Deva Raya I

Deva Raya
The Hazara Rama temple built by Deva Raya I in Hampi
Reign	1406–1422 CE

Deva Raya I (reigned 1406–1422 CE) was a king of the Vijayanagara Empire (of the Sangama Dynasty). After Harihara II died there was a dispute between his sons over the throne 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 kingdom. He modernized the Vijayanagara army by improving the cavalry, employing Turkic archers, procuring horses from Arabia and Persia. Of Deva Raya I, the Italian traveler Nicolo Conti, who visited Vijayanagara in c.1420, described thus: "In this city, there are 90,000 men fit to bear arms...there king is more powerful than all the kings of India". Conti also noted that the royal city had grown to a circumference of 60 mi. Deva Raya I was a patron of Kannada literature and architecture. Madhura, a noted Jain poet was in his court (and also in the court of his father King Harihara II) and wrote in Kannada the Dharmanathapurana on the life of the fifteenth Jain Tirthankar, and a poem in eulogy of Gommateshvara of Shravanabelagola. The noted Hazare Rama temple, an excellent example of Deccan architecture was constructed during his rule. One of Deva Raya's queens Bhima Devi was a disciple of the Jain guru Abhinava Charukirti Panditacharya. She was a devotee of Shantinatha, 16th Jain tirthankara and built a temple at the Mangayi Basti in Shravanabelagola.

The credit for making the capital city of the Vijayanagara Empire one of the biggest cities in the 15th century goes to Deva Raya I. He realized that the scarcity of water supply, both for drinking and for irrigation, was restricting the growth of the royal capital. In c.1410 he had a barrage constructed across the Tungabhadra river and commissioned a 24 km long aqueduct from the Tungabhadra river to the capital. The account provided by Nuniz gives a details of the projects undertaken by Deva Raya I that brought prosperity to the Kingdom. He maintained a secular attitude in administrative matters. He had a Mosque and a slaughter house constructed for the convenience of the Muslim soldiers in his army. In c. 1413, a dispute over property between the Shanka Jainalya of Lakshmeshwara and the Someshvara temple trust of the palace was settled in favor of the Jains. Deva Raya I had a Muslim bodyguard who built a choultry in honor of the king.