Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c14.s2.2

c14.s2.2

The history of the religion of the Vijayanagar house is an epitome of the history of the religious movements in the empire. The early Vijayanagar kings were Śaivas of an orthodox type, but the later sovereigns became staunch Vaiṣṇavas with a predilection for God Veṅkaṭēśa of Tirupati in preference to Śrī Virūpākṣa of Vijayanagar. This change of faith of the ruling princes had its indirect effects on the faith of the people in the empire, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Śrī-Vaiṣṇavism spread in South India with amazing rapidity.