Deva Raya I

Deva Raya I (reigned 1406–1422 CE) was a king of the Vijayanagara Empire (of the Sangama Dynasty). After Harihara II died, there was a dispute between his sons over succession, in which Deva Raya I eventually emerged victor. He was a very capable ruler noted for his military exploits and his support to irrigation works in his kingdom. He modernized the Vijayanagara army by improving the cavalry, employed skilled archers of the Turkic clans and raised the fighting capacity of his bowmen and imported horses from Arabia and Persia.

Of Deva Raya I, the Italian traveler Niccolo Conti, who visited Vijayanagara c. 1420, described thus: "In this city, there are 90,000 men fit to bear arms... their king is more powerful than all the kings of India". Conti also noted that the royal city had grown to a circumference of 60 mi.

Deva Raya I was a patron of Kannada literature and architecture. Madhura, a noted Jain poet was in his court and wrote in Kannada the Dharmanathapurana on the life of the fifteenth Jain Tirthankara (Dharmanatha), and a poem in eulogy of Gommateshvara of Shravanabelagola. The noted Hazara Rama temple, an excellent example of Deccan architecture was constructed during his rule.