Deva Raya I

Deva Raya I
Deva Raya I
	Gold Pagoda of Deva Raya I
Vijayanagara Emperor
Reign	5 November 1406 – 25 February 1423
Predecessor	Bukka Raya II
Successor	Ramachandra Raya
Born	c. 1370; Vijayanagara, Vijayanagara Empire ; (modern day Hampi, Karnataka, India)
Died	25 February 1423 (aged 52–53); Vijayanagara, Vijayanagara Empire ; (modern day Hampi, Karnataka, India)
Issue	Ramachandra Raya ; Bukka Raya III
House	Sangama
Dynasty	Vijayanagara
Father	Harihara II
Mother	Bhima Devi
Religion	Hinduism

Deva Raya I (reigned 5 November 1406 – 25 February 1423) was an Emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire (of the Sangama Dynasty).^[3] After Harihara II died, there was a dispute among his sons over succession, in which Deva Raya I eventually emerged victor. He was a very capable ruler noted for his military exploits and his support to irrigation works in his Empire.^[4] He modernized the Vijayanagara army by improving the cavalry, employed skilled archers of the Turkic clans and raised the fighting capacity of his bowmen and imported horses from Arabia and Persia.^[5]

The Italian traveler Niccolo Conti, who visited Vijayanagara c. 1420, described Deva Raya I thus: "In this city, there are 90,000 men fit to bear arms... their king is more powerful than all the kings of India".^[5]^[6] Conti also noted that the royal city had grown to a circumference of 60 mi.^[7]

Deva Raya I was a patron of Kannada literature and architecture. Madhura, a noted Jain poet was in his court and wrote in Kannada the Dharmanathapurana on the life of the fifteenth Jain Tirthankara (Dharmanatha), and a poem in eulogy of Gommateshvara of Shravanabelagola.^[8]

^ Lakshmi, Kumari Jhansi (1958). "The Chronology of the Sangama Dynasty". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 21: 290–297. JSTOR 44145214.
^ "From Prehistoric Times To The Fall Of Vijayanagar : K. A. Nilakanta Sastri : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive". Internet Archive. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
^ Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. pp. 103–108. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
^ Kulakarṇī, Nayeem, De Souza (1996), p.106
^ ^a ^b Bowman,(2013) p.271
^ Chopra, Ravindran and Subrahmanian (2003), p.31
^ Kamath (1980), p.163
^ Sastri (1955), p.360

[1] Lakshmi, Kumari Jhansi (1958). "The Chronology of the Sangama Dynasty". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 21: 290–297. JSTOR 44145214.

[a029-2] "From Prehistoric Times To The Fall Of Vijayanagar : K. A. Nilakanta Sastri : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive". Internet Archive. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2024.

[sen2-3] Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. pp. 103–108. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.

[kul-4] Kulakarṇī, Nayeem, De Souza (1996), p.106

[bow-5] Bowman,(2013) p.271

[mos-6] Chopra, Ravindran and Subrahmanian (2003), p.31

[cir-7] Kamath (1980), p.163

[gomma-8] Sastri (1955), p.360

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