Ramabhadramba

Tanjore Nayak Kingdom

Rāmabhadrāmbā was a poet and consort of the Thanjavur Nayak king Raghunatha Nayak (r. 1600-34). She wrote the Sanskrit epic Raghunathabdyudayam, a biography of her husband. Ramabhadramba was also a disciple of the Telugu poet Chengalva Kalakavi. Tharu and Lalita says that she "could compose poetry in three languages and was an expert in Ashtavadhanam (the capacity to attend to eight different intellectual activities at the same time)." They also claim that she was a historian who left behind "accounts of the political and military events in Raghunandanayaka's reign" and has documented the presence of several women composers in the court.

References

• Rao, N. Venkata (1978). The southern school in Telugu literature. University of Madras. p. 10.
• Tharu, Susie and K. Lalita (Ed.). "Introduction." Women Writing in India. 600 B.C to the Present. New York: The Feminist Press, 1991.
• Rāmabhadrāmbā, 'Raghunāthābhyudayam', in Sources of Vijayanagar History (Selected and Edited for the University), ed. by S. Krishnaswami Ayyangar [and A. Rangaswami Sarasvati], The Madras University Historical Series, 1 (Madras: University of Madras, 1919), pp. 284-302 [no. 91], https://archive.org/details/sourcesofvijayan00krisrich.
• Raghunāthābhyudayamahākāvyam: Rāmabhadrāmbāviracitam, ed. by Ti. Rā. Cintāmaṇiḥ, Bulletins of the Sanskrit Department, University of Madras, 2 ([Madras]: Madrapurīyaviśvavidyālayaḥ, 1934)