Tuluva dynasty

History

A epigraph on the eastern wall of Tirumala temple describes the genealogy of Krishnadevaraya. The first ancestor of the Tuluva lineage to be mentioned is Timmabhupati and his wife Devaki. Timmabhupati is followed by his son Ishvara and consort Bukkamma and then a certain Narasa Bhupala who is none other than Tuluva Narasa Nayaka, the father of Emperor Krishnadevaraya. The powerful warlord Tuluva Narasa Nayaka is attributed with the conquest of the Gajapatis as well as certain Muslim rulers.

Krishnadevaraya is known to have patronised poets and issued inscriptions in languages as varied as Tamil, Kannada and Telugu. However, he elevated Telugu as a royal language possibly because of the dominance of Telugu speaking chiefs and composed the epic poem Amuktamalyada in it. Tuluva rulers were staunch Vaishnavas and patronised Vaishnavism. Vyasatirtha, a Kannadiga Dvaita saint was the Kulaguru of Krishnadevaraya.

The fall of the Tuluva dynasty led to the beginning of the disintegration of the Vijayanagar empire.