During the period of its rule (1336 to 1646 AD), the Vijayanagara empire has seen many regents who altered the course of its history for better or worse. Among the most dynamic and prolific kings was Krishna Deva Raya who reigned from 1509 to 1529.
Read~ VIJAYNAGARA empire: 1336 to 1646 AD~ Part 1
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| left to right- Krishnadevaraya, Achyutaya Deva Raya, Aliya Rama Raya and Salakaraju |
Krishna Deva Raya died in 1529 from illness. But keeping the interests of his empire at heart, he had hand-picked probably the only family member he trusted as the next successor to the throne, namely; his own brother Achyuta Deva Raya (r. 1529 to 1542). Their father TULUVA Narasa Nayaka has ruled before them.
During the time that the TULUVA brothers ruled, the Deccan region of Bijapur was under control of the muslim Adil Shahis. It was then, with help from the Telugu speaking Aravidu family members namely; Aliya* Rama Raya and Thimma (Aliya's son) that they were able to defeat Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur thereby taking control of Adoni and Kurnool region (present-day North Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh).
*Aliya means son-in-law in Kannada
Krishna Deva Raya had two daughters; Tirumalumba Devi who married Aliya Rama Raya and a younger daughter named Vengalamba who married Aliya Rama Raya's younger brother~ Tirumala Deva Raya. Under the circumstances the Aravidu family gained considerable significance within the Vijayanagara empire.
Not only that~ the powerful and manipulative Aliya Rama Raya posed a major threat to emperor Achyutaya Deva Raya and as anticipated Achyutaya was overthrown by RamaRaya in a successful coup (ie year 1540). He died 2 years later. RamaRaya was that close to becoming the next regent, but then there was Achyutaya's young teenage son~ Venkata Raya or Venkat I.
A sad and bitter tale of treachery within the family
Venkata Raya was the young son of Achyutaya Deva Raya who succeeded his father; but this young life was extinguished due to a power struggle within the family. The villain of this tragic episode was Salakaraju Chinna Timmalayyadeva- Venkat Raya's maternal uncle.
đź’ˇSources indicate both Krishnadevaraya and Achyutaya had far less faith in their own family members, resulting in Achyutaya putting more trust in his wife and in-laws instead.
His 2 vicious brothers-in-law are also said to have meddled in Achyutaya's alliance with his only trusted Nayaka (feudal ruler) named Chellappa Nayaka causing Chellappa to revolt against the Vijayanagara empire. This incident destroyed Chellappa's reputation in the eyes of Achyutaya, pushing him closer to trust in his wife's family. In the battle of Tamarapani that took place between Chellappa and Achyutaya's army, Chellappa was defeated.
When Achyutaya Deva Raya died in 1542 he committed the grave mistake of entrusting both~ the kingdom and his young son in the care of Salakaraju Chinna Timmalayyadeva.
Observing Salakaraju's growing influence, the previous regent Krishna Deva Raya's widows got concerned; so they began to show support to Aliya Rama Raya, Krishnadevaraya's ambitious son-in-law (we mentioned this earlier).
Now there were 2 factions within the empire~
RamaRaya~ supported by his own brothers and nobles in Vijayanagara court loyal to him. These nobles however were clear that their support was meant to defeat only Salakaraju and not the young emperor Venkata I.
Salakaraju~ along with the young Venkata I whom Achyutaya Deva Raya had entrusted in his care and the rebel nobles.
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This is an AI generated depiction of Salaraju. There doesn't exist any actual photo.
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In an attempt to crush every opposition and in the lust for power; Salakaraju first went after the RamaRaya camp, but on hearing this news RamaRaya managed to escape to his home turf- Gutti from where they raised a revolt.
Meanwhile, Varadambika- his sister and Venkata Raya's mother got terribly concerned about the safety of her son and sought help from their once sworn enemy Adil Shah's of Bijapur to challenge her own brother Salakaraju.
As expected this was a bad decision.. What happened instead was; Salakaraju's agents met Ismail Adil Shah midway, and offered him immense riches to retreat, thus leaving the power-hungry Salakaraju to brutally murder his own sister and young emperor Venkat I.
What a sad day that must have been! Even to this day, very little (other than this tragic incident) is known about Salakaraju as every attempt was made to erase his name from history!! This story made me weep and I needed to take a coffee break ☕ as the sorrows were far from over...
Salakaraju's now imprisoned the remaining rightful heirs to the throne, namely; Achyutaya Deva Raya's younger brother and nephews at the Chandragiri fort in Andhra Pradesh. They were later put to death. The only family member that survived this tragedy was Sadashiv Raya (youngest Tuluva brother) as he was separately imprisoned by the RamaRaya rebel faction in Gutti.
Salakaraju Chinna Timmalayyadeva was now the self-assigned emperor of Vijayanagara. As time passed by, and fed up with his cruel and blood-thirty behavior, many nobles plotted to overthrow him, but they met with a terrible fate as Salakaraju has them blinded. The remaining nobles left with no choice decided to seek outside help. This time again they made the bad choice of approaching The Adil Shahs of Bijapur and offering the throne of Vijayanagara to put an end to Salakaraju.
Hearing of this, Salakaraju countered them by approaching the Adil Shah's himself and offering them an alliance with the Vijayanagara empire. Yeah, you heard that right. This wanton power-hungry person who wiped out a complete family for the sake of the throne is now offering the entire empire to the Adil Shah's of Bijapur. Plus he also offered gold coins.
Adil Shah took up this offer! The people of Vijayanagara were now forced to bear allegiance to the new ruler.
The nobles who previously revolted and sought help from the Bijapur Sultanate should have fled, but they didn't unfortunately!! Salakaraju ordered a massacre of these hapless noblemen.
A new twist to the tale: Aliya RamaRaya enters on the scene..
Who is RamaRaya? He has been introduced previously, and as we know- He's no saint! He had overthrown Achyutaya Deva Raya in a coup previously.
Anyway...
Salakaraju's terrible actions pushed the people and remaining nobles in deep anguish and despair. They all joined together and switched over to the RamaRaya camp. But this time they came up 🤔 with a strategy.
The RamRaya faction that had escaped to Gutti early on had enough time to build a powerful army. The tactic was to break the joined forces of Salakaraju and the Bijapur Sultanate. RamRaya sent a small faction to Salakaraju stating their inevitable defeat and readiness to accept the suzerainty of Salakaraju... provided he sent the Bijapur armies back.
Salakaraju fell for this ploy- hook, line and sinker. He had been waiting to get his hands on the Aravidu brothers for a long time, 'he would certainly imprison them once they arrived in the capital' he thought.
The Adil Shahi army departed with a hefty sum of fifty lakh huns (gold coins) and expensive presents as a reward for their services. And as the last soldier of the Bijapur Sultanate entered into his own turf, RamaRaya and his brothers commanding a huge well-equipped army marched head on into VIJAYANAGARA. As they got nearer Salakaraju got wind of the plot... He immediately send the royal state forces to attack the RamaRaya camp...
So here's the thing about what happened next~
Some sources claim the royal army defected to RamaRaya's side instead, while other sources claim there was a pitched battle.
One thing is for sure~ Salakaraju Chinna Timmalayyadeva was hated aby all and finally got a taste of his own medicine! He lost to Aliya Rama Raya!
In a fit of rage, this work of evil called Salaraju caused havoc within the royal stables, blinding all the elephants and horses so as to make these animals unusable to his detractors. All the precious stones and ornaments were brought out and crushed to fine dust and thrown in the ground.
On a final note~ he rammed himself into a sword đź—ˇ️ just as his enemies broke open the palace doors thus bringing an end to a chapter of evil in the glorious VIJAYANAGARA empire.
Concluding note~
Emperors such as Krishna Deva Raya had defeated and pushed back the Deccan muslim rulers on various counts. But Salakaraju had compromised all that by getting into alliances with Adil Shahis of Bijapur.
Who will take on the empire after the evil Salakaraju? Will it be Aliya Rama Raya or someone else?
Next~ VIJAYANAGARA empire- PART 3
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