The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c32.76

v1.c32.76

9. The immediate successors of Rama Raya, however, did not abjure the cult of Vishnu. On the other hand, it seems their devotion even increased. Tirumala is called in his Penuguluru grant 'a repository of nectar-like devotion to Hari (Vishnu)' 5. According to the colophon of his supposed commentary on the Gita Govinda his favourite deity was Rama ¹. In 1568 he made two grants to a Vaishnava temple at Khairuwalla, Karnul ². In the same year he made another grant to another Vaishnava temple in the village of Gundala ³. The so-called ‘three Swami pagoda’, introduced by Tirumala, displays three figures, the central one standing, and the other two seated; they are said to be either Lakshmana with Rama and Sita, or Venkatesvara with his two wives ⁴. In either case this coin proves Tirumala's Vaishnava devotion. With Tirumala also a new Vaishnava feature appears in the royal grants. Till the battle of Raksas-Tagdi the grants of the Emperors of Vijayanagara, even after their converson to Sri Vaishnavism, were as a general rule made in the presence of Virupaksha; but after the establishment of Tirumala at Penukonda, his grants were made in the presence of Ramachandra in the temple of its fort ⁵.