The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c5: Introduction
The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c5
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Introduction
v1.c5.1
The History of the Aravidu Dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire is the history of the Telugu domination over the Tamil and Kanarese people. No doubt the whole of Southern India was under the sway of Vijayanagara prior to the 15th century. But the former rules of the Tamilians had been either retained, as in the case of the Cholas of Tanjore, or restored, as in the case of the Pandyas of Madura, as feudatory kings under the powerful Telugu Empire. Now, when the star—once so bright—of Vijayanagara was on the wane, many of the old native rulers were replaced by Telugu chiefs, destined to become the founders of the royal dynasties of the South after the setting of the imperial glory. The same fate befell most of the rulers of the Kanarese country, though there several of the old native chieftains survived.
v1.c5.2
To study the history of this dynasty without relating the events that turned those Telugu Nayaks first into feudatory kings and then into independent sovereigns, would be to mutilate the history of the fourth dynasty of Vijayanagara. Consequently we propose to deal with the whole history of the South of India, excepting Malabar, from the second half of the 16th century until the middle of the 18th, when the last representative of the old feudatory chiefs of Vijayanagara disappeared with the usurpation of Haidar Ali.
v1.c5.3
It is needless to insist on the importance of this period in the general history of India. Between the dates just mentioned, the already flourishing Portuguese commerce in India met its death-blow by the first appearance in the southern seas of the Danish, Dutch, French and English traders. Deccani Muhammadans, Marathas and Mughals successively invaded the South, and shook to its very foundations the venerable Empire of Vijayanagara. It was also during this period that Vaishnavism was firmly established in the South as a result of the onslaughts on Jainism and Saivism, after the preaching of Ramanujacharya. Finally the successors of St. Francis Xavier, who preached Christ's Gospel on the Fishery Coast at the close of the third dynasty, were actively spreading the Catholic Doctrine, at one time protected by the very Emperors, Nayaks and other chiefs, at another persecuted by them; and one of these missionaries, Fr. R. de Nobili, founded at this time the famous Madura Mission among the high caste people, the effects of which it is impossible to pass over in silence in a general history of the country.
v1.c5.4
As to the contents of this first volume, I must justify my starting with the alternation of the reign of the two as monarchs of the third Dynasty. The end of the Tuluva Dynasty and the beginning of the Aravidu Dynasty are not marked or separated by any great fight or tremendous coup d' etat that puts before our eyes the latter and announces the extinction of the former. The Aravidu family, connected by marriage with the reigning Tuluva Dynasty, became increasingly powerful after the demise of Achyuta Deva Raya. Hence we have selected this event for the beginning of our narrative.
v1.c5.5
Thus we shall see the first appearance of the three representatives of the Aravidu family in the political world of Vijayanagara, and we shall be able to understand thoroughly the causes of its rise to power, even before the total extinction of the preceding dynasty. For, the real founder of the Aravidu Dynasty is certainly not Tirumala; his brother Rama Raya, some years previous to the so-called Talikota disaster, had already paved for his family the path leading to the throne, which he actually mounted with the unanimous approval of the whole of the Empire.
v1.c5.6
Therefore this volume will contain the history of the reigns of five Monarchs of the Empire of Vijayanagara.
v1.c5.7
Venkata I, hitherto simply called Venkatadri, whose early death provoked the seizing of the capital by Rama Raya and his brothers; Sadasiva Raya, who saw patiently the rising of Rama Raya as well as his sudden fall in the national calamity at Raksas-Tagdi; Tirumala, who finally succeeded in establishing the Aravidu family on the throne of Vijayanagara; Ranga I, whose short reign witnessed the increased power of the Muhammadans, who were constantly menacing the northern frontier of the Empire; and finally, Venkata II, known hitherto as Venkata I, the most illustrious sovereign of this Dynasty, who checked the Muslim raids in the North, subdued the turbulent Nayaks in the South, caused the Rajas of Mysore to be firmly established in their realm, strengthened his power by an alliance with the Portuguese and fostered literature and the fine arts throughout his vast dominions. The civil war that followed his death hastened the decay of the Empire.