Krishnadevaraya Biography(Emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire)
Krishnadevaraya was a prominent ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire of South India. As the third ruler of the Tuluva Dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire, he extended the empire to most of South India, which included present-day Karnataka, Northern Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, stretching upwards in the northeast to Cuttack. He ascended the throne during the most critical stage of the empire and went on to consolidate it as a flourishing empire. He played a major role in defeating the Bahmani Sultans and Portuguese, forcing them to retreat their plans of expanding their empire beyond their boundaries. Along with his prime minister and mentor, Timmarusu, he defeated the Bahmani Sutans, thereby conquering their fortresses of Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, and Bijapur. He led a major campaign against the Gajapatis of Odisha, following which he seized and captured the fortresses of Udayagiri, Kondavalli and Kondavidu. He is often compared with the greatest emperors of Asia and Europe, due to his brilliant achievements and exceptional ability to maintain political stability in the Deccan. By ruling the three most powerful territories in the southern peninsula of India, he was known by different titles, earned as a mark of respect, such as ‘Kannada Rajya Rama Ramana’ (Lord of the Kannada empire) and ‘Andhra Bhoja and ‘Mooru Rayara Ganda’ (King of three Kings).
Birthday: February 16, 1471 (Aquarius)
Born In: Hampi
Died At Age: 57
Father: Tuluva Narasa Nayaka
Siblings: Achyuta Deva Raya
Died On: 1529
Childhood & Early Life :
Krishnadevaraya was born in 1471 in Hampi, Karnataka, to Tuluva Narasa Nayaka, an army commander under Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya, and Nagala Devi.
His father established the Tuluva Dynasty after the death of Saluva Narasimha to prevent it from splitting up.
Accession & Reign :
He ascended the throne in 1509 and developed a strong relationship with the empire’s Prime Minister, Timmarusu, whom he looked upon as a fatherly figure.
He was crowned during the gloomiest period of the Vijayanagara Empire and hence, spent the first few years of his reign battling sieges and conquests to consolidate the kingdom.
Since the Portuguese dominated the sea trade along the Indian coastline, he developed friendly relations with them, following which he traded Arabian horses and guns from the Portuguese merchants.
He engaged Portuguese engineers in improving the supply of water in Vijayanagara City, apart from receiving arms and war materials for invading Raichur.
Following the defeat of the Sultan of Bijapur, Sultan Mahmud, in 1509 at his hands, towns and villages in Vijayanagar saved from annual raids by the Deccan sultans.
He annexed Raichur Doab and subsequently, raided Bidar, Gulbarga and Bijapur, thereby disintegrating the Bahmani Sultans, and took upon the title ‘establisher of the Yavana kingdom’.
By suppressing the local rulers, Reddys of Kondavidu and Velamas of Bhuvanagiri, he managed to conquer lands reaching the Krishna River.
In 1512, he defeated the Ummatur chief, Ganga Raja, to expand his empire – as a result of this defeat, the latter drowned in the waters of Cauvery River. The region was added to the Srirangapatna province.
Following his homage to Sri Venkateswara at Tirupati after his successful invasion of the Udayagiri Fort, he defeated the Gajapati army at Kondavidu and captured the fort after a series of initial routs, compelling the army to surrender.
While the fort was seized through a secret entrance discovered by Timmarusu, who was then appointed the governor of Kondavidu, the son of Prathapa Rudra, Prince Virabhadra, was captured and imprisoned.
As part of his third campaign in South India, he conquered Bezwada, on the banks of Krishna River, followed by the invasion of Kondapalli and forts in Nalgonda and Warangal.
Prathapa Rudra’s plan of crushing Krishnadevaraya and his army was crushed by his attack on the Gajapati Empire’s capital, Cuttack, forcing the former to surrender.
A treaty was signed in 1518, according to which the territories in the Odisha kingdom on the north of Krishna River were returned to the Gajapati ruler while maintaining complete peace between the two empires.
After completely thrashing the Bijapur army, he destroyed the fort of Gulbarga, the former Bahmani capital, though he reinstated the kingdom to Muhammad Shah.
By invading and conquering the different territories in the Bahmani kingdom, he succeeded in expanding his empire to South India.
Due to his high respect and support for art and Telugu literature, his reigning period came to be known as the golden age of Telugu literature, though Sanskrit, Kannada and Tamil literates were also patronized.
He appointed Ashtadiggajas, or eight poets, in his court – Pingali Surana, Nandi Thimmana, Dhurjati, Ramaraja Bhushanudu, Madayyagari Mallana, Tenali Rama Krishna, Ayyala-raju Rama-Bhadrudu, and most importantly Allasani Peddana.
Major Battles :
He attacked the unconquerable Udayagiri Fort, ruled by Gajapati Prathapa Rudra Dev, in 1512 and after a year of continuous battles, the Gajapati army surrendered and escaped to Kondavidu.
The bloody battle of Raichur in 1520 saw over 703,000 foot soldiers, 32, 600 cavalry and 551 elephants fighting Ismail Adil Shah of Bijapur for the capture of its fortress leading to his defeat, amidst the death of 16,000 Vijayanagar soldiers.
Personal Life & Legacy :
- He was married to Tirumala Devi and Chinnama Devi.
- He married Prathapa Rudra’s daughter, Princess Annapurna Devi, who became his third queen, as part of the peace treaty signed by the two rulers to establish peace and harmony on both sides of the Krishna River.
- Being highly religious and devout follower of Lord Tirumala of Tirupati, he donated numerous precious objects to the Venkateswara Temple, including a jewel-studded golden sword and diamond-encrusted crowns.
- In 1524, he pronounced his son, Tirumala Raya as the Yuvaraja but the crown prince didn’t live long to continue his father’s legacy and died, probably due to poisoning.
- With Timmarusu’s son rumored to have poisoned his son, he got both Timmarusu and his son blinded.
- He declared his half-brother Achyuta Deva Raya, as his successor and died in 1529, after falling ill critically.
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