On Poetic Modes of Glorifying a Ruler and Retelling His Past: The Sāḷuvābhyudaya Narrative on Sāḷuva Narasiṃha the Ahobilanarasiṃha Incarnate

Abstract

This paper discusses the poetic modes of recounting the past in a Sanskrit mahākāvya titled Sāḷuvābhyudaya, authored by Rājanātha Ḍiṇḍima ca. 1480 AD, to eulogise Sāḷuva Narasiṃha, the soon-to-be founder of the Sāḷuva dynasty of Vijayanagara. Focusing on the poem’s second canto, which is built on the theme of divine intervention culminating in the miraculous conception of the future, I argue that depiction of Sāḷuva Narasiṃha as the Ahobilanarasiṃha incarnate – a rather locally known form of Narasiṃha presiding over a Vaishnava religious centre in Ahobilam (currently Andhra Pradesh) – was aimed at enunciating his martial power and justifying his claims to the Vijayanagara throne, while simultaneously revealing the growing interests of Vijayanagara rulers in cooperating with temples and religious institutions.