The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c32.113

v1.c32.113

II. Vaishnavism was also openly professed outside the royal palace. Venkata's nephew Tirumala, the Seringapatam Viceroy, starts one of his decrees with the suggestive words: 'Obeisance to Ramanuja' ⁶. The poet Matla Ananta in the prologue of his works invokes the blessings of the god of Tirupati, and in the colophon to the same work calls himself disciple of the Vaishnava teacher Tirumala Tolappa Acharya ⁷. In 1609 a gift of seven gold-gilt pinnacles for the big gopura of the Vira Narasimha temple at Diguva Tirupati, and of two fly-whisks and an umbrella of white silk with a gilt *kalasa* over it, was made by some merchants of Aravidu ⁸.