Vijayaraghava Nayaka of Tanjavur in India

The last ruler of the great Nayaka rulers of Tanjavur, Vijayaraghava Nayaka was the son of Raghunatha Nayaka. He was also known as Mannarudasa and Achyuta Vijayaraghava Nayaka as he succeeded his father to the throne in c. 1634 A.D. and ruled over the Tanjavur area for a long time till 1673 A.D.

Trapped between several conflicts, Vijayaraghava`s reign was not a peaceful one as he was caught between the Nayakas of Madurai on one side and the Muslim armies on another. Unlike the Nayakas of Madurai who were disloyal to their overlords the last emperors of Vijayanagara, the Nayaks of Tanjavur, up to the time of Vijayaraghava rendered help to their masters and assisted them in all their battles against the Muslim forces.

Vijayaraghava is very well-known with regard to his contributions to religion and culture, especially the fine arts of music and dance, for which Tanjavur had become very famous due to the contributions of his predecessors like Raghunatha, Achyutappa and Sevappa. He too was a great patron of learning and was a scholar in Sanskrit and Telugu and composed the Vijayaragbavabhyudayam and other works.

Vijayaraghava sheltered a large number of poets, musicians and scholars who flocked to his court. He honoured these intellectuals for their imperishable talents. Some of the more important poets were Kamarazu Venkatapati Somayaji, the author of Vijaya-raghava Chandrika and Koneti Dikshita, author of Vijayaraghava Kalyanam. Among the poetesses, Rangajamma was the most famous. The famous music composer Kshetragna, who composed numerous compositions known as padams sung by many musicians of the present day, frequented the court of this king.