Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c5.18

c5.18

Literature received the fostering care of the Rāyas of Vijayanagar. The sovereigns extended their patronage to Sanskrit and Telugu literature. According to tradition the empire itself was founded under the auspices of the great sage and scholar, Vidyāraṇya. Sāyaṇa, who lived in the time of Harihara I, Bukka I, and Harihara II, earned undying celebrity as the commentator of the Vedas. The court of almost every Vijayanagar king was adorned by a number of scholars. Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya was, as already noted, himself a great scholar and author of Telugu and Sanskrit works. In his court flourished great and notable scholars like Allasāni Peddana, Nandi (Mukku) Timmana and others. Kanarese literature also flourished in that age; but it does not seem to have received such great patronage as Sanskrit or Telugu got under the Vijayanagar kings.