From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From Sanskrit तप (tapa) + -ంబు (-mbu).
తపంబు (tapambu)
- penance
- Budaraju Radhakrishna (1971) “తపంబు”, in Early Telugu Inscriptions (up to 1100 A.D.) with Texts, Glossary & Brief Linguistic History., Kalabhavan, Saifabad, Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Akademi, page 328.