The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c16.28

v1.c16.28

4. What were his first steps on this rough road to save the Empire from a Muhammadan invasion? It seems that when the first news of the defeat and execution of Rama Raya reached Vijayanagara, nobody thought of anything else but of hurrying to escape either certain death or ignoble slavery. Tirumala with his relatives, his wives and those of his brothers and sons, the ministers and nobles of the Empire, the generals and soldiers together with their Emperor Sadasiva, who then for the first time appeared in public after six years of rigorous imprisonment ⁶, left the city of Vijayanagara a few hours later ⁷. A great convoy followed them: one thousand five hundred and fifty elephants laden with treasure in gold, diamonds and precious stones, coins of the Empire, and other things of this kind, valued altogether at more than a hundred millions sterling. They also carried away the famous jewelled throne of the kings, celebrated and mentioned in the inscriptions in every corner of the Empire ¹.