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Ramarajabhushana (Bhattumurti)

Telugu poet of the later 16th century, author of the Vasucharitramu, the story of King Vasu's marriage told in verse full of double meanings, which became the model for later poets. His title means 'ornament of Rama Raja's court'; his own name was Bhattumurti. He dedicated the Vasucharitramu to Tirumala Raya and a book on poetics, the Narasabhupaliyamu, to Rama Raya's nephew. Scholars long argued whether the two names belong to one poet.

Ramarajabhushana was a Telugu poet of the later 16th century.12 His title means “the ornament of Rama Raja’s court”, after Aliya Rama Raya, the ruler of Vijayanagara.34 His own name is given as Bhattumurti.13 His Vasucharitramu (the story of King Vasu) became the model for many later Telugu poets.56

Life

G. R. Subramiah Pantulu wrote on the court poets in the Indian Antiquary in 1898.1 He wrote that the poet was born at Battupalli.1 Krishnadeva Raya, he said, had given that village to the poet’s ancestors for their poetry.1 He thought it unlikely that the poet was one of Krishnadeva Raya’s court poets.1 In his account the poet won his title for some verses made on the spot for Rama Raya, late in Rama Raya’s life.1 He thought the poet began to write about 1560, and wrote his works between 1550 and 1590.12

S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, in his Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), gives a simpler account.3 He wrote that the poet was called Ramarajabhushana because he was “in high favour” at Rama Raya’s court.3 P. T. Raju, in 1944, also took the name as a title given by Rama Raya.7

P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, in their history of Telugu literature (1928), add two things.48 They thought he learned his art from Allasani Peddana, and followed closely the career of Pingali Surana.4 And they wrote that “he was himself a great and accomplished musician”.8 Subramiah Pantulu also noted that “Ramarajabhushana had a taste for music”.2

The Vasucharitramu

The poem tells of the marriage of King Vasu with Girika.5 She is the daughter of the river Suktimati and the mountain Kolahala.5 The poet took this small episode from the Bhagavata Purana, and built a long poem on it.5 Many of its verses carry two meanings at once (slesha, or double meaning).5

The poet explained his choice of story in a famous image.5 Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao give his words in English.5 Purely invented stories, he said, are “an inferior type of precious stones”, and borrowed ones are “artificial diamonds”.5 He wanted a small story that would shine “like a rough precious stone” once cut and polished.5

The poem is dedicated to Tirumala Raya, Rama Raya’s younger brother, who later ruled from Penukonda.36 Its opening tells the history of Tirumala Raya’s family and its wars with the sultans.39 Subramiah Pantulu found in it Tirumala Raya’s battles after his move to Penukonda in 1567.6 So he dated the poem after 1570.6

Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao found its descriptions so rich that the story was smothered.8 But they still called it “a gem of art”.8 They wrote that it “became the model for the poets who followed him”.5 Raju counted it among the five great poems (mahakavyas) of Telugu.10 Charles Philip Brown had the poem printed with a Telugu commentary, as William Taylor listed in 1857.11

Other works

Two more works are linked to him:827

  • the Harischandra Nalopakhyanamu, in which every verse tells two stories at once, of Harischandra and of Nala
  • the Narasabhupaliyamu, a Telugu book on poetics based on Vidyanatha’s Sanskrit Prataparudriyamu827

Krishnaswami Aiyangar printed the opening of the Narasabhupaliyamu.12 It is dedicated to Narasaraju of the Pochiraju family, a nephew of Rama Raya.1213 It tells how Rama Raya protected the sultan of Golconda and took Raichur and Mudgal from the sultan of Bijapur.12

Where the sources disagree

The main dispute is over the poet’s name.148

  • Two poets. Some held that Ramarajabhushana wrote the Vasucharitramu and the Harischandra Nalopakhyanamu, while a different poet, Bhattumurti, wrote the Narasabhupaliyamu.14 Poondla Ramakrishnayya argued this in his preface to an edition of the Harischandra Nalopakhyanamu.142 He pointed to a different name in the colophon of the Narasabhupaliyamu, and to faults of metre found only there.142
  • One poet. Kandukuri Veeresalingam, as Subramiah Pantulu reports him, thought the differences too small to prove two authors.14 An early commentator, Somanatha, wrote that the Vasucharitramu was by “Murti or Battumurti”.2 Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao agreed that “sound critical opinion” favoured one poet.815 They explained the different father’s name by an adoption.8 Krishnaswami Aiyangar and Raju also treat the two names as one man.127

The sources also differ on when he lived.

  • At Krishnadeva Raya’s court. Tradition counts him among the Ashtadiggajas, the eight poets of Krishnadeva Raya.16 A story makes him the teacher who brought Ayyalaraju Ramabhadrudu to that court.17
  • Later. Subramiah Pantulu and Raju both thought he lived after Krishnadeva Raya.118 Subramiah Pantulu dated the Vasucharitramu about thirty-five years after the king’s death.19

Footnotes

  1. Subramiah Pantulu, Indian Antiquary XXVII (1898), p. 332 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  2. Subramiah Pantulu, Indian Antiquary XXVII (1898), p. 335 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  3. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (ed.), Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 216, extract 66, the Vasucharitramu (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 80 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 81 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  6. Subramiah Pantulu, Indian Antiquary XXVII (1898), p. 334 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 39 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  8. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 82 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  9. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 217 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  10. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 36 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  11. William Taylor, A Catalogue Raisonnée of Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of the (late) College, Fort Saint George, Vol. I (1857), p. xxiv, list of Brown’s works (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  12. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 224, extract 69, the Narasabhupaliyamu (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  13. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 225 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  14. Subramiah Pantulu, Indian Antiquary XXVII (1898), p. 333 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  15. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 83 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  16. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 72 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  17. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (1928), p. 75 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  18. P. T. Raju, Telugu Literature (1944), p. 35 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  19. G. R. Subramiah Pantulu, “Discursive Remarks on the Augustan Age of Telugu Literature”, Indian Antiquary XXVII (1898), p. 323 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

References

Sources (5)
  1. P. Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao, A History of Telugu Literature (The Heritage of India Series) (opens in a new tab), Association Press (Y.M.C.A.), Calcutta / Oxford University Press, London, 1928, pp. 72, 75, 80–83, 88. [Public domain]
  2. Indian Antiquary, The Indian Antiquary, Vol. XXVII (1898) (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Byculla, Bombay, 1898, pp. 332–335. G. R. Subramiah Pantulu, 'Discursive Remarks on the Augustan Age of Telugu Literature'. [Public domain]
  3. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1919, pp. 216–217, 224–225. Extracts 66 (Vasucharitramu) and 69 (Narasabhupaliyamu). [Public domain]
  4. William Taylor, A Catalogue Raisonnée of Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of the (late) College, Fort Saint George, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), H. Smith, Madras, 1857, xxiv. [Public domain]
  5. P. T. Raju, Telugu Literature (Andhra Literature) (The P. E. N. Books, The Indian Literatures, No. XV) (opens in a new tab), International Book House, Bombay, for the P. E. N. All-India Centre, 1944, pp. 35–36, 39. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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