Mallikarjuna Raya

Mallikarjuna Raya (or Deva Raya III) (r. 1446–1465 CE)( born - 1420) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire from the Sangama Dynasty.

Mallikarjuna Raya

Vijayanagara Empire

Sangama dynasty Harihara I 1336–1356 Bukka Raya I 1356–1377 Harihara Raya II 1377–1404 Virupaksha Raya 1404–1405 Bukka Raya II 1405–1406 Deva Raya I 1406–1422 Ramachandra Raya 1422 Vira Vijaya Bukka Raya 1422–1424 Deva Raya II 1424–1446 Mallikarjuna Raya 1446–1465 Virupaksha Raya II 1465–1485 Praudha Raya 1485 Saluva dynasty Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya 1485–1491 Thimma Bhupala 1491 Narasimha Raya II 1491–1505 Tuluva dynasty Tuluva Narasa Nayaka 1491–1503 Vira Narasimha Raya 1503–1509 Krishna Deva Raya 1509–1529 Achyuta Deva Raya 1529–1542 Venkata I 1542 Sadasiva Raya 1542–1570 Aravidu dynasty Aliya Rama Raya 1542–1565 Tirumala Deva Raya 1565–1572 Sriranga I 1572–1586 Venkata II 1586–1614 Sriranga II 1614 Rama Deva Raya 1617–1632 Venkata III 1632–1642 Sriranga III 1642–1646

Mallikarjuna Raya succeeded his father Deva Raya II, who had brought prosperity throughout the Vijayanagara empire as well as a golden age for the Sangama Dynasty. 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 Sultan and the Gajapati Emperor of the Hindu empire of Kalinga-Utkal Odisha, which then stretched from the Ganges to the Kaveri, but thereafter it was marked by a string of defeats. The Gajapatis conquered Rajamahendri in 1454 and Udayagiri and Chandragiri in 1463. The Bahamani kingdoms took over much of the Vijayanagara Empire by 1450 and grew closer to the capital. At the same time the Portuguese arrived in southern India, seizing many of the ports on the western coast that the Vijayanagara Empire had once controlled.

These events eventually led to the decline of the Sangama Dynasty; Mallikarjuna Raya's nephew Virupaksha Raya II 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

Preceded by Deva Raya II	Vijayanagar empire 1446–1465	Succeeded by Virupaksha Raya II