Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c17.s3.t2.7

v2.c17.s3.t2.7

The respect in which this stage of life was held by the people of Vijayanagara is described in an inscription dated Śaka 1438 (A. D. 1516). Kṛishṇa Dēva Rāya, in the presence of Viṭhṭhalēśvara on the bank of the Tuṅgabhadrā river, conferred the village of Māṇḍya, otherwise called Kṛṣṇarāyapuram, together with certain hamlets, to Gōvinda Rāja, son of Varadāchārya, and grandson of Anantāchārya, on whom Veṅkaṭēśa after diligent search had placed the garland of flowers.¹ The story alluded to in this inscription is briefly told by Rice. Anantāchārya, it appears, was a disciple of the reformer Rāmānujāchārya and the only one among his disciples who volunteered to accept the duty of daily preparing the garlands for the god Veṅkaṭēśa of Tirupati. This he did solely from *bhakti* or devotion to his *guru*. Gōviṅda Rāja, who was twelfth in descent from Anantāchārya, was, it is said, a confirmed ascetic. The god learning the distress of his parents at their son's remaining a bachelor and the threatened extinction of the family, appeared to him while at penance, and announcing that his devotion was accepted, threw a garland over him, at the same time directing him to marry and serve thenceforth as a householder.² Whatever may be the value attached to this anecdote, it is significant that in an inscription of A.D. 1516 there should be an allusion to the excellence of the *gṛihastāśrama* and the piety of Anantāchārya.