Mallikarjuna Raya (or Deva Raya III) (born 1420, r. 1446–1465 CE) was an

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

of the

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...

from the

Sangama Dynasty The Sangama dynasty was a dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire founded in the 14th century by two brothers: Harihara I (also called ''Vira Harihara'' or ''Hakka Raya'') and Bukka Raya I. They were the sons of Bhavana Sangama, members of a pastora ...

. Mallikarjuna Raya succeeded his father

Deva Raya II Deva Raya II (r. 1422–1446 CE) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire. The greatest of the Sangama dynasty rulers, he was an able administrator, warrior, and scholar. He authored well-known works in the Kannada language (''Sobagina Sone'' a ...

, who had brought prosperity throughout the

Vijayanagara empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...

as well as a golden age for the

. However, Mallikarjuna Raya was unlike his father, and was generally a weak and corrupt ruler. At the beginning of his reign he defended the kingdom from the attacks of the

Bahamani The Bahmani Sultanate, or Deccan, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim Indian Kingdom located in the Deccan region. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan,

Sultan and the Gajapati Emperor of the Hindu empire of Kalinga-Utkal

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, which then stretched from the Ganges to the

Kaveri The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicized name) is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri river rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range in the Western Ghats, Kodagu dis ...

, but thereafter it was marked by a string of defeats. The Gajapatis conquered Rajamahendri in 1454 and Udayagiri and

Chandragiri Chandragiri is a suburb and neighbourhood of Tirupati and located in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a part of Tirupati urban agglomeration and a major growing residential area in Tirupati It is the mandal headqua ...

in 1463. The

Bahamani The Bahmani Sultanate, or Deccan, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim Indian Kingdom located in the Deccan region. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan,

kingdoms took over much of the

by 1450 and grew closer to the capital. These events eventually led to the decline of the

; Mallikarjuna Raya's nephew

Virupaksha Raya II Virupaksha Raya II (1465–1485) was a king of the Vijayanagara Empire from the Sangama Dynasty. In 1465, Virupaksha Raya II succeeded his uncle, Mallikarjuna Raya, a corrupt and weak ruler who continually lost against the empire's enemies. E ...

took the opportunity to seize the throne, though he failed to prove a better ruler. It is unknown what happened to Mallikarjuna after that.

References

* Dr. Suryanath U. Kamat, Concise history of Karnataka, MCC, Bangalore, 2001 (Reprinted 2002)

External links

AP Online
1465 deaths 15th-century Indian monarchs People of the Vijayanagara Empire 1446 births Indian Hindus Year of birth unknown Hindu monarchs Sangama dynasty {{India-royal-stub