Hermina Cielas, Jagiellonian University
Vol. 42, No. 2 (Fall 2023), 213-234

ABSTRACT: This essay aims to compare the work of Rāmabhadrāmbā, Madhuravāṇī, Raṅgājamma, and Kṛṣṇājī, Indian performative artist-courtesans and poetesses active in the seventeenth century at the Nāyaka court in Tanjore. The paper seeks to expand knowledge about them and their work, a significant subject that has been underresearched in Indology so far. The skills and literary achievements of female artists are presented through the analysis of selected passages from their works, such as Raghunāthābhyudaya (The rise of Raghunātha), Śrīrāmāyaṇasāratilaka (The ornament of the essence of Śrīrāmāyaṇa), and other coeval sources, such as Raghunāthanāyakābhyudayamu (The rise of Raghunātha Nāyaka) by Vijayarāghava Nāyaka and Rājāgopālavilāsamu (The sports of Rājāgopāla) by Cengaḷva Kāḷakavi. The article also examines the possible relation between the courtesans in question and the Indian performative art known as avadhāna.