Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c11.s2.t4.19

v1.c11.s2.t4.19

The second aspect of this question is in connection with usurpations. The most conspicuous instances of usurpation are those of the Sāluva chief Nṛisiṁha and of his general Narasa Nāyaka. According to Nuniz, Sāluva Nṛisiṁha, whom he calls "Narsymgua", was responsible for the overthrow of the first dynasty. "One of his (of the king, whom Nuniz calls 'Padearáo') captains who was called Narsymgua, who was in some manner akin to him, seeing his mode of life, and knowing how ill it was for the kingdom that he should live and reign, though all was not yet lost, determined to attack him and seize on his lands; which scheme he at once put into force".⁴ Relying on the strength of the statement in an inscription of Immaḍi-Nṛisiṁha, the son of Sāluva, Nṛisiṁha, that the latter "with the aid of his sword defeated all" and became a *sārvabhauma* or emperor, Mr. J. Ramayya Pantulu concludes that it points "unmistakably to his usurpation of the Karṇāṭa throne".⁵ The same writer characterizes the usurpation by Sāluva Nṛisiṁha and Narasa Nāyaka, the Tuḷuva general, as double usurpation.⁶ It is generally accepted that Narasa Nāyaka supplanted the dynasty of the Sāḷuvas by a line of kings of a purely Tuḷuva stock.¹ The remarks of Wilson in this connection still hold good, although it cannot be maintained with him that the illustrious Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya also usurped the throne.² Another instance of usurpation is that already referred to by Caesar Frederick in his description of the tyrant brothers who kept the rightful king (Sadāśiva Rāya) in prison and who ultimately ushered in the Āraviḍu dynasty in Vijayanagara history.³