Rangajamma

Rangajamma was a Telugu poet at the court of Vijayaraghava Nayaka, the Telugu king of Thanjavur in the 17th century.¹² She wrote a long poem and a play, and claimed she could compose in eight languages.¹³

The court of Thanjavur

After the fall of Vijayanagara, Telugu kings ruled Thanjavur in the Tamil country. Korada Ramakrishnayya says Vijayaraghava ruled there for about forty years, from 1633 to 1673.² In his court, he adds, there were perhaps more women poets than men, and many of them were also trained in dance.² See The Nayaka kingdoms of the South.

Her family and her claims

Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu wrote on the southern school of Telugu literature in 1928. He found that Rangajamma describes herself as the daughter of Pasupuleti Venkatadri and his wife Mangamamba.¹ The 1933 catalogue of Telugu manuscripts in the Thanjavur palace library gives the same parents in its notice of her Ushaparinayamu.⁴

She calls King Vijayaraghava her prana nayaka, “the lord of her life”.¹ She claimed to write poetry in eight languages: Sanskrit, Telugu and the six Prakrits.¹ She also claimed skill in two arts much honoured in India, reciting and fine handwriting.⁵ Korada Ramakrishnayya adds that Vijayaraghava honoured her with a kanakabhishekam, a shower of gold coins.²

Her works

K. Sitaramaiya names two works by her, the Ushaparinayamu and the Mannarudasa Vilasamu.³ In the second, the hero is Vijayaraghava himself, who bore the title Mannarudasa.¹ Ramakrishnayya says she wrote it both as a play and as a long poem.²

She also names six other women poets of the court.¹ K. A. Nilakanta Sastri saw the Mannarudasa Vilasa as a step in the growth of the yakshagana, the Telugu dance-drama. She used more characters than usual, and often gave the characters prose to speak instead of songs.⁶

Where the sources disagree

Queen or court poet. Nilakanta Sastri calls her “one of the queens of Vijayaraghava”.⁶ Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu reads her words differently. He thought she and the six women she names were “all of the courtezan class”, and noted only that she called the king the lord of her life.¹

Her father’s name. Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu and the Thanjavur catalogue name her father as Pasupuleti Venkatadri.¹⁴ Korada Ramakrishnayya calls him Pasupuleti Venkanna.²

Footnotes

1. Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu, “The Southern School of Telugu Literature”, Quarterly Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. II, Nos. 3–4 (January and April 1928), p. 172 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. Korada Ramakrishnayya, Telugu Literature outside the Telugu Country (Madras, 1941), p. 531. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. K. Sitaramaiya, A Hand Book of Telugu Literature (1943), p. 57 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

4. P. P. S. Sastri (ed.), A Descriptive Catalogue of the Telugu Manuscripts in the Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji’s Sarasvati Mahal Library (Andhra University Series No. 11, 1933), p. 31 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²

5. Jayanti Ramayya Pantulu, “The Southern School of Telugu Literature”, QJAHRS II (1928), p. 173 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

6. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, A History of South India, 3rd ed. (1966), p. 417 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²