The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c21.159

v1.c21.159

14. We have already mentioned several feudatory chiefs of the time of Venkata, but to those we must add several other known through different sources. An inscription of Venkata of 1592 records the grant of a house for the location of a matha to Ananda Namasivaya Pandaram by Periya Errama Nayak of Punnarrur ⁶. Venkatapati Nayaningaru, the grandson of Velugoti Pedda Kondama Nayadu, and son of Kummara Timma Nayadu, declares himself feudatory of Venkatapati Raya in an inscription of 1612 ⁷; in another of the same year he is said to be 'an Arjuna in war' ⁸. In another of 1616, Narakampi Nayaningaru, likewise a feudatory of Sadasiva, gave the hereditary privilege of worship in the temple of Kona Vallabharaya to one Kandagada Guruvayya¹. The Venkatagiri Raja Pedda Yachama Nayadu, known as Yacha Surudu, got the Permadi country as a gift from Venkata II, and proved his loyalty to him in the following civil war². Yachama Nayaka, one of the feudatories of Venkata, of whom we have previously spoken, was, it seems, amongst the most powerful chiefs of the Empire. the *Bahulasvacharitam* speaks of him as having received presents of elephants and horses from Nizam Shah, Adil Shah and Qutb Shah. He was highly esteemed by the people of the cities of Cuttack, Delhi, Agra, Ahmadnagar, Mahur, Shiraj, Kalamba, Manduva, Makkha, Bedandakota (Bidar), Hukumi and Mahishmati³. Finally, the Jesuit records mention another chief, named by them Paparagiu (Papa Raya), identified, according to Dr. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, with the chief Davalu Papa who was defeated by Velugoti Yachama Nayadu at Uttaramaluru⁴. Fr. Simon de Sa, writing from Mylapor on November 20th, 1598, says that this chief "in one house kept three hundred Brachmans, and gave hospitalitie to the Pilgrims which went on, or came from Tripeti⁵". Fr. Du Jarric, who calls him 'a powerful chief', mentions the same fact⁶ and says moreover that "he placed his dwelling on the top of a very high mountain, encompassed by shady forests. The town was built all over the slopes of this mountain from the valley to the top⁷".