FOUND AT VIJAYANAGAR. 



11 



The truth appears however to be that not only were their claims set aside by 

 their uncle, but that even in the life time of their father VfRANARAsiNHA, 

 Krishnadeva usurped the supreme authority and hence the doubtful 

 occurrence of the name of the former in public documents from 1508 to 1530' 

 the period assigned for the reign of Krishnadeva. 



According to the Krishna Raya Cheritra, Krishnadeva was the son of 

 Narasinha by a concubine Nagambes. His stepmother, the queen Tipamba, 

 dreading what came to pass, the supplanting of her own son Virasinha, 

 prevailed upon the king to order Krishnadeva to be put to death, but the 

 prince was preserved and secreted by the minister. Narasinha on his 

 death-bed being informed of the preservation of his son, declared him his 

 heir and successor, and the chief Poligars concurring in his nomination, the 

 claims of Viranarasinha were disregarded, and he died, it is said, of grief 

 at his disappointment. 



The dominion of Vijayanagar that had been partly recovered by 

 Narasinha was fully re-established by Krishnadeva. He defeated the 

 A'dil Shdhi princes and extended his frontiers to the southern bank of the 

 Krishna: he captured Kondavir and Wara?ikul on the east, and marched 

 as high as to Cuttack, where he wedded the daughter of the Gajapati 

 sovereign. In the south, his officers governed Srirangapatan and 

 Kdmeswara. On the west, his taking Rachol on Salsette is recorded by the 

 Portuguese writers, and Malabar appears to have acknowledged his 

 supremacy. At no period, probably, in the history of the south of India, 

 did any of its political divisions equal in extent and power that of 

 Vijayanagar under KrishnarXya. 



Krishnaraya was also a patron of literature, and a number of learned 

 men were received at his Court. Eight of these were known as the 

 Diggajas, the elephants that support the regions of the atmosphere. They 



