The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c25.21

v1.c25.21

2. According to the *Sahithyaratnakara*, Achyutappa Nayaka, on account of old age, resigned the crown in favour of his son Raghunatha Nayaka, and retired to Srirangam, where he spent the rest of his life. Consequently Raghunatha was crowned according to the ancient rites, Govinda Dikshita performing the ceremony ⁵. Up to this time we have relied upon the authority of Govinda Dikshita’s son, Yagnanarayana Dikshita; who, however, to give some dramatic interest to his poem, placed the renunciation of Achyutappa after the outbreak of the civil war, and the death of Venkata II. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Anquetil du Perron said that Achyutappa “had resigned and given up the government affairs some years before 1600” ⁶. But Fr. Pimenta, when passing through Tanjore in 1597, wrote that Achyutappa “has lately renounced the world and prepared himself for death” ⁷. Fr. du Jarric agrees with him ¹. Hence there can be no longer any doubt about the date of Achyutappa’s renunciation: the year 1597 witnessed the coronation of Raghunatha and his father’s pilgrimage to Srirangam. The *Raghunathabhyudayam* agrees with Pimenta and Anquetil du Perron; according to this poem, Raghunatha was crowned King long before the civil war and the war with Ceylon ².