kRShNadEva-rAya, wise ruler of a powerful vijayanagara empire, patron of scholars and artists, a tuLuva who wrote in telugu, vanquisher of the turks, who put an end to the bahmani annual jihads while he lived [TW], who won tough victories against the gajapati-s, whose influence stretched unto Lanka to aid against the Portuguese (M).
In AmuktamAlyada : dharma-centric advice: img1.
“One shouldnt employ kShatriya-s as senApati-s or mantrin-s - because their ancestors were once kings, they may usurp the throne. Instead, if one were to employ brAhmaNa-s they will not be tempted thus since they did not have such a past, and because they’ll profess not to even want it.”
kShatriyatva
Ideals
He considered himself a kShatriya.
AmuktamAlyada -
Manu, the first king, and Yama, lord of justice, are considered just because they strictly punish wrong-doers. An anointed king who takes his rule seriously and bears with the necessary pain is known in the Veda by various names: Virat, Samrat, and others. He is like a god. Until he resolves his people’s problems, his life is unfulfilled. If sensual pleasure is the only goal, even bandits who seize other men’s wives and rob wayfarers achieve it.
Nor is it good to say that kingship is mostly a bother, so why get involved in protecting the earth? In the Krta Yuga, Kartavirya held up the earth with his thousand arms; he would turn up with the appropriate weapon-sword, club, or bow and arrow-wherever, whenever, however anyone was contemplating a foul act. Such absolute authority is no longer possible for us, in this final age, with our limited energies.
Things have come to a point where not only kings but even Brahmins are not what they used to be. In those days, a single Brahmin31 drank up the entire ocean. Another Brahmin created a counter-world to God’s creation. Another one used his Brahmin staff to hold back God’s own weapon. So can today’s Brahmins give up their Brahmin duties, to the extent they can perform them, just because they’re not up to what these earlier Brahmins could do? Do we cease to respect them for this same reason? So stay alert and do your best, without ignoring what you see and hear.
Protect and punish, and leave what is beyond your own power to lotus-eyed Vishnu, the ultimate protector of those who surrender to him. Put the burden on him. If you behave without self-importance, all power will be within your grasp. A crowned king should act with dharma as his only goal. Even the gods stationed in the corners of the cosmos – Varuna, Kubera, the Wind, Fire, Indra and the others – were elevated to those posts because of dharma. So, my son, follow dharma, pay the three debts and, honoured by your equals, rule the kingdom.
upavIta on statue
Contemporary statue is missing Upavita. But upavIta is not necessarily sculpted on to the body. Chola king statue in chidambaram has no upavita. But cholas were proper kshatriyas who even did rajasuya etc..
turvaShu
He claimed to descend from turvaShu. Show me a prominent shUdra claiming jamadagni as ancestor. If KDR claimed he descends from turvaShu, it’s obvious he’s claiming to be v2.
Curse
On yayAti cursing turvaShu -
You shall be the foolish king of those whose practices and precepts will be impure, whose women of superior birth will give birth to children by men of inferior birth, who will live on meat, who will be mean, who will not hesitate to appropriate the wives of their superiors, who will be like birds and beasts in their practices, and who will be sinful and Mlechas.
The curse doesn’t say all of the descendents will be all of these things.
Ultimate shUdra origins
Anyway, if one descend to the level of calling kRShNa himself a non-v2 (because of yayAti’s pratiloma marriage to sharmiShThA), what’s even the point of discussing kRShNadevarAya as v4?
Sure, we all come from ape-s and not from the sun and moon. So, the only difference among kShatriya claims would be their antiquity and strength of tradition.
kShatriya kin
Parents
He was the son of Tuluva Narasa Nayaka and Queen Nagamamba devI.
Some texts (e.g., Mallappa 1974) speculate on legitimacy perceptions, calling him “son of a concubine” due to his father’s usurpation, but this isn’t universally accepted. The “Dasiputra” insult by Gajapati Prataparudra appears in some narratives (e.g., Rayavachakam) as a taunt on his birth, but primary evidence is limited; it may be apocryphal. Diverse sources show it motivated his campaigns against Odisha.
(Of course calling someone “son of a bitch” does not make him a dog.)
Anegondi branch connection
Krishnadevaraya was a kShatriya only, and a shrIvaiShNava, like the descendent of aLiya-rAma rAya, the current titular head. This son in law’s clan wear upavIta and have always said they are kShatriya-s.
If son in law married a shUdra, how can his son from this union claim to be a kShatriya? Yet, they record meticulously that they were always such.
क्षत्रिय-तुळुवाः
There are rAmakshatriyas who wear thread even today in tulu nadu and uttara kannada.
shUdra kin
A kShatriya can have shUdra relatives - his junior queen was a dancer (supposedly from koDagu).
Balija, golla, kapu and so many others claim KDR to be their caste. It is akin to gujjars claiming gurjara pratihara rulers as their own caste.
शूद्र-तुळुवाः
1-2. Hail, Prosperity! On the day of the star Uttiradam, combined with Thursday, being the 2nd lunar day of the bright fortnight of the Dhanur (Margali) month in the year Durmukhi, current with the salivahana Saka year 1458 while Sriman Mahäräjädhiraja Rajaparamesvara Šri Virapratāpa Śri Vira Achyutaraya Mahārāya was ruling the earth, this is the silasasanam registered by the trustees of Tirumalai temple in favour of Sriranga Nayakkar, son of Vengalu Nayakkar of Tuluva family of Chaturtha-götra, residing in Padaividu, to wit,
(NOTE 1.-The equivalent date of the christian era is 15th December 1536 A.D. but the week day must be Friday, but not Thrusday as engraved in the original.)
Tuluva would be inti peru. Same inti name used by multiple castes. eg. Kandukuri - broms as well as many V4 castes like kapus, kammas etc use this surname. Similarly one who moves out of tulu desha would be tuluva. It would be an inti peru with geographical identification. Not restricted to one caste.