The breathing room and crucial buffer that DevaRaya II’s reign provided to the Empire cannot be understated. His rule had prevented it from being eaten up by its rivals, the Gajapatis and Bahmanis, who were eagerly waiting to carve it up for themselves. And it is exactly for this reason that I will be dedicating some time to the under appreciated reign of DevaRaya II. We had briefly touched his rise to power in the previous episode. And before we look at the reign of Devaraya II, we need to first know some background of the events that preceded him. Most importantly, in this episode we shall briefly look at the reign of Devaraya I, the grandfather of Devaraya II. The events that transpired during his reign had ripple effects for Devaraya II.