‘Raya’: This biography of Krishnadevaraya is a love letter to the king from South India

At the pilgrimage site of Tirumala, one of the most-visited holy centres in the world, before one is allowed to have a darshan of Venkateswara, the presiding deity, one is welcomed by bronze images of Krishnadevaraya and his two consorts, Chinna Devi and Tirumala Devi. The not-too-distant Shiva temple at Sri Kalahasthi offers the same experience.

Although Krishnadevaraya ruled Vijayanagara for 20 years, between 1509 and 1529, his legacy has over the centuries transcended the human scale, enabling him to acquire semi-divine proportions in the collective memory of Southern India. There are roads, universities, even entire administrative units of states named after the king (why, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has instituted a Krishnadevaraya Chair at the School of Languages and Culture of Asia, currently occupied by Velcheru Narayana Rao).

Srinivas Reddy, a scholar and musician, has capitalised on the in-roads made in the last two decades into research on the Deccan by writing what could be called a “popular” and accessible biography of Krishnadevaraya. This book offers a well-rounded portrait of the sixteenth century ruler, as well as fresh insights through a rich and sometimes quirky analysis of some lush data.

Krishnadevaraya is eminently suitable for a biography because of the simple reason that his reign is...

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