The reign of Sri Krishnadeva Raya stands out as the high point in the history of the Vijayanagar Empire. He proved himself not only as a talented general and diplomat but also as an architect and city planner. He constructed the magnificent city of Vijayanagaram.
He reserved much of the wealth for the promotion of scholarship. He ushered in the Golden Era of Telugu Literature, writing Amuktamalyada, a narrative poem describing the sorrow suffered by Godadevi when absent from her husband Vishnu.
Krishnadeva Raya commanded fluency in many languages and poets of Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada, and Tamil enjoyed his patronage.
Krishnadeva Raya patronized Kannada poets Mallanarya who wrote Veerasaivamrita, Bhavachintaratna, and Satyendra Cholakathe.
Chatu Vittalanatha who wrote Bhagavatha and Timmanna Kavi who wrote his eulogy Krishnaraya Bharata was also patronized by Sri Krishnadeva Raya.
Vyasatirtha, the great saint from Mysore belonging to the Madhwa order had been the Rajguru of Krishnadeva Raya and wrote many songs in praise of his devoted king. He also patronized Tamil poet Haridasa.
He had eight great scholars called Ashtadiggajas in his court. They included Allasani Peddana often described as the Andhra-kavitapitamaha. His famous work was Manucharitamu; another famous poet was Nandi Thimmanna, the author of Parijathapaharanamu.
He asked the Kannada poet Thimmanna to complete the Kannada Mahabharatha started by Kumara Vyasa.
Telugu poet Peddanna was personally honoured by him for his proficiency in Telugu and Sanskrit and Krishnadevaraya himself gave a helping hand to lift the palanquin in which the poets book ''Manucharitamu'' was placed and taken in a procession. It is said whenever Krishna-devaraya met the poet while riding on his elephant, he gave him a lift. According to Nidatavolu Venkata Rao, the reign of Krishnadevaraya is a glorious chapter in the South Indian literary history. The imperial court had representatives of Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil poets, who contributed largely to their respective literatures.
Krishnadeva Raya himself was an accomplished scholar who wrote Madalasa Charita, Satyavadu Parinaya, Rasamanjari, and Jambavati Kalyana. Thus besides being an outstanding ruler Krishnadeva Raya is considered a great scholar who immensely contributed to the cultural art and literature of his time.
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