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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Saluva Timma (Timmarasu)

Chief minister of Vira Narasimha and of Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagara, known in Telugu tradition as Timmarasu and Appaji, 'father'. Nuniz says he saved Krishnaraya from being blinded and made him king. He managed the campaign against Orissa, took Kondavidu in 1515 and governed it through his family, the Nadindla brothers. Nuniz says the king later blinded and imprisoned him, suspecting him of poisoning the young prince. Telugu tradition makes the king and his minister the heroes of many tales.

Saluva Timma was the chief minister of the Vijayanagara kings Vira Narasimha and Krishnadeva Raya.12 Krishnaswami Aiyangar called him “the Brahman minister, Saluva Timma”.12 He wrote that the king called him Appaji, “reverend father”.12 Sewell explained the name “Temersea” in the account of Paes as Timmarasa, “Timma Rajah”.12

G. R. Subramiah Pantulu added that he was known as Timmarasu, Timmaraju and Appaji, and that Saluva was his family name.3 A chronicle of Kondavidu also names him after the villages Sampeta and Selagola.3 Sewell thought that Ferishta had confused him with the kings he served, so that the “Heemraj” of the Persian history stands for all three.4 See Krishnadeva Raya.

Making Krishnaraya king

Nuniz says that Vira Narasimha, whom he calls Busbalrao, had Saluva Timma for his minister.56 On his deathbed the king ordered Timma to put out the eyes of his brother Krishnaraya, so that his own eight-year-old son would rule next.56 The minister saw that Krishnaraya was a man of over twenty and fitter to rule.56 He showed the dying king the eyes of a goat, and Krishnaraya became king with Timma as his minister.56

Paes saw the court about 1520.7 He says that “Salvatinica” was in charge of the great festivals, “for he brought up the king and made him king, and so the king looks on him like a father”.7 The king called him “Lord Salvatinica”, and all the captains bowed to him.7 Paes also names a brother of his, “Gamdarajo”, as governor of the capital.8

The war against Orissa

The Telugu Rayavachakamu makes the minister Appaji the king’s constant adviser.910 He examined the treasury and the army before the war.910 He warned the king against going too deep into the Gajapati’s country.910

At Potnuru the king was in doubt, and Appaji won the war by a trick.910 He sent chests of gold with forged letters to the Gajapati’s sixteen chief captains.910 The Gajapati then suspected treason and fled.910 The Rayavachakamu says that after the war the king had Appaji seated on a jewelled carpet and bathed him in gold and jewels.11

Nuniz says that after taking Udayagiri the king called “Salvatinya”.1213 He wanted Timma to see how well he had done what Saluva Narasimha’s will had ordered.1213 After the capture of Kondavidu, the king gave its command to Saluva Timma, who left one of his brothers there as captain.1213

Krishnaswami Aiyangar wrote that the invasion of Orissa was made on Saluva Timma’s advice.14 Timma was sent to the capital to make the preparations.14 See Udayagiri, Kondavidu and the Gajapatis.

Kondavidu and the Nadindla family

Sewell knew through Luders of an inscription at Kondavidu that praises Saluva Timma.15 It says that he took the fortress on Saturday, 23 June 1515.15 Nuniz makes Timma’s brother captain of Kondavidu.15 But Sewell noted that an inscription there names the captain as Nadendla Gopamantri, a nephew of Timma.15

Nuniz adds that on the way to Kondavidu, “since he was chief of it”, Timma defeated a Muslim captain he calls Madarmeluquo.16 Sewell took him for an officer of Golconda.16

Nadindla Gopa wrote a commentary on the Prabodhachandrodaya.17 It says that Saluva Timma governed the whole country “from sea to sea and from the Setu to Simhachalam”.17 Gopa, his nephew, governed the district of Kondavidu with Vinukonda.17

The Telugu Rajasekharacharitramu and Gopa’s Krishnarjunasamvadam describe the family.1819 They say that Timma’s sister Krishnamba married Nadindla Timma, and that their sons were Kona, Appa and Gopa.1819 Appa married Timma’s daughter Tirumalamba.1819 Saluva Timma himself wrote a commentary on the Sanskrit Champu Bharata of Agastya.20

Fall

Nuniz tells how Krishnaraya wanted to make sure of his son’s succession, and made the boy king at the age of six.21 When the child died, the king came to believe that Saluva Timma’s son had poisoned him.21 He seized Timma, his son and his brother.21 He reminded the minister that “for these forty years thou hast been governor in this kingdom, which thou gavest me”.21

After three years in prison the son escaped and made war on the king from a hill fort.2223 Nuniz says that when he was caught, the king had father and sons blinded, “for in this country they do not put Brahmans to death”.2223 Saluva Timma stayed in prison.2223

Nuniz’s list of captains says that the king gave the minister’s lands to his successor when he “put out the eyes of Salvatinica”.2425 These lands included Udayagiri, Kondavidu and Penukonda.2425 Subramiah Pantulu followed other traditions.3 He wrote instead that Timmarasu stayed minister until his death, three years before the king’s.3

Legend

Telugu tradition remembers Appaji as the wise minister of the stories of “Rayar and Appaji”.1 Krishnaswami Aiyangar compared them with the tales of Harun-ur-Rashid and of Vikramaditya.1

Subramiah Pantulu recorded the story that Appaji was an orphan Niyogi Brahman who looked after cattle near Tirupati.26 A passing poet, said to be Bhattu Murti, saw a cobra shading the sleeping boy with its hood and foretold his greatness.26 But Subramiah Pantulu added that “it can be proved, however, that they were not contemporaries”.26

Footnotes

  1. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, “Hindu States in Southern India”, in Wolseley Haig (ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 495 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. Domingos Paes, “Narrative”, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 250 and note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. G. R. Subramiah Pantulu, “Discursive Remarks on the Augustan Age of Telugu Literature”, Indian Antiquary XXVII (1898), p. 297 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. Robert Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar) (1900), p. 113 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. Fernao Nuniz, “Chronicle”, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 314 and note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. Nuniz, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 315 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Paes, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 268 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Paes, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 284 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (ed.), Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 111, extract 38, the Rayavachakamu (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  10. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), pp. 115–116, the Rayavachakamu (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  11. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 117, the Rayavachakamu (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  12. Nuniz, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 317 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  13. Nuniz, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 318 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, in Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 496 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  15. Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 131 and note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  16. Nuniz, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 322 and note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  17. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 144, extract 45, Nadindla Gopa’s commentary on the Prabodhachandrodaya (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  18. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 146, extract 46, the Rajasekharacharitramu (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 149, extract 47, the Krishnarjunasamvadam (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  20. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (1919), p. 143, extract 43, Saluva Timma’s commentary on the Champu Bharata of Agastya (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  21. Nuniz, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), pp. 359–360 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  22. Nuniz, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 360 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  23. Nuniz, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 361 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  24. Nuniz, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 385 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  25. Nuniz, in Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 386 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  26. Subramiah Pantulu, Indian Antiquary XXVII (1898), p. 300 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

References

Sources (4)
  1. Robert Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India (opens in a new tab), Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London, 1900, pp. 113, 131, 250, 268, 284, 314–322, 359–361, 385–386. [Public domain]
  2. Wolseley Haig (ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans (opens in a new tab), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1928, pp. 495–496. Chapter XVIII by S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar. [Public domain]
  3. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Sources of Vijayanagar History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1919, pp. 111–117, 143–146, 149. [Public domain]
  4. Indian Antiquary, The Indian Antiquary, Vol. XXVII (1898) (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Byculla, Bombay, 1898, pp. 297, 300. G. R. Subramiah Pantulu, 'Discursive Remarks on the Augustan Age of Telugu Literature'. [Public domain]

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