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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(NOVEMBER, 1914.
and Venkatâdri, a man of exceptional martial valour,' became the most powerful and influential men in the Empire in the time of Sadasiva Raya. Powerful as those men were, they neither abused their power nor behaved like cowards. On the other hand, Râma Rêya was one of the most aggressive statesmen of the age, one in whom the love of domination was the quintessence of life. His soaring ambition not only longed wipe off the disgrace which Vijayanagar had sustained in the previous reign, but to extend its borders, at the expense of the Decoan Sultans, to the Vindyas. As great in action as he way bold in design, Rama Rêya proceeded to achieve his object with wisdom. A born diplomatist, he adopted the Machiavellian66 scheme of playing off the Musalman States against one another. The very next year after Sadasiva's accession, he joined the Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar in an invasion of Bijậpur. In 1551, he again co-operated with Ahmadnagar against Bijapur, and in the campaign which followed, recovered the whole of the Raichur Daab. Four years later, he assisted Bijapur, the very State whose humiliation he had so recently effected, in its endeavour to quell & rebel vassal and to check the Portuguese. With the aid of his new ally he then made war with his old ally Ahmadnagar, and in a series of campaigns, spread terror and devastation through that kingdom. The result of these skilful alliances and counter-alliances was that Vijayanagar was able to assume a sort of supremacy over the Bahmani States. The Hindu Emperor beheld with pleasure the discord of the Musalmans, and boldly despatched a Vijayanagar army to the Vindyan barriers, which he considered thereafter to be the northern confines of his Empire.
The Revival of the Travancore Aggressions in the South. Never was the power of Vijayanagar so much felt, and never did fortune so invariably follow its standard. The Sultans were so completely eclipsed by the Hindu Emperor that they had to implore his protection and acknowledge his dominion in practice, if not in theory. While the foreign policy of Rama Raya was such a glorious success, his internal policy was not less glorious. A number87 of inscriptions prove that the exercise of imperial authority in the south was a living and potent fact. An incident which took place in the extreme south of the peninsula similar to that of the year 1532 illustrates this. In the year 1543 the great Sri-Vallabha Paudya-Rajya-Sthâpanâcharya died, and was succeeded by his cousin Abhirâma Parákrama, who ruled for the next decade, till 1552.09 The new king was apparently a feeble and incompetent man. At any rate, he seems to have been
66 For details of his campaigns seo Ferishta, Vol. III. They have been reproduced and compared with Portuguese authorities by Sewell in his Forg. Emp., 188-195. For a Ms. account of Ramaraja's contests with the Muhammadans till the battle of Talikotta, see the Canara Kyfeats, Vol. IV of Col. Mackenzie. A very short and moagre review of it is in Taylor's Rais. Catal. III, p. 640. The most conspicuous Telugu literary work, Narapativijayamu, also celebrates the glory of Ramardya. The Vasucharitra is another important work throwing light on this period of Vijayanagar history,
67 More than 16 ingo, exist, shewing Sadasiva's rule in the south. Inso. 129 of 1905 says that he was the conqueror of all countries and Ceylon, and that his viceroy was Vithala, who had an agent named Råmappa Naik at Kalakadu. Inso, 5 and 27 of 1906 recognize his power in the Kongu Country, 476 of 1905 mentions him at Tiruvalangadu, 256 of 1894 says that his brother Venkatadri was at Tiruvayir in 1559, Inec. 318 of 1905 says that Rama Raya remitted the tax on barbers in the Carnata country in 1547. His subordinate in Gingee was Achyutappa Naik Examples may be multiplied, but are unnecessary.
68 Trav. Arch. Series; Ep. Rep. 1910-11, etc.
69 Ibid p. 61 Mr. Gopinatha Rao's version seems, in this case, to be preferable to Mr. Krishna Sa-tri's. (See Trav. Arch. Series p. 103). The whole question, however, is still unsettled.
