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Tirumala shortly afterwards strangled the king and seized the throne. The nobles submitted, since he was of royal blood, and better, in their opinion, than Rama Rajah; but when afterwards they found themselves unable to endure his tyranny and oppression, they rebelled and invited Rama Rajah to return.
He was, however, compelled by the nobles to recognise as king an "infant of the female line," whose person he committed to the care of the child's uncle, "Hoje" Tirumala Raya, a man of weak intellect if not absolutely insane. In five or six years Rama cut off by treachery most of the chiefs who opposed him.
The Hindu left, on the west, was entrusted to the command of Tirumala; Rama Raya in person was in the centre, and the right was composed of the troops of Venkatadri.
So far as we know, his only nephews were Tirumala II. and Ranga III., sons of his brother, Rama III. Since Tirumala II. appears to have had no sons, and Ranga III. had a son, Rama IV, who is asserted in the inscriptions to have been "one of several brothers," it is natural to suppose that the nephew mentioned by Barradas, who was raised to be king on the death of the old King Venkata I. in 1614, and who had three sons, was Ranga III., called "Chikka Raya" or "Crown-prince" in the text.
King Tirumala of Vijayanagar was in 1575 followed apparently by his second son, Ranga II., whose successor was his brother Venkata I. . The latter reigned for at least twenty-eight years, and died an old man in 1614. At his death there were widespread revolts, disturbances, and civil warfare, as we shall presently see from the account of Barradas given in the next chapter.
In this document Rama Rajah's brother, Tirumala, is the important personage, but he submits to the minor title, MAHAMANDALESVARA, while Sadasiva is mentioned as sovereign.
Opposed to Tirumala were the forces of Bijapur under their Sultan Ali Adil; the Mussalman centre was under the command of Hussain Nizam Shah; and the left of the allied army, in Venkatadri's front, consisted of the forces brought from Ahmadabad and Golkonda by the two Sultans, Ali Barid and Ibrahim Qutb.
This conduct led to a change of front on the part of Rama Rajah and his supporters. They entreated Tirumala for the sake of the country to procure the retreat of the Sultan to his own dominions, promising submission and obedience if this should be done; and Tirumala, thinking that now he had no further use for his allies, requested the Sultan to return home.
Thus, to take one instance only, in 1545 the governor of Goa made ready a large fleet and a force of 3000 men, but kept all his preparations secret, for very good reason. His object was to sail round the coast to San Thome, near Madras, land his troops, march inland, and sack the great temple of Tirumala or Tirupati, purely for lust of gain.
As soon as he heard of the death of Hoje Tirumala and the seizure of the throne by "Ramraaje," Ibrahim Adil Shah sent Asada Khan to reduce the important fortress of Adoni, which was undisputedly in Vijayanagar territory. Rama Rajah despatched his younger brother, Venkatadri, to its relief, and the latter hastened thither with a large force.
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