A Vaiṣṇava Pontiff’s Conquest

Monastic Politics and Patronage in a Vijayanagara War

Abstract

This article examines the intersection of religious authority and political power in late 16th-century South India by analyzing the strategic intervention of Vaṇ Śaṭhakopa Jīyar, the seventh pontiff of the Śrīvaiṣṇava Ahobilamaṭha, in Vijayanagara military policy. Following the empire’s devastating defeat at the Battle of Tāḷīkoṭa (1565) and the subsequent Golkŏṇḍa Sultanate’s invasion of Ahobilam (1579), the Ahobilamaṭha—a monastery financially intertwined with the sacred Narasiṃha temple circuit—faced severe economic decline due to looting, desecration, and the evaporation of imperial patronage. Vaṇ Śaṭhakopa Jīyar’s direct appeal to Emperor Śrīraṅgarāya (r. 1572–1586) to reclaim Ahobilam, coupled with his insistence that the campaign be led by the feudatory Kŏṇḍrāju Vĕṅkaṭrāju rather than the king himself, reveals a pragmatic response to Vijayanagara’s waning power. While religious rhetoric framed his plea, this study argues that financial exigency—not merely sectarian anxiety—was the primary driver of his political maneuvering. By securing the patronage of a regional chief rather than relying on the weakened imperial core, the pontiff ensured the monastery’s survival amid shifting power dynamics. This case underscores the adaptive strategies religious institutions employed to navigate state decline, renegotiating patronage networks to safeguard their economic and ritual interests in an era of political fragmentation.