I, Krishnadevaraya by Ra. Ki. Rangarajan

Author:Ra. Ki. Rangarajan [Rangarajan, Ra. Ki.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mobilism
Publisher: Westland Ltd
Published: 2017-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

I had a meeting with my ministers that day. I could tell by looking at them that they had heard I had agreed to marry Thirumala Devi. They looked extremely pleased.

Even before I could open the discussion, the Prime Minster congratulated me on my forthcoming marriage.

I thanked him and said, ‘Appaji, I have a doubt. During the Ummathoor expedition, we captured the Sringapatnam and Sivasamudram forts. We appointed Kempe Gowda, Veerappa Gowda and Chikka Raja as our representatives, didn’t we? Now how did this ruler of Srirangapatnam called Kumara Veeraiyya suddenly materialise?’

‘Those representatives of ours have accepted Kumara Veeraiyya as their sovereign. He is related to you through your mother. So he too, is in a sense of royal blood,’ said Appaji, stressing the words ‘royal blood’. Although he was glad that I was going to marry Thirumala Devi, he was unhappy about my attachment to a dancing girl.

Since this was to be a meeting about our military campaign, all the generals were present. One of them said, ‘Your Majesty, the Bijapur Sultan and his forces have crossed the Krishna and have entered our territory. They have pillaged and plundered the villages in the border areas.’

Our enemies always had an eye on the area between the Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers. When there was water in the Krishna, they kept respectfully to their territory, but when there was little water in the river, they would cross over to this side and cause havoc in the bordering villages. Vyasaguru had told me several times to drive them out permanently. It was my fault for not having stationed troops there.

‘I will lead the army,’ I assured my generals. ‘Who will be the chief general?’

‘I will be the chief, Your Majesty,’ said Pemmasani Ramalinga Nayak. He had accompanied me on many military expeditions, and so his suggestion met with approval from all those assembled.

‘I have a plan, and I will tell you about it when we are on the battlefield,’ said Ramalingam.

After the meeting ended, everyone left, but Appaji stayed back. Usually at the mention of war, he would be energetic like a twenty-year old. But for some reason, he was silent today.

‘Appaji, you are unhappy about something, aren’t you?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ he said.

‘Why are you sad?’

‘Your mother and I told you many times that you should marry Thirumala Devi, but you paid no heed to us. But the moment that girl made the suggestion, you agreed. Not only did you agree, but you have sent her as an emissary. I feel humiliated.’

I didn’t know what to say to him. ‘You have misunderstood me. Your arguments and mother’s efforts were beginning to bear fruit, because I had mulled over your words. When finally Gayatri made the same suggestion, naturally I was receptive. In any case, Gayatri also suggested that I do what you have been urging me to do.’

Appaji didn’t argue any further. ‘Your mother wants to meet you. You must get her blessings first.’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.