The king of Vijayanagara, Vira Narasimha, was very ill. He was afraid that after his death, his much loved and popular brother, Krishnadeva Raya, would seize the throne from his little son. So he asked a trusted minister to put Krishnadeva to death. The conscience-stricken minister could not perform such a heinous deed and convinced the bewildered prince to escape. Fate had already decreed that Krishnadeva Raya would one day rule the Vijayanagara empire and take it to its zenith of glory.