Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c7.s3.84

v1.c7.s3.84

However that may be, even the accounts of Nañjuṇḍa and Gaṅga add to the evidence which is overwhelmingly in favour of the point we are to understand, viz., that the first rulers of Vijayanagara were of pure Karṇāṭaka stock. The founders of Vijayanagara sprang from a Karṇāṭaka tribe; they ruled in the Hoysaṇa or Karṇāṭaka land; they maintained the Hoysala or Karṇāṭaka traditions, and even allowed the Hoysala officers to continue in their office; they showed great unwillingness to part with the birthplace of the Hoysalas; they were proud to call themselves rulers who made it possible for the *Lady Karṇāṭaka Dēśa* to wear permanently her ear-rings; they subscribed themselves till and beyond the days of their splendour, in the Karṇāṭaka language; and finally, their family god, even for many years after the fatal battle of Rākshasa-Taṅgaḍi was always a Karṇāṭaka deity. These reasons make it impossible for one to believe that they originated from the Telugu land, although it is true that at the end of a series of political events, a great Telugu dynasty took upon itself the much-worn mantle of Vijayanagara authority.