Deva Raya II
gigatos | March 16, 2022
Summary
Devaraja II Sangama (? – 1446) was the Maharajahiraja (King of Kings) of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1423.
He descended from the Sangama dynasty. After the death of his father Bukkarai III in 1423, he took the throne.
In the same year he was attacked by Ahmed Shah, the Sultan of Bahmani. His lands were devastated, but Devaraja II withstood the siege at Vijayanagar. Eventually he made peace with the sultan by paying tribute to him.
After repulsing the enemy”s attack, he decided to launch campaigns against enemies in the northeast of the peninsula. In 1427 he invaded Orissa, where he defeated the Gajapati clan; in 1432 he succeeded in defeating the Kondavidu clan by capturing its lands. In 1436 and 1441 he tried to conquer the Reddy state (along the Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh).
After the death of his enemy Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1435, the ruler of Vijayanagar began an active foreign policy in the northwest. In 1436 he was able to repel the fortress of Mudgal from the Bahmanids. At the same time he reformed the cavalry, recruited Muslims and granted them jagirs (feudal possessions).
After that in 1443 he started a new war against the Bahmanid sultanate, trying to capture the Raichur valley. At first Devaraja II achieved some success, but soon Sultan Ala-ud-din Ahmed defeated the Vijayanagar troops and forced them to retreat from Raichur.
Failures in this direction prompted Maharajahiraja to resume his offensive in the south. The region of Kerala was conquered, and the rajas of the cities on the Malabar coast recognized themselves as his vassals. Equally successful was the campaign to the island of Sri Lanka, where Devaraja II secured the payment of a substantial tribute. Soon the whole of the south of Hindustan was under his rule. In the meantime, friendly and commercial relations were established with the states of Pegu and Awa (modern Myanmar).
Along with military campaigns, Devaraja II paid considerable attention to the development of the economy and the filling of the state treasury. In addition to the development of agriculture and the moderate amount of taxes levied, great importance was attached to the improvement of foreign trade. For this purpose the Maharajahiraj introduced the post of a special official who dealt with this very issue.
After the death of Devaraya II in 1446, his son Vira Devaraya inherited the throne of the empire.
Devaraja II was a patron of science, art and literature. At this time the capital of the empire was rapidly developing, numerous Hindu temples and even mosques were built. At the court of the ruler created poets and writers. Maharajahiraja himself contributed to the development of the literary language of Kannada. He was also a poet and writer. His most famous work is a collection of romantic stories, Sobagina Sone, in the form of conversations between the author and his wife.
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