Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c7.s3.100

v1.c7.s3.100

The earlier Vijayanagara monarchs, moreover, continued the Hoysala tradition by prefixing to their names one of the titles of one of the later Hoysala kings. It has not been explained till now why the founders of the Empire had the title of Oḍeyar along with those of Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara, Arirāyavibhāḍa, Bhāshege-tappuva-rāyara-gaṇḍa, etc. If, as has been assumed in some quarters, Harihara assumed royal titles during the lifetime of Hoysala Ballāḷa III, or of his son Vira Virūpāksha Ballāḷa, nothing could have prevented him and his brothers from calling themselves Mahārājas and Rājaparamēśvaras from the very start of their political career. But Harihara I and Bukka I called themselves Oḍeyars as a mark of respect to the memory of the last Hoysala ruler, Vira Virūpāksha Ballāḷa, who, in an inscription dated A.D. 1342, as Mr. Krishna Sāstri rightly supposes, is called Hampe Oḍeyar.³