A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.71

c17.71

The whole of Achyuta Rāya’s reign was spent in a struggle against adverse conditions created by internal revolts, foreign aggression and the intrigues and ambitions of Rāma Rāya. Trade everywhere was hampered and pilgrim traffic suffered from the activities of bandits who infested, if they did not control, the highways. Achyuta put up a brave fight against his many difficulties and does not merit the harsh judgement passed on him by Nuniz and others who have accepted a low estimate of his character. His life forms the subject of an ornate poem in Sanskrit, the *Achyutarāyābhyudaya*, by the court-poet Rājanātha Diṇḍima, written during the lifetime of the monarch: even after making all possible allowances for the intemperate eulogies which the poem contains, we can still sense that Achyuta had uncommon and praiseworthy characteristics.