South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c9.68

c9.68

There is an interesting reference to a bronze temple in the account of Abdur Razzak, the Persian ambassador to Deva Raya II (1420-43) of Vijayanagar. In the course of his journey from Mangalore to Vijayanagara he visited a town "where he saw a small but wonderful temple made of bronze". But it is impossible to say if the temple was constructed by the Vijayanagara Kings. The temple at Tirupati, on Tirumala hill, was the object of the lavish endowments of the Vijayanagara Kings and the riches of this temple are said to have attracted the greed of Portuguese invaders led by the Governor of Goa in 1545. In lower Tirupati there are still a few families of image-makers and bronze casters.