The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c16.191

v1.c16.191

20. The Mamidipundi grant of Sadasiva says that he was "the best of the Kings" ⁴; and in an inscription in the Madavaswami temple at Vijayanagara he is called "the fortunate, the great king of kings, Paramesvara, happy, famous and heroic" ⁵. We cannot but smile at such brazen flattery, after having so carefully surveyed the whole of his reign. Though we must really admit that we do not sufficiently know Sadasiva as a king, because he had always been merely one in name; still a nominal king is by no means entitled to the appellation of "the best of kings". As far as we can judge, he was not born to be a king at all, though Correa says he was "a sensible man and a great warrior" ¹. A real king, a heroic sovereign, he would even in his youth have found countless opportunities to break the bars of his prison and escape from his unlawful jailors. Sadasiva was unable to do so, and history can pass no better judgment on him that he happened to be a king of the type of those who closed the Merovingian dynasty of France.