Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c9.s2.140

v1.c9.s2.140

The memory of the foundation of the capital by Bukka I survived till the days of Couto and Faria y Sousa. And even in the accounts of Nuniz one may find the truth of the statement given by the inscriptions and the talented Queen of Kampaṇa II. Couto, whose version of the story we have already recorded, thus writes about Bukka: "He was attacked by the king of Delhi, but the latter was defeated and retired, whereupon Bukka established a city 'and called it Visaja Nagar, which we corruptly call Bisnaga'."² The Portuguese historian Faria y Sousa thus writes about the origin of the Karṇāṭaka kingdom of Vijayanagara: "This Kingdom of Charnalaca, corruptly Canara, had no Sovereign Prince till the Year of Grace 1200. It began then in Boca, a Shepherd, who styled himself Rao, that is, Emperor a Title that continued in all his Successors. This King, as a Memorial of the Defeat given to the King of Delij, Built the famous City of Visajanagar, corruptly also called Bis-nagar".³ Admitting that Nuniz has confounded the names of the founders of the Empire, yet from him we may glean something about the construction of the capital by Bukka. Nuniz says: "The King ('Deorao', according to Nuniz) going one day a-hunting as was often his wont, to a mountain on the other side of the river Nagumdym (i.e., Anegundi) where now is the city of Bisnaga—, which at that time was a desert place in which much hunting took place . . .".⁴ Nuniz makes this "Deorao" the first king of Vijayanagara, and the builder of the capital. This is contradicted by the evidence from inscriptions and from the writings of Gaṅgādēvī. Now, if, as Sewell assumes, we take "Deorao" (Dēva Rāya) to be the general appellation by which the Hindu kings were known⁵; and if we admit that Nuniz, in spite of many accurate details he has given us, has confounded the names of the founders, we may on the strength of the epigraphical evidence interpret "Deorao" as "Bukka Dēva Rāya". Contemporary and later evidence, therefore, attributes the foundation of the capital to Bukka I.