The Raghunāthābhyudayam (also rendered Raghunāthābhyudaya) is a seventeenth-century Sanskrit mahākāvya by Rāmabhadrāmbā, a poet and consort of the Thanjavur Nayak ruler Raghunatha Nayak. Comprising twelve cantos, the poem celebrates Raghunatha's life, military career and court, presenting the king through literary associations with Rama, Vishnu and Krishna. Besides its literary character as a courtly praise poem, the work has been used as a source for the political and cultural history of seventeenth-century Thanjavur.
Contents and themes
The opening cantos praise Raghunatha's generosity, learning and accomplishments and invoke his assistance in the composition of the poem. The sixth canto traces his ancestry and the history of the Thanjavur Nayak family, while the following cantos recount his early life and military career. In the eighth canto, Raghunatha succeeds his father, Achuthappa Nayak, after which the narrative continues with his military exploits.
The final cantos turn from warfare to the cultural life of the Thanjavur court. They describe literary, musical and artistic activity under Raghunatha and give particular attention to the learned women of his court, including their accomplishments in poetry, music and performance. The poem concludes with a colophon in which Ramabhadramba records her own literary accomplishments.
As a courtly mahākāvya, the poem is strongly panegyrical. Raghunatha is portrayed as an ideal king distinguished by military success, learning, generosity and patronage, with his life presented through wider religious and epic associations.
Rediscovery and publication
The manuscript was found in November 1916 by historian S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar during a search for manuscripts relating to the history of the Vijayanagara Empire. Ayyangar published an abridged text and English summary in Sources of Vijayanagar History in 1919, describing it as an important historical poem on the life and achievements of Raghunatha Nayak.
A fuller scholarly edition, edited by T. R. Chintamani, was published by the University of Madras in 1934 as Raghunāthābhyudayamahākāvyam: Rāmabhadrāmbāviracitam. An early reviewer in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies criticised the poem for its extensive praise of Raghunatha and questioned its historical value.
Historical significance
Later scholarship has treated the Raghunāthābhyudayam more extensively as evidence for the political culture, courtly ideology and literary life of the Thanjavur Nayaks. Although its panegyrical character requires caution when using it as a record of political events, the poem preserves material on Raghunatha's genealogy, campaigns, patronage and court, as well as the participation of women in the literary culture of early seventeenth-century Thanjavur.
Ramabhadramba's Sanskrit Raghunāthābhyudayam should not be confused with two Telugu works associated with Raghunatha's son and successor, Vijaya Raghava Nayak: an identically titled Raghunāthābhyudayamu and the Raghunāthanāyakābhyudayamu.
Editions and translations
— abridged text and translation.
References