The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c30.60

v1.c30.60

Barradas does not give the date of this boy’s birth. According to Queyroz it took place in 1611, during the siege of St. Thome by Venkata 2; but this date is not consistent with the fact that the boy was married at fourteen years of age, during Venkata’s life-time, as Barradas narrates 3. This should take us back to 1600 at the least, when we remember that Venkata died in 1614. But we have reason to believe that his birth actually took place some years earlier than 1600, since the Jesuit letters (excepting this one of Barradas, written during the civil war after Venkata’s death), never mentioned such a boy. This silence may mean that the memory of this boy’s birth was not fresh when the Jesuits reached Venkata’s court in 1599. Consequently, we have sufficient reason to locate this event in the first years of Venkata’s reign, most likely when the capital was still at Penukonda.