Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c9.s6.7

v1.c9.s6.7

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