Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c7.s2.48

v1.c7.s2.48

That it was to the interest of these new relations of the Hoysalas to allow matters a free movement, can be seen by the way in which the *yuvarājābhiṣheka* ceremony of Virūpāksha Ballāḷa, or Ballāḷa IV, was conducted in A.D. 1340. The absence of any political struggle and the rapid rise to power of the founders of Vijayanagara may be explained, therefore, not by saying that the dumb millions in their traditional apathy did not mind who ruled over them; or by saying simply that the Vijayanagara dynasty was "a necessary continuative substitute for the fallen dynasty after the circumstances of a crushing foreign conquest",¹ but by tracing the true relationship which existed between the old and the new families; and especially by understanding the ideal which the founders of the latter placed before themselves, and which, in spite of foreign wars and palace intrigues, they and their successors succeeded in maintaining with firmness and splendour till the end of the sixteenth century. The vanishing rulers as well as the common people realized that the honour of their homes and the destiny of the country were safe in the hands of the descendants of Saṅgama.