Sadasiva Rao was now the undisputed ruler of the Vijayanagar Empire. All the nobles and the imperial officers in the far flung corners of this vast kingdom recognized him as their king. However, he was only a titular head, the real power rested with Rama Raya and his two brothers Tirumala and Venkatadri.
He owed to them his life and crown. He had neither the training nor the actual experience to assume the leadership. The three brothers-The Triumvirate-had acquired a long experience of administration and were also highly connected. They traced their descent to the great Aravidu warrior Somadevaraya who had fought against Muhammad-bin-Tughluq when he invaded Deccan.
Aravili Bukka, a general of the famous emperor Saluva Narasimha, was a great grandson of Somadevaraya. Many of their relations held important positions during the reigns of the Tuluva Kings.
Moreover, Rama Raya and Tirumala were both the sons-in-law of the great king Krishna Raya and had saved the empire from the traitors, the Salakaraju brothers who had not hesitated to invite the sworn enemy of the Vijayanagar, the Adil Shahis to occupy the country.
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The new rulers of Vijayanagar faced many difficulties. It is a tribute to the statesmanship and prowess of Rama Raya that he was able to reassert the authority of Vijayanagar over Travancore, and suppress the supporters of the usurper Salakaraju.
However, it was an uphill task to deal with the neighbouring Muslim rulers, In fact, Ibrahim Adil Shah, knowing fully well the uncertain conditions in Vijayanagar, had already despatched an army under Asad Khan to capture Adoni.
The Vijayanagar forces under Venkatadri repulsed the invaders at first but later had to seek peace due to a surprise attack by Asad. Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar and Ibrahim joined hands and captured some territory of Vijayanagar. Rama Raya now resorted to diplomacy and won over Burhan Shah to his side.
In several successive battles he inflicted crushing defeats on Ibrahim and recovered Raichur and Mudkal. Burhan Nizam Shah occupied Kalyani and Sholapur. He also entered into a treaty with the Portuguese by which the supply of horses to Ibrahim was stopped. But later on he did not hesitate to send an army to foil the attempt of the fanatic Affonso de Sousa who tried to plunder the temples at Kandu and converted Hindus to Christianity.
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Thus through diplomacy he was able to weaken his foes. Burhan’s death in 1553 led to a combination of his successor Husain Nizam Shah I and Ibrahim Qutb Shah of Golkonda who attacked Adil Shah’s territory Bijapur in 1555. Rama Raya rushed to the help of his ally and drove out invaders.
Flushed with his success, Rama Raya arranged a meeting of all the four kings who signed a treaty of friendship. In case of aggression from any one of them, the others were to join together and punish him. But this did not improve matters. The hostility between the sultans of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur continued.
After the death of Ibrahim Adil Shah in 1557, his son Ali took shelter with Rama Raya to save himself from the aggressive designs of Husain Nizam Shah. Rama Raya helped him actively in all the wars against Husain who had to submit to him.
The ruler of Golklonda had also to come to terms with Vijayanagar rulers. Rama Raya was thus the Bismarck of South India who held all the leading rulers of the region under his strings.