Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c6.62

c6.62

If the Portuguese historian Couto is to be believed, Sadāśiva was but sixteen years old when he ascended the throne. Hence Rāma Rāja administered the kingdom for the king. About 1550 Sadāśiva was imprisoned and Rāma Rāja claimed from that time equal status with the king, but since 1563 the minister almost became an usurper and ruled the empire as an independent sovereign assuming all imperial titles. From Cæsar Frederick we learn that he "sate on the Royal throne and was called king."³⁷ Thus Rāma Rāja also proved an usurper. Speaking about this usurpation Heras expresses the opinion that the imprisonment of Sadāśiva and the usurpation of all royal authority by the chief minister "was due more to the incapability of the young puppet sovereign than to his own ambition," and adds that "from this point of view this usurpation provides a special sidelight of self-sacrifice for the welfare of the country and the salvation of the empire."³⁸ But one cannot agree with this view. This argument can be urged to justify the usurpation by any able minister. If really Rāma Rāja was only anxious to ensure the efficient administration of the empire he could well have accomplished this end even as a minister.