Gangadevi, also known as Gangambika, was a 14th-century princess and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

-language

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

of the

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...

of present-day India. She was wife of

Kumara Kampana Kumara Kampana, also known as Kampana Udaiyar, was an army commander and the prince in the Vijayanagar Empire. He was the son of king Bukka I. Kumara Kampana led the successful invasion of the Madurai Sultanate. His exploits form the subject of ...

, the son of the Vijayanagara king

Bukka Raya I Bukka Raya I (reigned 1356–1377 CE) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire from the Sangama Dynasty.Phrof A V Narasimha MurthyRare Royal Brothers: Hakka and Bukka He was a son of Bhavana Sangama(Unofficial). Background The early life of Bu ...

(c. 1360s-1370s). Gangadevi chronicled the story of the victory of her husband over the

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

in the form of a poem. The title of the nine chapter poem was ''

Madhura Vijayam ''Madhurā Vijayam'' (Sanskrit: मधुरा विजयं), meaning "The Victory of Madurai", is a 14th-century C.E Sanskrit poem written by the poet Gangadevi. It is also named ''Vira Kamparaya Charitham'' by the poet. It chronicles the li ...

'', also known as ''Veerakamparaya Charitram''.Suryanath U. Kamath, A Concise history of Karnataka from pre-historic times to the present, Jupiter books, MCC, Bangalore, 2001 (Reprinted 2002) OCLC: 7796041 p162 After the discovery of the documents, a Tamil version was published by Sri Krishnamacharya of Srirangam, and then Annamalai University published an English translation in 1950. In addition to writing, she also fought in battle with her husband and inspired other women. She is believed to be a Telugu princess. At the beginning of ''Madhura Vijayam'', Gangadevi eulogizes several Sanskrit poets of the

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-speaking region, and particularly admires Tikkaya (identified with

Tikkana Tikkana (or Tikkana Somayaji) (1205–1288) was a 13th century Telugu poet. Born into a Telugu-speaking Niyogi Brahmin family during the golden age of the Kakatiya dynasty, he was the second poet of the "Trinity of Poets (Kavi Trayam)" that tra ...

, the author of '' Andhra Mahabharatam''). This is considered to be a strong evidence of her Telugu ancestry.

References

Sanskrit-language women poets Sanskrit poets Poets from Karnataka Indian women poets 14th-century Indian women writers 14th-century Indian writers Indian princesses 14th-century Indian poets People of the Vijayanagara Empire Women of the Vjayanagara Empire Vijayanagara poets Telugu people {{India-poet-stub