Muddupalani

She raised the young boy, whom she named Muthyalu, to adulthood, and got him married to another talented and beautiful courtesan called Rama Vadhuti.

Keeping the surname Muddu before the name, a general practice in the south, Muddupalani was thus born into an extremely talented, artistic and devout household.

[3]She became one of the consorts of Pratap Singh,[4] whose court was noted for its patronage of the arts, and whose predecessors included Raghunatha Nayak (r. 1600-34), whose court also played host to numbers of skilled female poets and musicians, such as Ramabhadramba and Madhuravani: Unlike a family woman in her time, as a courtesan Muddupalani would have had access to learning and the leisure to write and practise the arts.

Obviously, the esteem in which Muddupalani was held and the acclaim her work received can be attributed as much to the contexts, literary and social, she drew upon as to her own talent.

[9] The poem became the subject of a censorship controversy in the early 20th century, because of its sexual frankness, and especially, because it portrayed its women characters as taking the initiative in sex.