This page has not been fully proofread.

XX
 
districts were under the suzerainty of the decaying em-
pire of Vijayanagara. Though under the nominal sway
of the central authority at Vijayanagaram, these Nayaka
rulers were practically independent. The period we are
referring to was, from the point of view of political
greatness, one of decline. The last vestiges of Hindu
sovereignty were fast disappearing. The central govern-
ment at Vijayanagaram was given the death-blow at
the battle of Talaikota in 1565. The governors of the
various provinces in the south were becoming indepen-
dent. The Nayaka Kingdoms at Vellore, Penukonda,
Gingee, Tanjore, and Madura, which arose out of the
ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire, were making
themselves felt and they became more or less indepen-
dent. Cinna Bomma in Vellore; S'urappa in Gingee;
Cevvappa and others at Tanjore; and Tirumala
at Madura were the most important. Cinna Bomma
was the patron of the famous Appayya Dikṣita; Cev-
vappa and others had in their court Govinda Dikṣita and
others. S'urappa at Gingee had Ratnakheta Srīnivāsa
Dīkṣita as his protege. The latter and his son after some
time joined the band of scholars in the court of Cev-
vappa and his descendants. Nilakantha Dīkṣita lived.
as the minister of Tirumala Nayaka of Madura. Thus
we see that the period between 1500 and 1650 is very
important in the history of Sanskrit scholarship.
 
We hear of Surappa Nayaka as the companion of
and follower of Sadasivaraya. We
get the following information about
 
Surappa Nayaka.
 
his pedigree: