Deva Raya I (reigned 1406–1422 CE) was a king of the
Vijayanagara Empire (of the
Sangama Dynasty). After
Harihara II died there was a dispute between his sons over the throne in which Deva Raya I eventually emerged victor. He was a very capable ruler noted for his military exploits and his support to irrigation works in his kingdom. He modernized the Vijayanagara army by improving the cavalry, employing Turkic archers, procuring horses from Arabia and Persia. Of Deva Raya I, the Italian traveler
Nicolo Conti, who visited Vijayanagara in c.1420, described thus: "In this city, there are 90,000 men fit to bear arms...there king is more powerful than all the kings of India". Conti also noted that the royal city had grown to a circumference of 60 mi. Deva Raya I was a patron of
Kannada literature and architecture. Madhura, a noted Jain poet was in his court (and also in the court of his father King
Harihara II) and wrote in Kannada the
Dharmanathapurana on the life of the fifteenth Jain
Tirthankar, and a poem in eulogy of
Gommateshvara of
Shravanabelagola. The noted Hazare Rama temple, an excellent example of Deccan architecture was constructed during his rule.