The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c19.45

v1.c19.45

But somewhat before 1583 a war broke out between the Nayak and Venkata of Chandragiri, the Viceroy of Vijayanagara. What was the cause of this rupture of relations? The success of Virappa against the Mavalipuram chief perhaps excited his ambition, and he consequently refused to pay his tribute to the Emperor. This was invariably the cause of all the following wars between Madura and Vijayanagara. Nor do we groundlessly attribute the same cause to the first of these wars ⁶. We are made aware of it by the Pudukkottai plates of Srivallabha and Varatungarama Pandya. They speak only of the final battle between the two armies: Venkataraja himself was at the head of his ‘huge army’, one of his officers being Basavaraja, a Telugu chieftain who had also been present at the battle of Raksas-Tagdi¹. Achyutaraya, the Tanjore Nayak, had also joined Venkata against Virappa. The army of Madura was commanded by Tirmularaja, who, in the same plates, is called the right hand of Virappa. He “employed in his wars against his enemies iron guns which he charged with leaden shots.” This Pandya document states that Tirumularaja killed Basavaraja in the battle of Vallaprakara, and defeated Venkata’s army. “The armies of Viraraja”, it says, “were destroyed, but that of Achyutaraja fled away. Tirumalalraja collected all the horses from the battlefield”². We may admit the first fact, but the defeat of Venkata’s troops is a figment of imagination. How can we explain the fact that Virappa Nayaka himself acknowledges the authority of the Vijayanagara Emperor in the beginning of the reign of the same Venkata, a few years later? These plates are all a panegyric of Tirumalairaja, at whose request the Pandya sovereigns made the grant of Pudukkottai. We are sure that Venkata obtained a victory over his enemies on this occasion. This implies also the payment of the tribute due.