Abraham Eraly - The Age of Wrath - A History of the Delhi Sultanate

On Narasimha’s death, his eldest son, Timma, was crowned king, but the boy was soon killed in a palace intrigue, so Narasa Nayaka placed the raja’s second son, Immadi Narasimha, on the throne, but kept him under his tutelage and himself ruled as the de facto king. But Narasa Nayaka himself died in a few years, upon which his son, Vira Narasimha, took over as the regent. But Vira Narasimha had none of his father’s scruples. Presently he got rid of his ward by assassination, then himself ascended the throne, and founded the Tuluva dynasty, the third dynasty of the kingdom.

This usurpation led to widespread unrest in the kingdom, and several rebellions erupted in its provinces. At this time there was also an invasion of the kingdom by Adil Shah of Bijapur. In the midst of all these troubles Vira Narasimha himself died, in 1509. The major concern of the raja at the time of his death was to secure the throne for his children, so he (according to Nuniz) instructed Saluva Timma, his trusted Brahmin minister, to blind his brothers and raise one of his sons to the throne. But Timma sensibly disregarded the royal mandate and offered the throne to Krishnadeva, the raja’s youngest brother — half-brother, actually — who then ascended the throne, in August 1509.

KRISHNADEVA WAS IN his early twenties at the time of his accession, and had hardly any administrative or military experience. But he turned out to be the most celebrated ruler of Vijayanagar, who was exceptionally successful in administration as well as in military campaigns. In the initial years of his reign, he had the great advantage of having the sagacious counsel of Saluva Timma, whom the raja affectionately called appaji , revered father.

The kingdom that Krishnadeva inherited was, at the time of his accession, beset with several rebellions and invasions, but the raja prevailed over all his adversaries, and in time raised Vijayanagar to the stature of the most powerful kingdom in the peninsula. The first invasion he faced, soon after his accession, was by Mahmud Shah, the Bahmani sultan, who, though he was little more than a figurehead at this time, was prodded by his nobles to lead an army against Vijayanagar. But the raja was equal to the challenge; he not only routed the enemy army massed at his frontier, but pursued it into the Bahmani territory, trounced it again in a second battle, and then went on to capture Gulbarga, the old capital of the Sultanate, as well as Bidar, its new capital. The raja then restored Mahmud Shah to the throne — perhaps because he was innocuous, or perhaps because the sultan was expected to add another unsettling element in the turbulent politics of the disintegrating Sultanate. The raja then returned to Vijayanagar.

After the Bahmani campaign, Krishnadeva was for a couple of years engaged in suppressing a rebellion in southern Karnataka. This was followed by a major campaign by him to recover the eastern provinces of the kingdom lost to Gajapati, the king of Orissa, during previous regimes. This was a prolonged, five year long campaign, but it ended in total victory for Krishnadeva — he not only recovered the lost provinces but even stormed into Cuttack, Gajapati’s capital. There was however no vindictiveness in Krishnadeva’s treatment of Gajapati; rather, he concluded a generous peace treaty with him, by which he agreed to treat river Krishna as the boundary between their kingdoms, and returned to Gajapati all the lands that he (Krishnadeva) had conquered north of the river. And Gajapati in turn gave one of his daughters in marriage to Krishnadeva, to seal their alliance with a family bond.

The other major wars of Krishnadeva were against Golconda and Bijapur, independent kingdoms that had emerged out of the fragmented Bahmani Sultanate. In the war against Bijapur, the raja occupied Gulbarga, destroyed its fortifications, and placed a Bahmani prince, a son of Mahmud Shah, on the throne there as his ward, presumably in the hope of resuscitating the Bahmani dynasty under Vijayanagar patronage. He also took two of the sultan’s brothers with him to Vijayanagar, where they were provided with all princely amenities, but were treated as the raja’s dependants, symbols of his dominance over the Sultanate.

On his return to his capital from the Bijapur campaign, Krishnadeva abdicated the throne in favour of his infant son born to him in his old age, and himself carried on the administration as chief minister, presumably to ensure the eventual smooth succession of the prince. But the prince died after a few months, poisoned in a palace intrigue. Krishnadeva’s only other son was a baby at this time, just eighteen months old, so it was impossible for the raja to arrange his succession. He therefore set his half-brother Achyuta free from confinement and designated him as his successor.

KRISHNADEVA WAS A peerless warrior king and a great military strategist, who was never, even once, defeated in battle. He invariably led his army in person, and often fought in the frontline of his army, thus inspiring valour in his soldiers. He also paid scrupulous attention to the welfare of his soldiers, and after every battle he usually went around the battlefield to take care of the wounded and to offer them solace. Not surprisingly, his soldiers were fiercely loyal to him, which in part explains why he was invincible.

As in military matters, Krishnadeva was thorough in administrative matters also, and was meticulously attentive to every detail. He toured around his kingdom regularly, to ensure that its provinces remained firmly under his control and functioned efficiently. Every aspect of life in his kingdom received similar attention from him. And he took particular care to stimulate the economy of the state. Agricultural prosperity was crucial for the welfare of his kingdom, so he made a major effort to improve the irrigation system in the state by repairing the existing tanks and canals and constructing some new ones, and for this he even recruited the services of a Portuguese engineer. Krishnadeva also lightened the tax burden on the people by abolishing vexatious minor taxes, like the marriage tax, reflecting his general concern for the welfare of the people.

Krishnadeva was equally renowned for his patronage of scholars, writers and artists, and his court was adorned by a group of eight Telugu literary luminaries, known as the Ashtadiggajas. The raja himself was a distinguished poet, and had to his credit the composition of Amukta-malyada , an epic poem in Telugu on Andal — a saint poet of the Tamil Bhakti movement — and of her intense longing for union with god Vishnu. Krishnadeva was a deeply religious person, and he regularly visited temples, often accompanied by his queens, to offer worship. And it was Krishnadeva who ordered the sculpting of the gigantic statue of Narasimha — carved out of a single granite boulder — which still stands in the ruins of Vijayanagar. According to Domingo Paes, an early sixteenth century Portuguese traveller in India, the raja also built near Vijayanagar a new palace complex in honour of his favourite wife, Nagala Devi, named it Nagalapur after her, and made it his favourite residence.

There is a good amount of information, in Indian as well as foreign sources, about the reign of Krishnadeva, much more than about any other Vijayanagar king. These sources also provide vivid descriptions of the appearance and manners of the raja. ‘This king,’ writes Paes, ‘is of medium height, and of fair complexion and good figure, rather fat than thin; he has on his face smallpox marks. He is the most feared and perfect king that could possibly be, cheerful of disposition and very merry; he is one that seeks to honour foreigners, and receives them kindly, asking about all their affairs … He is a great ruler and a man of much justice … is gallant and perfect … in all things … The king was clothed in certain white cloths embroidered with many roses in gold, and with a pateca of diamonds of very great value on his neck, and on his head he had a cap of brocade in fashion like Galician helmet, covered with a piece of fine stuff all of fine silk, and he was barefooted.’