Krishnadeva Raya was generous to his people and patronized arts and letters. He was very much concerned about the welfare of the people and undertook regular tours of the empire to get first hand information.
Krishnadeva Raya was an accomplished Telugu scholar and wrote the celebrated Amuktamalyada. His Sanskrit works include Madalasa Charita, Satyavadu Parinaya, Rasamanjari and Jambavati Kalyana. His court was adorned by eight distinguished poets and scholars who were known as the Ashtadiggajas. Tenali Ramakrishna, the scholar who was famous for his wisdom and wit was a prominent member of Krishnadeva Raya’s court.
Krishnadeva Raya was generous to his people and patronized arts and letters. Painting, sculpture, dance and music were greatly encouraged by him and his successors. He built some of the magnificent temples in the country and was a devotee of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupati. He was very much concerned about the welfare of the people and undertook regular tours of the empire to get first hand information.
According to Domingo Paes, the city of Vijayanagara was as large as Rome, very beautiful and the best provided city in the world.
Krishnadeva Raya built a new city near Vijayanagara and named it as Nagalapura after his mother Nagala Devi. He also constructed the Krishnaswamy and Vithalaswamy temples and a number of secular buildings in the imperial capital whose remains are still found at Hampi. The decline of the Vijayanagar Empire began with the death of Krishnadeva Raya in 1529. The kingdom came to an end in 1565.
He was also a talented poet and sponsored many great poets, contributing to the golden age of Telugu Literature. He wrote Amuktamalyada, which is a philosophical work using metaphors about the oneness of Man and God. Krishna Devaraya also wrote many works in Kannada, Telugu and Sanskrit.
As a king, Krishna Devaraya is known to have built many temples in his kingdom, and re-strengthened Hinduism after its lands had fallen to Muslim sultans. His devotion to Tirumala Venkateswara was unparalleled. He visited the temple seven times and donated priceless ornaments and scores of villages to it.
Krishna Devaraya and subsequent rulers, including the East India Company, who had obtained the rights to mint coins, used the image of Lord Balaji on gold, silver and copper coins. Copper plates and epigraphy in temples record that he donated thousands of gold pagodas to the Venkateswara temple.
Krishna Devaraya’s two-decade rule (1509-1529) was marked by the creation of mints at Tirupati, Penukonda, Mangalore, Nellore and Madurai.
His coins were known for their accuracy in terms of their weight and measure and the ruler played a key role in controlling any duplication of the coins. The predominant motifs on the Vijayanagara coins were Lakshmi-Narayana, Siva-Parvathi, Balakrishna, Sita-Rama, Brahma-Saraswati, Hanuman, Bull, Garuda, Chakra and Sword. And the denominations were: Gold: Dodda Varaha; Gadyana; Varaha; Pratapa; Katti; Chinna; Pana; Haja and Bele; Silver: Tara; Copper: Duggane; Kani; Jittal and Are Kasu.
The typography of the coins on the obverse was the King’s name or title in Nandinagari or Devanagari or Kannada or Telugu script.
The titles that were used are: Sri Nilakanta; Rayagajagandaberunda and Gajavetekara.
The austere, grandiose site of Hampi was the last capital of the last great Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar.
Its fabulously rich princes built Dravidian temples and palaces which won the admiration of travellers between the 14th and 16th Centuries.
Conquered by the Deccan Muslim confederacy in 1565, the city was pillaged over a period of six months before being abandoned.
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