King Venkata I. (1586 -- 1614) had a sister who was married to a chief whom Barradas calls "Obo" (perhaps Obala) Raya. So far as we know, his only nephews were Tirumala II. and Ranga III., sons of his brother, Rama III. Since Tirumala II. appears to have had no sons, and Ranga III. had a son, Rama IV, who is asserted in the inscriptions to have been "one of several brothers," it is natural to suppose that the nephew mentioned by Barradas, who was raised to be king on the death of the old King Venkata I. in 1614, and who had three sons, was Ranga III., called "Chikka Raya" or "Crown-prince" in the text. He, then, succeeded in 1614, but was afterwards deposed, imprisoned, and compelled to take his own life. His eldest son at the same time followed his example, and his youngest son was slain by his father. The "middle son" escaped, and was raised to the throne by a friendly chief named Echama Naik. This second son was probably Ranga IV. Two of King Venkata's wives were Bayama, daughter of Jaga Raya, and a lady unnamed, sister of Narpa Raya. A niece of Venkata I. had been given in marriage to a Brahman boy, who had been surreptitiously introduced into the palace by Bayama and educated in the pretence that he was son of King Venkata. The plot to raise him to the throne was temporarily successful, and Ranga III. and all the royal family were killed, saving only Ranga IV., who afterwards came to the throne. How much of the story told is true we cannot as yet decide; but it is extremely improbable that the whole is a pure invention, and we may for the present accept it, fixing the date of these occurrences as certainly between the years 1614 and 1616 A.D. -- the date of Barradas's letter being December 12 in the latter year. It will be observed that the inscriptions upon which the genealogical table given above, from the EPIGRAPHIA INDICA, is founded do not yield any date between A.D. 1614 and 1634, when Pedda Venkata II. is named as king. In 1883 I published[369] a list of Vijayanagar names derived from reports of inscriptions which had then reached me. I am by no means certain of their accuracy, and it is clear that they must all be hereafter carefully examined. But so far as it goes the list runs thus: -- A.D. Ranga 1619 Rama 1620, 1622 Ranga 1623 Venkata 1623 Rama 1629 Venkata 1636 The last-mentioned name and date are apparently correct.