Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c11.s2.t4.3

v1.c11.s2.t4.3

Of all the questions which the sons of Saṅgama and their successors had to solve,² that which was fraught with the greatest danger, at least so far as internal administration was concerned, was the continual recurrence of civil wars, usurpations, and rebellions on the part of the princes and potentates placed over the different provinces of the Empire. A satisfactory settlement of the paramount problem of guarding the northern parts of the Empire³ was frustrated, to a great extent, by the fear of interminable civil wars. Internal strife was not uncommon during certain periods of Vijayanagara history. The earliest signs of such civil commotion are seen in the years immediately following the reign of Harihara Rāya II, under whom the kingdom seems to have reached the utmost limits and to have been firmly secured.⁴ The late Mr. T. Gopinatha Rao was the first to draw attention to the confusion which prevailed in the year A.D. 1404-5 when Bukka II and his brother Virūpāksha were both represented as ruling from the capital city. According to Mr. Gopinatha Rao, since the reign of Virūpāksha (in A.D. 1404) "overlaps that of Bukka II", "it is not easy to explain how Virūpāksha could have reigned in the same period, except on the supposition that either Virūpāksha was acting as a regent, or that he seized the throne from his brother Bukka II, ruled for a short time, and was dethroned by the partisans of Bukka II. This latter may have been in his turn ousted from the government by Dēvarāya I. Hence we might conclude that after the death of Harihara II there was a rapid succession of kings one after another, thus: Bukka II, Virūpāksha, Bukka II, once again, and Dēvarāya I".¹ Sewell, relying on the testimony of Nuniz, speaks of a period of confusion in Vijayanagara after the death of Dēva Rāya II.²