Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c21.s2.t2.8

v2.c21.s2.t2.8

The temple of Virūpāksha, however, was the place where the anointment ceremony of the kings of Vijayanagara took place. Thus an inscription dated Śaka 1430 expired, Śukla saṃvatsara Māgha Śu. 14, contains the following about Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya the Great: "...the illustrious Vira Kṛṣṇa-rāya Mahārāya, at the auspicious time of the festival of his coronation (paṭṭābhiṣhēka), for (providing) daily oblations of food (amṛta-paḍi-naivēdya), to the holy Virūpāksha-dēva(i.e., of Paṃpā)" granted to the temple the village of Siṅganāyakanahaḷḷi.² The fact of the coronation ceremony having been conducted in the presence of the god Virūpāksha, though not specifically stated in the above epigraph, is gathered from the records of his successors, some of whom were also crowned in the other famous temples of the Empire. Achyuta Dēva Rāya was crowned in Śaka 1452 (A. D. 1530-1) in the temple of Kāḷahasti, and on this occasion the king remitted the customs duties on the imports and exports at several seaports¹. This ruler seems to have been crowned twice—once at the place mentioned above, and again at Vijayanagara. This is inferred from Rājanātha's *Achutarāyābhyudayam* in which it is said :