॆ
तंदनान भळा तंदनान

Tandanana, ahi! Tandanana, pure! Tandanana, bhala! These are the rhythm syllables and cries of delight of a folk work-song, sung here in joy.

Charanam 1

ब्रह्ममॊक्कटे परब्रह्ममॊक्कटॆ पर
परब्रह्ममॊकटे परब्रह्ममॊक्कटे
कंदुवगु हीनाधिकमुलिंदु लेवु
अंदरिकि श्रीहरे अंतरात्म
इंदुलो जंतुकुल मिंता नॊकटे
अंदरिकि श्रीहरे अंतरात्म

Brahman is one; the supreme Brahman is one, the highest Brahman alone is one. Here there is no higher and no lower: for everyone, Sri Hari is the inner Self. All the families of living creatures in this world are one, for in all of them Sri Hari is the indwelling Self.

Charanam 2

निंडार राजु निद्रिंचु निद्रयु नॊकटे
अंडने बंटुनिद्रदियु नॊकटे
मॆंडैन ब्राह्मणुडु मॆट्टु भूमि यॊकटे
चंडालुडुंडेटि सरिभूमि यॊकटे

The sleep a king sleeps in his full splendour is one, and the sleep of the servant at his side is that same sleep. The ground a high-born Brahmin walks on is one, and the ground where an outcaste lives is the very same earth.

Charanam 3

अनुगुदेवतलकुनु अलकामसुख मॊकटे
घनकीटपशुवुलकु कामसुख मॊकटे
दिन महोरात्रमुलु तॆगि धनाढ्युन कॊकटे
वॊनर निरुँबेदकुनु वॊक्कटे अवियु

The pleasure of desire is one for the beloved gods and one for insects and beasts. Day and night pass alike for the rich man, and they pass in the same way for the poorest of the poor.

Charanam 4

कॊरलि शिष्टान्नमुलु गॊनु नाँकलॊकटे
तिरुगु दुष्टान्नमुलु दिनु नाँकलॊकटे
परग दुर्गंधमुलपै वायुवु नॊकटे
वरुसँ बरिमळमुपै वायुवु नॊकटे

The hunger that seizes fine, pure food is one, and the hunger that eats rough, spoilt food is one. The wind that passes over foul smells is one, and the wind that passes over fragrance is the same.

Charanam 5

कडगि येनुँगुमीँदँ गायु यॆंडॊकटे
पुडमि शुनकमुमीँदँ बॊलयु नॆंडॊकटे
कडुँबुण्युलनु पापकर्मुलनु सरिँ गाव
जडियु श्रीवेंकटेश्वरु नाम मॊकटे

The sun that beats down on an elephant is one, and the sun that falls on a dog on the ground is one. To protect alike the very virtuous and those who have done wrong, the name of Sri Venkateswara is the one refuge.

The syllable people get wrong

The refrain word okkaṭē (in brahmamokkaṭē, 'Brahman is one') has a held double k, a retroflex ṭ made with the tongue curled back, and a long final ē: ok-ka-ṬĒ, not a soft English 'okate'. The printed text also has the single-k form mokaṭē in the second line; both mean the same.

When the Brahmam Okkate is chanted

Weekday. Thursday

Questions

Brahmam is Brahman, the Absolute, and okkate is Telugu for 'one, the very same one'. Parabrahmam is the supreme Brahman, so the line repeats its claim with rising emphasis: Brahman is one, the highest Brahman alone is one. The word okkate then returns as the refrain of every charanam, so the same word that names the oneness of God also names the sameness of sleep, hunger, wind and sunlight for every creature.

None of them has a dictionary meaning in the line. Tandanana is the beat-syllable of the tandana padam, a drum-led folk song; ahi and pure are cries of delight and encouragement, and bhala is close to 'bravo'. The pallavi works like a chorus a crowd can shout back, while the charanams carry the argument. Sung versions often repeat bhala; the copper-plate text gives it once.

The Tallapaka copper-plate text, which this page follows, has only the tandanana lines as its pallavi and opens the first charanam with the brahmamokkate couplet. Concert singers usually sing those two lines as part of the pallavi, and some printings set them as a short block of their own. The words are the same in every arrangement; only the place where the couplet sits, and so how often it is repeated, changes.

The opening claim, that Brahman is one, can sound like Advaita, but the song does not argue between schools. It names the one Brahman as Sri Hari and calls him the antaratma, the inner Self dwelling in every being, and its last line ends not on abstract oneness but on the name of Sri Venkateswara as the shelter of the good and of wrongdoers alike. That keeps it within the Sri Vaishnava faith Annamacharya followed.

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Brahmam Okkate

What the Brahmam Okkate is

A village drum-song carrying Vedanta

The mantra, in six scripts

Brahmam Okkate lyrics in full

The syllable people get wrong

When the Brahmam Okkate is chanted

Questions

Have your chart read before you decide

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