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imperial status. Vijayanagara existed in a complex network of competingempires and states that vied for territorial and political power acrossPeninsular India. These included the Islamic Bahmani Sultanates in theDeccan and the Hindu rulers of Orissa in the East. Though there wereconflicts between Vijayanagara and these polities, it did not preclude otherforms of interactions with both ideological and economic consequences. 16Vijayanagara’s interaction with the Islam is evident in the realm ofarchitecture, courtly style, royal dress etc. A song ofalsotestifies to the fact that Vijayanagara adopted many aspects of Islam towardstheir culture. In a song, he sings that god Purandara Vithala and Allah are thesame.sang about the image of Vithala in several templeslike Tirupati, Kanchipuram, Srirangam, Ahobilam and Melukote. All thesetemples got considerable royal patronage during the vijayanagara period.Royal patronage coupled with the popularity generated by the songs of, served to strengthen the imperial ideology.does not speak of Vijayanagara as a great military power. Yet there are amplesuggestions in the corpus of his songs to show that he imagined VijayanagaraEmpire as the spiritual realm of Vithala. This elaboration and extension of theVithala cult from the exclusive Marathi speaking territories of Westerndeccan into Peninsular India was achieved by saint singers like16Carla.M.Sinopoli, From the Lion Throne: Political and Social Dynamics of VijayanagaraEmpire, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol.43, No.3(2000),pp.364-398.25
who composed songs relating to the locales in which theyidentified their favoured deity (ishtadevatha). This fusion between the localcult with an imperial ideology served to sacralize the landscape of theVijayanagara Empire. This would not have been possible but for the conceptthat this area was a political landscape governed by Vijayanagara that wasrendered sacred by the act of ritual presentation and a powerful projection oftemples as centres of royal power. Traveling saints and composers drew uponthat resource inorder to spread the imperial message of Vijayanagara. Thetemples which he chose were the temples to which Vijayanagara alsoextended their patronage. Poets likesinging about thetemples, gave the message of common spirituality that enabled the dividebetween the political and the non-political elements to be transcended. He didnot sing about any territory that Vijayanagara lost or any territory that wasoutside Vijayanagara Empire. The songs by creating a web linking diversecults and deities together in a way contributed to sacralizing the wholeterritory of Vijayanagara.My study concludes with the findings that songs are relevant sourcematerials for reconstructing the history of Vijayanagara. By studying hissongs, it has been possible to understand the socio-economic and culturalmilieu in which the poet lived. Through his songs,made itpossible for the common folk to participate in the spiritual life ofVijayanagara. Through his religious wanderings,unified theisolated Vishnu temples on the physical map of Vijayanagara. A spiritualized26
Page 1 and 2: A STUDY OF THE SONGS OF PURANDARADA
Page 4 and 5: My warm thanks go to my cousin sist
Page 6 and 7: INTRODUCTIONVijayanagara Empire occ
Page 10 and 11: saints like Vidyaranya, Vemana, Pot
Page 12 and 13: them through out the political spac
Page 14 and 15: composed and circulated in the vast
Page 16 and 17: Devotion. The poems brought togethe
Page 18 and 19: David Shulman offer translations of
Page 20 and 21: extent and social base of the worsh
Page 22 and 23: themes ofpoetry- Personal relations
Page 24 and 25: is situated in the context of the D
Page 26: of interwoven and ritually reinforc
Page 29: I have devoted a chapter for discus
Page 33 and 34: CHAPTER IBHAKTI CULT IN SOUTH INDIA
Page 35 and 36: The agency of the poet is high-ligh
Page 37 and 38: The interpreters of Bhakti have in
Page 39 and 40: understanding of the path of partic
Page 41 and 42: sense that the term passed into Chr
Page 43 and 44: the elite and the common mass respe
Page 45 and 46: the nirguna Bhakti poets, ritualize
Page 47 and 48: Kerala and Karnataka. The three mos
Page 49 and 50: placed in Tamil towns , through a v
Page 51 and 52: feature was the sin-qua-non for the
Page 53 and 54: located in the traditionalbrought o
Page 55 and 56: the Pallava period. It became a reg
Page 57 and 58: Bhoothath lv r, Pey lv r, Namm lv r
Page 59 and 60: extended to the shrines sung by the
Page 61 and 62: temple as a d vad si. She was calle
Page 63 and 64: patronage took place may be taken a
Page 65 and 66: understands it. 44 The songs were c
Page 67 and 68: Srisailam. A compilation and codifi
Page 69 and 70: influence saints of other regions s
Page 71 and 72: etween Brahman of the V d n a and t
Page 73 and 74: married Saraswa i , a god fearing g
Page 75 and 76: fact he developed a sense of gratit
Page 77 and 78: as the kindliness of the servants o
Page 79 and 80: changing the attitude of people fro
Page 81 and 82:
Dwarasamudra came to power in its s
Page 83 and 84:
Varadar ja of Kanch puram. The same
Page 85 and 86:
interdependence between jn na and a
Page 87 and 88:
of the region were known as the fol
Page 89 and 90:
poetic composition which is partly
Page 91 and 92:
eternal. In fact it has been said t
Page 93 and 94:
on another occasion compares God to
Page 95 and 96:
person who has acquired jn na or kn
Page 97 and 98:
ody. Just as he condemned pedants a
Page 99 and 100:
agrarian groups such as most herdsm
Page 101 and 102:
In her study entitled Fields of Vic
Page 103 and 104:
lowly scavenger and the high class
Page 105 and 106:
Agricultural activities were facili
Page 107 and 108:
sold ornaments of gold, precious st
Page 109 and 110:
India. The discovery of Ming potter
Page 111 and 112:
friendship of Vijayanagara. Even th
Page 113 and 114:
This chapter has traversed a comple
Page 115 and 116:
essentially celebrates the sacralit
Page 117 and 118:
invoked. 8 Sacred geographies are i
Page 119 and 120:
In the religious tradition of India
Page 121 and 122:
the great temples of south India, t
Page 123 and 124:
particular temple is narrated in th
Page 125 and 126:
“Hey there d s , if you come to m
Page 127 and 128:
Bless you generous feeder of the po
Page 129 and 130:
Kannada, but he has also composed s
Page 131 and 132:
literature. He effectively created
Page 133 and 134:
M dhva faith and the cult of Vi hal
Page 135 and 136:
TempleThe great Vaishnava temple of
Page 137 and 138:
and there were close links between
Page 139 and 140:
Quite a good number of inscriptions
Page 141 and 142:
the former place once during the an
Page 143 and 144:
of the hills that the Hoys la king
Page 145 and 146:
And my body is weakI have no inclin
Page 147 and 148:
she argued that temples under the i
Page 149 and 150:
CHAPTER IVPURANDARAD S AND THECULTA
Page 151 and 152:
Vijayanagara state South of the Tun
Page 153 and 154:
Rashtrakutas were overthrown by the
Page 155 and 156:
appreciated and gratefully acknowle
Page 157 and 158:
1227 A.D - beyakere, name of a vill
Page 159 and 160:
To the Varkaris, God must be unders
Page 161 and 162:
a philosophical narration and lingu
Page 163 and 164:
eason for the preservation of the c
Page 165 and 166:
1540 A.D 58 - bhatta1544 A.D 59 - V
Page 167 and 168:
from the Yadu clan with which Krish
Page 169 and 170:
admitted in the midst of this spiri
Page 171 and 172:
through his pilgrimages crossed sev
Page 173 and 174:
important Vaishnavite offering), sc
Page 175 and 176:
the half Tiru-vidaiyatta gramam giv
Page 177 and 178:
figure offor over five centuries. T
Page 179 and 180:
Mukutiya neeva purandara ” 82like
Page 181 and 182:
1880 and 1894 a collection of ’s
Page 183 and 184:
CHAPTER VVIJAYANAGARA IMPERIAL IDEO
Page 185 and 186:
fourteenth century were further str
Page 187 and 188:
A song ofalso testifies to the fact
Page 189 and 190:
the elements such as the influentia
Page 191 and 192:
ishtad vatha of Kanakad s was the m
Page 193 and 194:
Purandarad s visited the following
Page 195 and 196:
the hymnists of the early medieval
Page 197 and 198:
their alignment in the royal centre
Page 199 and 200:
oyal power. In Vijayanagara, power
Page 201 and 202:
to important shrines such as Tirupa
Page 203 and 204:
Saluva Narasimha. 26 However all in
Page 205 and 206:
K nch puram and Tirupati became cen
Page 207 and 208:
in South India during the 14 th and
Page 209 and 210:
“So what have you eaten todayO le
Page 211 and 212:
It is difficult to separate the mat
Page 213 and 214:
The imperial ideology centered arou
Page 215 and 216:
associated with the killing of V li
Page 217 and 218:
saints likewere agencies which carr
Page 219 and 220:
he had a previous background of Ved
Page 221 and 222:
mentions this aspect. The hierarchi
Page 223 and 224:
touchstone for defining the classic
Page 225 and 226:
in Madhvacharya’s philosophy of D
Page 227 and 228:
In this chapter we have also invest
Page 229 and 230:
kaliyuga. Repeating the holy name o
Page 231 and 232:
constantly bringing up the image of
Page 233 and 234:
ideology of Vijayanagara incorporat
Page 235 and 236:
Following the model of Burton Stein
Page 237 and 238:
Bhairava: ‘Terrible’, name of o
Page 239 and 240:
Pupata: A sect of aivismPrak ra: Co
Page 241 and 242:
BIBLIOGRAPHYPrimary SourcesAnnual R
Page 243 and 244:
Carman, John., Theology of Ramanuja
Page 245 and 246:
____________, Vijayanagara Visions:
Page 247 and 248:
Rajan, Rajeswari Sundar, Real and I
Page 249 and 250:
Wagoner, Phillip, B, Tidings of the
Page 251:
Sinopoli,Carla, M.,and Kathleen. D.
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