Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c9.s6: Section 6. The Later Capitals
Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c9.s6
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Section 6. The Later Capitals
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The great capital, which had not its rival as regards fortifications and wealth, was abandoned by the Hindus. They were cowed by the cruel fate that overtook Rāma Rāya. The invasion of the Bēḍars, who must have swept over the capital in greater numbers then we can gather, must have made matters worse. But the motive which drove Tirumala finally out of Vijayanagara was the insecurity which he felt against the enemy. "Frederick seems to attribute it to another war with the Muhammadans; and the Chikkadevaraya Vamsavali says clearly that he changed his capital 'on account of the constant attacks of the Muhammadans' which naturally baffled all attempts on the part of the Regent to repopulate the city".³
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³ Chikkadēvarāya Vamśāvali, The Sources, p. 303; Heras, ibid., p. 236.
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The seat of the Empire, which immediately after the battle of Rākshasa-Taṅgaḍi, took shelter at Tirupati,⁴ was finally fixed by Tirumala at Penugoṇḍa. This is confirmed by Anquetil du Perron, the Chikkadēvarāya Vamśāvali, and Caesar Frederick. "Anquetil du Perron states that 'not long after he (Tirumala) transferred his court to Panegorde' (Penugonda), and the Chikkadevaraya Vamsavali records that after a short time he changed his capital from Vijayanagara to Penukonda".⁵ But Frederick gives us the date of this event: "In the yeere of our Lord God, 1567, for the ill successe that the people of Bezeneger had, in that their Citie was sacked by the foure Kings, the King with his court went to dwell in a Castle eight dayes journey up in the land from Bezeneger, called Penugonde".¹
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⁴ Heras, ibid., pp. 228, 233.
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⁵ Anquetil du Perron, Des Reserches Historiques et Geographiqies sur l'Inde, p. 166; S. K. Aiyangar, The Sources, p. 302; Heras, ibid. p. 235.
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¹ Caesar Frederick, *Purchas, Pilgrims*, X, p.
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Penugonda was a hill-fort, 3,000 feet high, in the south of the modern Anantapur district. "Kriyasakti Wadeyar, an ancestor of the Rajas of Bellur, is said to be the founder of the fort at Penugonda".² During the reign of Bukka I, Anantarasa Odeyar, who was the great minister (*mahāpradhāna*) of Bukka's son Vira Virūpaṇṇa, enlarged and fortified this centre of defence.³ This was the place where, according to Nuniz, "Tymarsaa" was imprisoned and murdered.⁴ An inscription praises it as a god-built city, the fotifications of which no man could possibly take.⁵ Chennapa Nāyuḍu, an officer of Tirumala Dēva, in Saka 1499 (A.D. 1587-8), repaired its fortifications in the reign of Srīraṅga Rāya.⁶ Nothing more conclusively proves the vitality of the Hindu power than the fact that twelve years after the great battle of Rākshasa-Taṅgaḍi, the Hindus were able to defend successfully the new capital against the Muhammadans. In A.D. 1577 Jagadēva Rāya, the chief of Chennapaṭṭaṇa, and son-in-law of Srīraṅga Rāya, bravely defended Penugonda against the enemy.⁷ It is not surprising, therefore, that Penugonda should be christened by the name of the old city—Vijayanagara Penugonda. Thus we are told in the *History of the Carnataca Governors* that "... Visianagaram-Penu-Kondaipatnam was, for many years, the capital of the Rayer".¹
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⁹⁷ See also Heras, *Aravidu*, p. 235, n. (7); E.C., III., Intr., p. 26; Nj: 198, p. 115; *Ep. Ind.*, III, pp. 238-9; *Ep. Ind.*, XII, p. 341, n. (2). ² Wilson, *Mack. Coll.*, p. 345; (1882 ed.); II. p. 69 (1828 ed.); Heras, ibid., p. 237. ³ 339 of 1901; *Ep. Ind.*, VI, p. 327; Heras, ibid., p. 237. ⁴ Sewell, *For. Emp.*, pp. 309-11. ⁵ 341 of 1911. ⁶ 336 of 1901. Heras writes the following in connection with the same inscription: "The Muhammadans were not likely to shake again the throne of the Telugu Empire as long as it was lodged within such a fortress, especially after the Regent himself had repaired its fortifications, under the direction of Chennappa Nāyuḍu". *Aravidu*, p.
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²³⁸ The epigraph does not warrant such a statement; on the other hand, it merely says that Chennapa Nāyuḍu, who, as related above, was an officer of Tirumala Dēva, repaired and extended the fort (of Penugonda) and defeated several Muhammadan chiefs. How the Rev. Heras came to relegate the Regent to the position of a subordinate of Chennapa Nāyuḍu cannot be understood! B.A.S. ⁷ E.C. III. *Intr.*, p. 28.
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¹ Taylor, O.H.MSS., II, p. 3; Heras, Aravidu, p. 238.
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The first Hindu monarch to be crowned at Penugoṇḍa in the orthodox fashion was Raṅga Rāya II, the second son of Tirumala.² The lawful Emperor, Sadāsiva Rāya, was first imprisoned and then murdered by one of the sons of Tirumala.³ The construction of the lofty eastern gōpuram of the ancient temple of Virūpāksha by Tirumala, a nephew of Raṅga Rāya II, seemed to atone for the treason committed by the members of the new dynasty.⁴ Tirumala "did many acts of charity and maintained the worship of Virūpāksha.... He made an extensive and cool garden by the side of the Tuṅgabhadrā in Kishkindhā (Vijayanagar), and there built the temple of Srīranganātha resembling Srīraṅgam on the banks of the Kāvēri".⁵ The new rulers acknowledged their deep love for the old capital by constructing works of merit within its precincts; but they showed that they could suit themselves to the changing times by fixing their government at the new centre of Penugoṇḍa. Thus the very same fortress which had welcomed the Hoysalas, when they fled before the onrush of the Muhammadans, now received with equal warmth their rightful heirs, the Emperors of Vijayanagara, who also fled before the onslaught of the same enemy.
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² A.S.R. for 1911-12, p. 182.
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³ Read Heras, ibid., pp. 245-6 for a discussion of this question.
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⁴ Rāmarājīyamu, The Sources, p. 311; Heras, ibid., p. 239.
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⁵ Rāmarājīyamu, ibid.
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Burgess, while dealing with the change of the capital, wrote: "Tirumala Rāja, brother of Rāma Rāja of Vijayanagar, retires to Penugoṇḍa, his brother Veṅkatādri establishing himself at Chandragiri".⁶ The assumption implied here is that in the year A.D. 1567 there was divided sovereignty; and that the Vijayanagara Empire was broken up into two kingdoms. This is not borne out by historical facts.⁷ The transference of the capital from Penugoṇḍa in the Anantapur district, to Chandragiri in the North Arcot district, was made, according to some, in the year A.D. 1585, by Veṅkatpati Dēva Rāya, known also as Veṅkaṭa II.⁸ But there is every reason to believe that Chandragiri became the capital under Veṅkaṭapati Dēva II in A.D. 1592.¹
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⁶ Burgess, Chronology, p. 42.
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⁷ Heras, ibid., p. 244.
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⁸ Rice, E.C., III, Intr., p. 28.
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¹ Heras, Aravidu, p. 310-11; Q.J.M.S., XIV, pp. 131-2, n. (9). Read Chisholm, I.A. XII, p. 295, seq.
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Reputed to have been founded by the Yādava king Immaḍi Narasiṁha, about A.D. 1000, Chandragiri strove to attain some prominence under the Yādavas² till the vicissitudes of the mediaeval rulers placed it finally under the charge of the Vijayanagara Emperor Sāḷuva Narasiṁha. This ruler made it the store-house of his treasures³; and it may reasonably be supposed that Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya occasionally made it one of his provincial seats.⁴ With the advent of the Āraviḍu dynasty, it became the seat of Veṅkaṭa, the third brother of Rama Rāya.⁵ It was transformed now into the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire.⁶
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² Sewell, Lists, I, p. 150.
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³ Taylor, O.H.MSS., II, p. 85.
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⁴ Wilkes, Sketches, I, p. 15 (1810); I, p. 10 (1869); Garstin, South Arcot Manual, p. 3; Caldwell, History of Tinnevelly, p. 48.
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⁵ Sewell, ibid.
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⁶ Chikkadēvarāya Vaṁśāvali, The Sources, p. 302.
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About the middle A.D. 1606, however, the fading fortunes of a royal capital were shared by Chandragiri with the fortress of Vellore which, after the subjugation of the rebel chief Liṅgama Nāyaka, was graced by the presence of the Emperor Veṅkaṭapati Dēva Rāya and his court.⁷ This new centre was a product of mediaeval times. One Bommi Reḍḍi, a native of Bhadrāchalam, was its founder.⁸ Like Chandragiri it had received the patronage of the Vijayanagara Emperor Narasiṁha.⁹ A magnificent fortress, it had become the growing centre of the Nāyakas of Vellore, who, especially during and after the times of Chinna Bomma, managed to rise to the rank of rebels. But the old name Vijayanagara still clung to the new place even in the minds of foreign travellers. Mandelslo, a traveller from Holstein, who visited the coast of Coromandel in A.D. 1639, informs us that the king "resides sometimes at Bisnaga, sometimes at Narasinga".¹⁰ The former referred to Chandragiri, the latter to Vellore. In A.D. 1646, three centuries after the foundation of the City of Victory by Bukka, his last representative fled to Bednore.¹
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⁷ For further remarks, see Heras, ibid., p. 311.
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⁸ Rāmarājīyamu, The Sources, pp. 243, 251; Heras, ibid., p. 320.
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⁹ Cox, North Arcot Manual, II, p. 418.
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¹⁰ Wilkes, Sketches, I, p. 15 (1810); I, p. 10 (1869); Garstin, South Arcot Manual, p. 3; Caldwell, History of Tinnevelly, p. 48.
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¹¹ Mandelslo, Voyages and Travels, Lib., II, p. 94; (Davis, 2nd ed. 1699): Heras, ibid., p. 313.
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¹ Wilks, Sketches, I, p. 57 (1810); I, p. 36 (1869); Satyanatha, Nayaks, p. 132. For the last date of Sriranga, read Dr. Aiyangar's remarks, ibid., p. 133 n.
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The grim irony of nature is nowhere better illustrated than in the case of the great city of Vijayanagara which, rising out of comparative insignificance, sank back into it after the mild memories of Sriranga Raya. At Anegundi is his legitimate successor,² struggling against the pretensions of the descendant³ of those very potentates who had failed single-handed in every attempt of theirs to break the strength of the monarchs of Vijayanagara for two centuries and a half of memorable history.
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² Sri-Krishnna Ravulu, son of Sri-Ranga Rayulu.
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³ The Nizam of Haidarabad.