Panduranga was the youngest among five sons and faced some early hardships due to the loss of his father when he was still young.

Coming from an economically backward area which came under the domains of the Nizam of Hyderabad, he was fortunate to get formal education in his early years.

In medieval times, Kuknur had been a great center of learning and many monuments built by the Rashtrakutas and Western Chalukyas are found here, including the famous navalinga temples.

In his book Desai asserts that the founders of Vijayanagar Empire never belonged to the Telugu region and the story of their captivity and conversion to Islam by the Sultan of Delhi is false.

He further asserts that epigraphal evidence proves that the area around Hampi was the home of the Sangama brothers, the founding kings of the empire.