Tuluva Narasa Nayaka was an Indiangeneral and later animperial regent who founded theTuluva dynasty of theVijayanagara Empire. He was the father of the emperorsViranarasimha Raya,Krishnadevaraya andAchyuta Deva Raya.

Tuluva Narasa Nayaka, like his fatherTuluva Ishvara Nayaka, was a general of theVijayanagara Empire. After the death of the EmperorSaluva Narasimha I in 1491 CE, the crown princeThimma Bhupala was assassinated by an army commander. The faithful Narasa Nayaka then crowned the other prince,Narasimha Raya II, but retained all administrative powers in order to bring stability to the Empire. He was called theRakshakarta (lit. 'Protector of the realm') andSvami (lit. 'Lord'). He held the offices of theSenadhipati (lit. 'Commander-in-chief'),Mahapradhana (lit. 'Prime Minister') andKaryakarta (lit. 'Agent of the Emperor').[1] He successfully kept theTurco-PersianBahamani Sultanate and theGajapatis away from the Empire and quelled many rebellions by unfaithful chieftains trying to exert their independence.^{[citation needed]}

After the death of EmperorSaluva Narasimha Deva Raya in 1491, Crown PrinceThimma Bhupala was assassinated by an army commander. The faithful Narasa Nayaka then crowned the other prince, Narasimha Raya II but retained all administrative powers in order to bring stability to the empire.Narasimha Raya II was a teenager when he became Emperor of theVijayanagara Empire, and real power lay in the hands of his guardian, Tuluva Narasa Nayaka. In 1494, Narasa Captured Narasimha II in the fortress ofPenukonda. Narasa Nayaka reigned over the Vijayanagara Empire in disguise of Narasimha Raya II.^{[clarification needed]}

In August 1463, when theVijayanagara Empire was ruled bySaluva Narasimha Deva Raya, the region south of theKaveri river slipped out ofVijayanagara control while the Emperor was busy protecting interests closer to the capital. In 1496, General Narasa Nayaka marched south and brought under control rebellious chiefs like the governor ofTrichi named Salas Rai andTanjore named Vikram Shah. The whole area south of Kaveri toCape Comorin was brought under control. The chiefs ofChola,Chera,Madurai area, Heuna or Hoysala chief ofSrirangapatna andGokarna on the west coast were brought under the Vijayanagara empire in one long successful campaign which ended in May 1497.^{[citation needed]}

On 27 November 1496, theGajapati monarchPrataparudra Deva attacked theVijayanagara Empire and advanced up toPennar but Narasa Nayaka held out and achieved a stalemate.^{[citation needed]} He was succeeded by his eldest sonViranarasimha Raya in 1503 .^{[citation needed]}

Ongoing internal strife in the Vijayanagara Empire and tenuous central control gave independent sultans of the dividedBahmani Sultanate an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.Mahmood Shah, citing unspecified reasons, marched against Vijayanagara, breaking the existing peace. The sultanate army advanced to Hutgi, joined forces with contingents from otherTurco-Persian tradition sultanates. It split into two groups, and one moved towards Vijayanagara throughGulbarga, while Mahmood Shah led the other to besiegeRaichur in the Krishna-Tungabhadra Doab region. No decisive battle took place, and a peace agreement was reached. Vijayanagara cededRaichur andMudgal toYusuf Adil Shah of theBijapur Sultanate.^[2] Tuluva Narasa Nayaka understood the precarious situation and chose not to engage the combined armies of the Shahi kingdoms on two fronts simultaneously.^[3][4][5]

Tuluva Narasa Nayaka was an astute ruler who wasted no time in strengthening the empire. As the Bahmani Sultanate began to splinter into smaller states, a Bahmani minister,Qasim Barid I, approached Narasa with a proposal. He offered Narasa the forts of Mudgal and Raichur in exchange for his assistance in a war against Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur. Narasa Nayaka accepted the offer and sent his army to the region surroundingRaichur Doab. His forces were able to defeat Yusuf Adil Shah. However, in a treacherous turn of events, Yusuf Adil Shah plotted against Tuluva Narasa Nayaka and had him and his seventy high-ranking officers murdered. Despite this, Yusuf Adil Shah managed to reclaim the Doab area and Mudgal from the Vijayanagar Empire in 1502.^[6][7][8]

• Dr. Suryanath U. Kamat, Concise History of Karnataka, 2001, MCC, Bangalore (Reprinted 2002)
• Prof K.A. Nilakanta Sastry, History of South India, From Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar, 1955, OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002)

• 1503 deaths
• Vijayanagara generals
• Vijayanagara officials
• 16th-century Indian monarchs
• 15th-century regents
• 16th-century regents
• Tuluva dynasty
• Warlords

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