THE Varadambikaparinaya Campu (Wedding of Varadambika in Prose and Poetry) is credited to Tirumalamba, a queen of King Acyutaraya of the sixteenth-century CE Vijayanagara Empire. The manuscripts of it are available in the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras, and Tanjore Sarasvathi Mahal Library, Tanjavur. In 1922, Prof. Lakshman Sarup of University of Punjab, Lahore, discovered it among the royal collection of old manuscripts at Tanjavur. The manuscripts of this text are primarily in Grantha script; therefore a Devanagari transcript was prepared for him in Sanskrit which he edited in the very same year. Tirumalamba has known to have also written a drama the Bhaktasanjivani, which is yet to be edited and still remaions in the manuscript form. So far, the Varadambikaparinaya is her only available work. In May 1932 Lakshman Sarup published it for the first time in the Oriental College Magazine, Lahore. Its first Hindi translation was prepared by Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Giridhara Sharma, Principal, Sanskrit College, Jaipur, and Pandit Purusottama Sharma of the Mayo College, Ajmer, and was included in the Samskrita Sahitya Ratnamala Series, Lahore, in 1932. Lakshman Sarup brought out his edition of the text from Lahore in 1938, together with a Sanskrit tika by Giridhara Sharma and Haradatta Sharma. Prof. Suryakanta Sastri published it in 1970 with an English translation of it from Choukhamba Sanskrit Series, Benares.
Plot of the Work This poem was written in two phases. In the first phase, the poetess potrays the life of her father-in-law Narasimha and in the second phase, she narrates the life events of her husband, King Acyutaraya and his marriage with Princess Varadambika.
In the first phase Tirumalamba potrays the residence of King Narasimha' where he spent his childhood and later describes the lineage to which he was born. This depiction of the lineage is similar to the other texts of Vijayanagara period such as the Manu Caritra of Allasanipeddanna, a Telugu poet and also in the Amuktamalyada of King Krsnadevaraya, the inheritor of Narasimha's empire who consolidated it further. But this text does not narrate the inheritance of the King Krsnaraya; instead, it narrates the life of his half-brother King Acyutaraya who inherited the throne of King Krsnaraya. Even in the Unamanjeri copper plates of Acyutaraya (Saka year 1462; 12 October 1540 CE) there is the description of the lunar race from the Moon, his son Budha, his descendants Pururavas, Ayu, Nahusa, Yayati and Purürava. The inscription then makes a brief mention of Timma of Tuluva dynasty and his son Isvara. Then it gives a long account of Narasa and his campaigns. Rajanatha Dindima, a court poet of Acyutaraya; also mentions the lineage from Moon to Narasimha but mentions only three wives of Narasimha, viz. Tippamba, Nagamba, and Acyuta's mother Obamamba.
However Tirumalamba in this work describes the heroic events of Narasimha and his conquest in all four directions of the then Vijayanagara Empire, marching along the sea-coast, and crossing the Tondaimandalam or Tundira he came to the Cola country, where a fearsome battle took place between Narasimha and the Cola king, who remains unnamed.
As soon as the glorious emperor Narasimha captured the Cola king, he ordered his army to stop further fighting. When King Maruva of Tondaimandalam knew the capture of the Cola king by Narasimha he fled somewhere to the sea-coast. When Narasimha entered the town of Madhura, the ruler of that place presented immense wealth to him; he then reached Ramesvara, where he worshipped God Ramesvara and gave innumerable gifts to brahmanas. Now he turned his attention to the western side of his Kingdom. He sieged the city of Srirangapattana by constructing a bridge over the Kaveri River. Having captured King Mahavira alive, he forgave him and reinstalled him to his kingdom. He captured Dumakura and other big forts. He also captured the Fort of Matarangi and then worshipped God Gokarnanatha. He captured the Suratrana at Manavadurga, but the brave and gracious Narasimha took pity and released him. The Suratrana was Yusuf Adil Khan. Conquering all the directions he returned to his capital Vidyapuri with great joy. The above-mentioned conquests of Narasimha in all the directions are historically correct. Here, the author gives the first-hand account of the wars Narasimha fought, and in doing so, she portrays Vira, Bhayanaka and Bibhatsa rasas, and depicts the horrendous and awful war scenes; she compares herself with Goddess Sambhavi. This denotes that she did witness and participate in the war. After his successful march, King Narasimha married Princess Obamamba, daughter of Ramamba of the Solar dynasty, and begot a son Acyutaraya.
From this point, the poetess describes the life of King Acyutaraya.
She mentions that after the demise of his father Narasimha, Acyutaraya ascends the thrown but she nowhere mentions that Acyutaraya ascends the throne after the rule of his half-brother Krsnaraya. It may be due to the fact that Acyutaraya was quite grown up by the time of his father's death. Subsequently, Tirumalamba writes about the love life of Acyuta and Princess Varadambika, along with the narration of horse riding and other sports, marriage of Varadambika, birth of Cinna Venkatadri and his accession to throne where the poem ends.
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