THE AMUKTAMALYADA (THE GARLAND OF PEARLS) BY KRISHNADEVA RAYA, KING OF VIJAYANAGARA
South-Eastern India, late 18th - 19th century

Telugu manuscript on laid watermarked English paper, 28ff., with 4 fly-leaves, each page with 33 - 48ll. of black ink Telugu script on both sides, chapter headings with rosette medallions, the laid cream paper with the typical late 18th - early 19th-century Britannia watermark (a seated female figure with helmet, shield and trident), the old cover made of marbled paper, with several annotations in French and English, and accession number stickers, folded inside a later brown paper leaf inscribed in free-hand block letters 'Namaniyyahiramanibhamnnaguranamavanmsta' and marked with the accession sticker Eames Collection no. 1819, within a black protective case of the Newberry Library, stamped in gold ORMS 757, the folio 32cm x 20cm.

Provenance: Acquired from the Newberry Library, Chicago, in 1995.

The 'Namaniyyahiramanibhamnnaguranamavanmsta' is a verse work in six sections, including the Telugu epic poem Amuktamalyada, composed by Krishnadeva Raya in the early 16th century and describing the story of wedding at Srirangam of the Hindu Lord Ranganayaka, an avatar of Vishnu, and Goda Devi, the Tamil Alvar poet Andal, daughter of Periyalvar.