The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c26.52

v1.c26.52

The Chikkadevaraya Vamsavali says that Raja Wodeyar, on hearing of the defection of Tirumala in the siege of Madura, "resolved to drive the traitor Tirumala Raya from his Viceroyalty, and sent his spies to test the feeling among Tirumala Raya's feudatories" 2. But we have rejected this passage as a concoction of the poet inconsistent with other proved historical facts, and as clearly evincing the author's biassed purpose, viz. to extol the founder of the dynasty. But this is not the only story forged around this event. "The acquisition of Seringapatam in 1610", says Wilks, "is related in different manuscripts with a diversity of statement, which seems only to prove a mysterious intricacy of intrigue beyond the reach of contemporaries to unravel. The pervailing tale states that the Viceroy Tremul Raj, being afflicted with rajpora or royal boil (the disorder most fatal to opulent and luxurious Indians) retired to the holy temple of Talcaud (Talakkad), with the view of being cured by the interposition of the idol, or of breathing his last before the sacred shrine; and that previously to his departure, he had selected Raj Wodeyar of Mysore for the confidential trust of administering the government in his absence; and in the event of his death, of transferring it to his kinsman and heir the Wodeyar of Ammatur" 1. Wilks wisely rejects this tale, and we reject both as contradictory to each other.