A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar -part 2 (6 to 10 chapters)

CHAPTER 6

Deva Raya II. (A.D. 1419 to 1444 or (?) 1449)

A fresh war, 1419 -- Success of Vijayanagar -- Death of Firuz --

Sultan Ahmad attacks Deva Raya -- The latter's adventure and narrow

escape -- Ahmad at the gates of the city -- He nearly loses his life

-- Submission of Deva Raya -- Fall of Warangal -- Sultan Ala-ud-din

-- Deva Raya's precautions -- His attempted assassination, 1433 --

The story as told by Abdur Razzak -- Expedition against Kulbarga --

Improvements at the capital -- Probable date of the kings death --

Was there a King Deva Raya III.?

There was war then with Kulbarga in 1419, Deva Raya II. being king

of Vijayanagar. The Sultan had been unsuccessful in his attack on

the Warangal fortress, Pangul, and the troops of Vijayanagar marched

against him with horse, foot, and elephants. Firuz Shah gave battle

forthwith, though he judged his forces to be inferior. Firishtah does

not mention where the fight took place.

"Meer Fuzzul Oollah, who commanded the troops of Islaam, charged the

infidels with heroic vigour, and, routing their center, proceeded to

attack their right wing. He was on the point of gathering the flowers

of victory, when one of his own attendants, bribed for the purpose

by Dewul Roy, gave him a mortal wound on the head, and he instantly

quaffed the sherbet of martyrdom. This fatal event changed the fortune

of the day; the sultan was defeated, and with the utmost difficulty,

by the most surprising and gallant efforts, made his escape from

the field. The Hindoos made a general massacre of the mussulmauns,

and erected a platform with their heads on the field of battle. They

followed the sultan into his own country, which they wasted with fire

and sword, took many places, broke down many mosques and holy places,

slaughtered the people without mercy; by their actions seeming to

discharge the treasured malice and resentment of ages. Sultan Firoze

Shaw, in the exigence of distress, requested aid of the sultan of

Guzarat, who, having but just acceded to the throne, could afford

none. At last fortune took a turn favourable to his affairs, and the

enemy, after repeated battles, were expelled from his dominions by

the Sultan's brother, Khankhanan; but these misfortunes dwelt on the

mind of Firoze Shaw, now old, and he fell into a lingering disorder

and lowness of spirits."

The Sultan desired the throne for his son Hasan, husband of the

beautiful Pertal, but on Ahmad Khankhanan taking up arms to support

his intended usurpation and advancing, supported by most of the nobles,

to the capital, Firuz gave way and nominated him Sultan in his stead.

Firuz died on September 24, A.D. 1422,[103] and Khankhanan became

Sultan of Kulbarga under the title of Ahmad Shah I.

The first act of the new monarch, after "impressing the minds of

his people with affection to his government" -- probably, that is,

after an interval of a few months -- was to strengthen his army in

order to take revenge for the invasions of the Raya; and having made

all preparations he advanced to the attack. Deva Raya's generals

collected their troops, sent for aid to Warangal, and marched to

the Tungabhadra where they encamped. From this it appears that they

had retired from the Doab after their successful raid. The Sultan

arrived on the north bank of the river opposite the Hindu camp,

and LAAGERED, if we may use the term now in fashion. Firishtah says

that he "surrounded his camp with carriages (carts and waggons),

after the usage of Room (Turkey in Europe), to prevent the enemy's

foot from making night-attacks. Here he halted for forty days." We

are now, therefore, probably in the dry season at the beginning of

the year A.D. 1423, for if the river had been in flood there would

have been no fear of the enemy's crossing it. In the early months of

the Christian year that river is usually shallow in the open country

east of the Hindu capital and away from the hills that surround it,

having only thin streams running in its rocky bed. Indeed, Firishtah

himself tells us that the river was at that time fordable.

Then ensued a dramatic episode. The Muhammadan cavalry had crossed the

river and devastated the country of the Raya, who remained inactive,

and the Sultan determined on a direct frontal attack. The troops of

Warangal deserted the Raya and withdrew.

"Early in the morning Lodi Khan, Aulum Khan, and Dillawer Khan,

who had marched during the night and forded the river at distance,

reached the environs of the enemy's camp. It happened that the roy was

sleeping, attended by only a few persons, in a garden, close to which

was a thick plantation of sugar-cane.[104] A body of the mussulmauns

entered the garden for plunder, and Dewul Roy, being alarmed, fled

almost naked into the sugar-cane plantation. Here he was found by

the soldiers, who thought him only a common person, and -- having

loaded him with a bundle of canes, obliged him to run with it before

them. Dewul Roy, rejoiced at his being undiscovered, held his peace,

and took up the burden readily, hoping that he should be discharged

as a poor person or be able to make his escape.

"They had not gone far when the alarm of Sultan Ahmed Shaw's having

crossed the river, and the loss of the roy, filled the camp, and the

Hindoos began to disperse. The sultan entered the camp, and Dewul Roy's

masters, hoping now for more valuable plunder than sugar-cane, hastened

to join their own fronds, leaving him to shift for himself. Dewul

Roy ran with his own troops, and about noon came up with some of his

nobles, by whom he was recognised and received with great joy. His

safety being made known, his army rallied into some order; but as he

regarded the late accident as an ill omen, he laid aside all thoughts

of engaging in the field, and fled to Beejanuggur.[105]

"Ahmad Shaw not stopping to besiege the city, overran the open country,

and wherever he came, put to death men; women, and children, without

mercy, contrary to the compact made by his ancestor Mahummud Shaw

with the roies of Beejanuggur. Laying aside all humanity, whenever

the number of the slain amounted to twenty thousand, he halted three

days, and made a festival in celebration of the bloody work. He

broke down the idol temples, and destroyed the colleges of the

Bramins. During these operations a body of five thousand Hindoos,

enraged to desperation at the destruction of their country and the

insults of their gods, united in taking an oath to sacrifice their

lives in attempting to kill the sultan, as the grand author of all

their sufferings. For this purpose they employed spies to observe

his motions, that they might seize the first opportunity of action.

"It happened, that the sultan going to hunt, in the eagerness of

chase separated from the body of his attendants, and advanced near

twelve miles from his camp.[106] The devoted infidels, informed of

the circumstance, immediately hastened to intercept him, and arrived

in sight when even his personal attendants, about two hundred Moguls,

were at some distance from him. The sultan alarmed, galloped on in

hopes of gaining a small mud enclosure which stood on the plain as

a fold for cattle, but was so hotly pursued, that some broken ground

falling in his way, he was not able to cross it before his pursuers

came up. Luckily some archers at this instant arrived to his aid, so

that the enemy were delayed sufficiently to give the sultan time to

reach the enclosure with his friends. The infidels attempted to enter,

and a sharp conflict took place; all the faithful repeating the creed

of testimony, and swearing to die, rather than submit.... Their little

troop being mostly killed and wounded, the assailants advanced close to

the wall, which they began to throw down with pickaxes and hatchets,

so that the sultan was reduced to the extremity of distress. At this

critical juncture arrived Abd-al-Kadir, first armour-bearer to the

sultan, and a body of troops, with whom, fearful of some accident

having happened to occasion his absence, he had left the camp in

search of his master. The infidels had completed a wide breach, and

were preparing to enter, when they found their rear suddenly attacked

The sultan with his remaining friends joined Abd-al-Kadir in attacking

the enemy, who after a long struggle were driven off the field, with

a loss of a thousand men, and about five hundred of the mussulmauns

attained martyrdom. Thus the sultan, by the almost inspired caution

of Abd-al-Kadir, acceded, as it were, a second time, from the depths

of danger to the enjoyment of empire.[107] It deserves place among

the records of time, as a remarkable event, that two sovereigns at

the head of armies, should fall into such danger for want of numbers,

and both escape uninjured....

"after this event Ahmed Shaw, having laid waste the whole country,

marched to Beejanuggur, which he kept so closely blocked up, that

the inhabitants were reduced to the greatest distress; when Dewul

Roy, to spare his people, sent ambassadors to the sultan entreating

peace, to which he consented, on condition that he would send the

tribute of as many years as he had neglected to pay,[108] laden

on his best elephants, and conducted by his son, with his drums,

trumpets, and all the other insignia of state, to his camp. Dewul Roy,

unable to refuse compliance, agreed to the demands, and sent his son

with thirty favourite elephants, loaded with treasure and valuable

effects. The sultan sent some noblemen to meet him; and after being led

in ceremony through the market and great streets of the camp, he was

brought to the presence.[109] The sultan, after embracing, permitted

him to sit at the foot of his throne, and putting on his shoulders a

magnificent robe, and girding him with a sabre set with jewels, gave

him twenty beautiful horses of various countries, a male elephant,

dogs for the chase, and three hawks, which the Carnatickehs were till

then strangers to the use of. He then marched from the environs of

Beejanuggur, and on his arrival on the bank of the Kistnah dismissed

the roy's son and returned to Koolburga."

To form some idea of the date of this cessation of hostilities we must

see what follows in Firishtah's narrative. The historian states that

during the year of the Sultan's return to Kulbarga there was a grievous

famine in the Dakhan, and "the next year also, no rain appearing,

the people became seditious." These two years were probably A.H. 826,

827, extending from 15th December A.D. 1422 to 23rd November 1424. He

continues, "In the year 828" the Sultan marched against Warangal. The

last campaign began about December A.D. 1422; and since we must allow

some months for Ahmad's blockade of Vijayanagar, which resulted in his

reducing the inhabitants to a state of starvation so that the Raya

was compelled to capitulate, the date for the end of the war cannot

be safely placed earlier than the winter of the year A.D. 1423. During

these twelve months, however, there was a famine and failure of rain,

so that the Sultan may have been able to traverse the cotton plains

lying between Vijayanagar and Kulbarga, plains quite impassable for

troops in wet weather, somewhat earlier than would otherwise have

been the case.

The Sultan's next war took place in A.H. 828, when he advanced against

Warangal over the undulating plains of the Dakhan, then rich in crop,

and was completely successful. The Hindu kingdom was completely and

for ever destroyed. The English date usually given for this event

is A.D. 1424, but it is quite possible that a mistake has been

made owing to the use of imperfect chronological tables by those

who have written on the subject, and that Ahmad Shah's capture of

Warangal may have taken place in A.D. 1425. Briggs, for instance,

calls A.H. 828 "A.D. 1424," but the year only began on November

23, 1424. The campaign, however, was very short, and may have been

concluded before the end of December of that year.

We hear nothing more from Firishtah regarding the affairs of

Vijayanagar till the early part of the reign of Ahmad's son and

successor, Ala-ud-din II., which began on Sunday, February 27,

A.D. 1435,[110] the day of Sultan Ahmad's death.

Ala-ud-din's first act was to despatch his brother Muhammad Khan with

a powerful army against Deva Raya of Vijayanagar --

"who had withheld his tribute for five years and refused to pay the

arrears. They laid waste the country in such a manner that the Roy

in a short time was glad to procure peace by giving twenty elephants,

a great sum of money, and two hundred female slaves skilled in music

and dancing, besides a valuable present to Mahummud Khan."

Flushed with this victory, and in command of a large force, Prince

Muhammad rebelled against his brother, and Firishtah states that

in doing so he obtained aid from Deva Raya. The prince took Mudkal,

Raichur, Sholapur, Bijapur, and Naldirak from the Sultan's governors,

but in a pitched battle with the royal forces was completely defeated

and fled. Shortly afterwards, however, he was forgiven by his generous

sovereign, and the fortress and territories of Raichur were conferred

on him.

About the year 1442 Deva Raya began to consider more seriously his

situation in relation to his powerful neighbour at Kulbarga.

"He called[111] a general council of his nobility and principal

bramins, observing to them that as his country of Carnatic in extent,

population, and revenue far exceeded the territories of the house

of Bahmenee; land in like manner his army was far more numerous,

wished therefore to explore the cause of the mussulmauns' successes,

and his being reduced to pay them tribute. Some said ... that the

superiority of the mussulmauns arose from two circumstances: one,

all their horses being strong, and able to bear more fatigue than the

weak, lean animals of Carnatic; the other, a great body of excellent

archers always kept up by the sultans of the house of Bahmenee,

of whom the roy had but few in his army.

"Deo Roy upon this gave orders for the entertainment of mussulmauns

in his service, allotted them jaghires,[112] erected a mosque

for their use in the city of Beejanuggur, and commanded that no

one should molest them in the exercise of their religion. He also

ordered a koraun to be placed before his throne, on a rich desk,

that the mussulmauns might perform the ceremony of obeisance in his

presence, without sinning against their laws. He also made all the

Hindoo soldiers learn the discipline of the bow; in which he and his

officers used such exertions, that he had at length two thousand

mussulmauns and sixty thousand Hindoos, well skilled in archery,

besides eighty thousand horse and two hundred thousand foot, armed

in the usual manner with pikes and lances."

On a day which must have been between November 1442 and April 1443 a

desperate attempt was made on the life of King Deva Raya by one of his

closest relatives -- a brother, according to Abdur Razzak, a nephew,

according to Nuniz. Abdur Razzak's story is without doubt the more

reliable of the two, since he is a contemporary witness. The story as

told by Nuniz is given in the chronicle at the end of this volume.[113]

Abdur Razzak was ambassador from Persia to Calicut and Vijayanagar, and

his account is particularly important as it definitely fixes the date.

"During the time that the author of this narrative was still sojourning

at Calicut (November 1442 to April 1443) there happened in the city

of Bidjanagar an extraordinary and most singular occurrence....

"The king's brother, who had had a new house built for himself, invited

thither the monarch and the principal personages of the empire. Now it

is an established usage of the infidels never to eat in presence of

each other. The men who were invited were assembled together in one

grand hall. At short intervals the prince either came in person or

sent some messenger to say that such or such great personage should

come and eat his part of the banquet. Care had been taken to bring

together all the drums, kettledrums, trumpets, and flutes that could

be found in the city, and these instruments playing all at the same

time, made a tremendous uproar. As soon as the individual who had been

sent for entered the above-mentioned house, two assassins, placed in

ambush, sprang out upon him, pierced him with a poignard, and cut him

in pieces. After having removed his limbs, or rather the fragments of

his body, they sent for another guest, who, once having entered this

place of carnage, disappeared.... In consequence of the noise of the

drums, the clamour, and the tumult, no one was aware of what was going

on. In this manner all those who had any name or rank in the state were

slaughtered. The prince leaving his house all reeking with the blood

of his victims, betook himself to the king's palace, and addressing

himself to the guards who were stationed in that royal residence,

invited them with flattering words to go to his house, and caused them

to follow the steps of the other-victims. So that the palace was thus

deprived of all its defenders. This villain then entered into the

king's presence, holding in his hand a dish covered with betel-nut,

under which was concealed a brilliant poignard. He said to the monarch,

'The hall is ready and they only wait your august presence.'

"The king, following the maxim which declares that eminent men

receive an inspiration from heaven, said to him, 'I am not in good

health to-day.'

"This unnatural brother, thus losing the hope of enticing the king

to his house, drew his poignard, and struck him therewith several

violent blows, so that the prince fell at the back of his throne. The

traitor, thus believing that the king was dead, left there one of

his confidants to cut off the monarch's head; then going out of the

hall he ascended the portico of the palace, and thus addressed the

people: 'I have slain the king, his brothers, and such and such emirs,

Brahmins, and viziers; now I am king.'

"Meanwhile his emissary had approached the throne with the intention of

cutting off the king's head, but that prince, seizing the seat behind

which he had fallen, struck the wretch with it with so much violence

on the chest that he fell upon his back. The king then, with the help

of one of his guards, who at the sight of this horrible transaction

had hidden himself in a corner, slew this assassin, and went out of

the palace by way of the harem.

"His brother, still standing on the steps of the hall of council,

invited the multitude to recognise him as their king. At that moment

the monarch cried out, 'I am alive. I am well and safe. Seize that

wretch.'

"The whole crowd assembled together threw themselves upon the guilty

prince and put him to death.

"The only one who escaped was Danaik, the vizier, who previously to

this sad event had gone on a voyage to the frontier of Ceylon. The

king sent a courier to him to invite him to return, and informed

him of what had just occurred. All those who had in any way aided in

the conspiracy were put to death. Men in great numbers were slain,

flayed, burnt alive, and their families entirely exterminated. The

man who had brought the letters of invitation was put to the last

degree of torture...."

Nuniz states that the king died six months later and was succeeded by

his son, but Abdur Razzak declares that he was presented in person to

Deva Raya about the month of December 1443. The name of Deva Raya's

son is not given by Nuniz, nor yet the length of his reign; he only

states that he did nothing worth relating except to give enormous

charities to temples. This king again was succeeded by a son called

"Verupaca Rao," who must be identical with Virupaksha, and Nuniz

dates from his reign the commencement of the troubles that led to

the usurpation of Narasimha and the downfall of the first dynasty.

But before putting together the confusing records of this period I

must revert to the events of the year A.D. 1443.

"At this period," says Abdur Razzak, referring to the second half

of the year 1443, "Danaik[114] the vizier set out on an expedition

into the kingdom of Kalbarga." The reasons which had led to this

invasion were as follows: Sultan Ala-ud-din had heard of the

treacherous attempt to kill the king of Vijayanagar and the murder

of the nobles and Principal people, and he had sent a message to the

king demanding payment of "seven lakhs of varahas," as he thought the

moment auspicious for an attempt to crush the kingdom. "Diou-rai, the

king of Bidjanagar, was equally troubled and irritated by the receipt

of such a message," but he sent a brave answer and prepared for war.

"Troops were sent out on both sides, which made great ravages on

the frontiers of the two kingdoms.... Danaik, after having nit de

an invasion upon the frontiers of the country of Kalbarga, and taken

several unfortunate prisoners, had retraced his steps...."

Firishtah also describes this war of A.D. 1443. He states that Deva

Raya wantonly attacked the Bahmani princes --

"crossed the Tummedra suddenly, took the fortress of Mudkul, sent his

sons to besiege Roijore and Beekapore, encamped himself along the bank

of the Kistnan, and sent out detachments, who plundered the country

as far as Saugher and Beejapore, laying waste by fire and sword.

"Sultan Alla ud Dien, upon intelligence of this invasion, prepared to

repel it, and commanded all his forces from Telingana, Dowlutabad,

and Berar to repair to the capital of Ahmedabad without delay. Upon

their arrival he reviewed the whole, and found his army composed of

fifty thousand horse, sixty thousand foot, and a considerable train

of artillery. With this force he began to march against the enemy;

and Deo Roy, upon his approach, shifted his ground, and encamped under

the walls of the fortress of Mudkul, detaching a large body to harass

the sultan.

"The sultan halted at the distance of twelve miles from Mudkul, and

despatched Mallek al Tijar with the troops of Dowlutabad against the

sons of Deo Roy;[115] also Khan Zummaun, governor of Beejapore, and

Khan Azim, commander of the forces of Berar and Telingana, against the

main body of the enemy. Mallek-al-Tijar, going first to Roijore, gave

battle to the eldest son of Deo Roy, who was wounded in the action,

and fled towards Beekapore, from whence he was joined by his younger

brother, who quitted the siege of that fortress.

"In the space of two months, three actions happened near Mudkul between

the two grand armies; in the first of which multitudes were slain

on both sides, and the Hindoos having the advantage, the mussulmauns

experienced great difficulties.[116] The sultan was successful in the

others; and in the last, the eldest son of Deo Roy was killed by a

spear thrown at him by Khan Zummaun, which event struck the Hindoos

with a panic, and they fled with the greatest precipitation into the

fortress of Mudkul."

Two chief Muhammadan officers, in the ardour of pursuit, entered the

city with the fugitives, and were captured by the Hindus.

Deo Roy then sent a message to the Sultan that if he would promise

never again to molest his territories he would pay the stipulated

tribute annually, and return the two prisoners. This was accepted,

a treaty was executed, and the prisoners returned with the tribute

and added presents; and till the end of Deva Raya's reign both parties

observed their agreement.

From the terms of the agreement we gather that, though Firishtah does

not expressly mention it, tribute had been demanded by the Sultan,

and this confirms the account given by Abdur Razzak. It also shows

why the "Danaik" in Abdur Razzak's narrative had not returned covered

with glory, but merely, having "taken several unfortunate prisoners,

had retraced his steps."

The campaign must have been of short duration, since, while it began in

A.H. 847 (May 1, A.D. 1443, to April 19, 1444) according to Firishtah,

it was over before December 1443 when Abdur Razzak left Vijayanagar.

The narrative being thus brought down to the close of the year 1443,

let us, before passing on, turn to other records and see what they

tell us about the reign of Deva Raya II. I have already stated that

he appears to have been very young at his accession in A.D. 1419. In

1443 he had already reigned twenty-four years. Now the Hakluyt

translation of Abdur Razzak's chronicle states that Razzak saw

King Deva Raya II. in 1443, and the India Office copy contains the

additional information that the king was then "exceedingly young." I

am not aware which version is the more accurate. But even if these

added words be accepted as part of the original, the difficulty is

capable of being explained away by the supposition that perhaps the

ambassador was presented to one of the princes and not to the king

himself. The king appears to have been in doubt as to whether the

traveller was not an impostor in representing himself as an envoy

from Persia, and may have refrained from granting a personal interview.

Several inscriptions of the reign are extant. One records a

proclamation made in the king's name in A.D. 1426.[117] According

to another bearing a date corresponding to Wednesday, October 16,

in the same year,[118] he caused a Jain temple to be erected in

the capital, in a street called the "Pan Supari Bazaar." This

temple is situated south-west of the temple marked as No. 35 on

the Government map. It is within the enclosure of the royal palace,

and close to the rear of the elephant stables still standing. The

king is honoured in this inscription with the full imperial title

of MAHARAJADHIRAJA RAJAPARAMESVARA. The site of this bazaar is thus

definitely established. It lay on either side of the road which ran

along the level dry ground direct from the palace gate, near the temple

of HAZARA RAMASVAMI, in a north-easterly direction, to join the road

which now runs to the Tungabhadra ferry through the fortified gate on

the south side of the river immediately opposite Anegundi. It passed

along the north side of the Kallamma and Rangasvami temples, leaving

the imperial office enclosure with its lofty walls and watch-towers,

and the elephant stables, on the left, skirted the Jain temple and the

temple numbered "35" on the plan, and passed along under the rocky

hills that bound this plain on the north till it debouched on the

main road above mentioned. This street would be the direct approach

from the old city of Anegundi to the king's palace.

In A.D. 1430 the king made a grant to a temple far in the south in

the Tanjore district.[119] There are two inscriptions of his reign

dated respectively in 1433 -- 34 and 1434 -- 35 A.D. at Padavedu in

North Arcot.[120] If, as stated by Nuniz, King Deva Raya II. died a

few months after his attempted assassination, and if Abdur Razzak saw

him in December 1443, we are led to the belief that he died early in

1444. Definite proof is, however, wanting. Other inscriptions must be

carefully examined before we can arrive at any certain conclusion. Thus

an inscription at Sravana Belgola, of date corresponding to Tuesday,

May 24 A.D. 1446, published by Professor Kielhorn,[121] relates to

the death on that day of "Pratapa Deva Raya;" and as it is couched in

very curious and interesting terms, I give the translation in full --

"In the evil year Kshaya, in the wretched (month) second Vaisakha,

on a miserable Tuesday, in a fortnight which was the reverse of

bright,[122] on the fourteenth day, the unequalled store of valour

(PRATAPA) Deva Raya, alas! met with death."

But since royal titles are not given to the deceased, he may have

been only a prince of the blood. An inscription at Tanjore, also

dated in A.D. 1446, mentions the name Deva Raya, but gives no further

royal titles than the BIRUDA -- "Lord of the four oceans."[123] An

inscription bearing date corresponding to Saturday, August 2 A.D. 1449,

at Conjeeveram,[124] records a grant by a king called Vira Pratapa

Praudha-Immadi-Deva Raya, to whom full royal titles are given.

It is provoking that Nuniz omits the name of the successor of Deva

Raya II., as known to tradition in the sixteenth century, for this

might have helped us to a decision. At present it looks as though

there had been a Deva Raya III. reigning from A.D. 1444 to 1449;

but this point cannot as yet be settled.

Mr. Rice has shown that one of the ministers of Deva Raya II. was named

Naganna; he had the title "Dhannayaka," implying command of the army.

CHAPTER 7

The City of Vijayanagar in the Reign of Deva Raya II. (A.D. 1420

(?), 1443)

Description given by Nicolo to Bracciolini -- The capital -- Festivals

-- Immense population -- Abdur Razzak's description -- His journey --

The walls -- Palaces -- The Mint -- Bazaars -- The great Mahahnavami

festival.

It will be well to suspend our historical narrative for a time in

order to acquire some idea of the appearance and condition of the

great city of Vijayanagar in these days. We have already noticed that

as early as 1375 A.D. Sultan Mujahid of Kulbarga had heard so much of

the beauty of this capital that he desired to see it, and it had grown

in importance and grandeur during the succeeding half-century. About

the year 1420 or 1421 A.D. there visited Vijayanagar one Nicolo, an

Italian, commonly called Nicolo Conti or Nicolo dei Conti, and if he

was not the earliest European visitor, he was at least the earliest

that we know of whose description of the place has survived to this

day. His visit must have taken place shortly after the accession of

Deva Raya II. Nicolo never apparently wrote anything himself. His

stories were recorded in Latin by Poggio Bracciolini, the Pope's

secretary, for his master's information. Translated into Portuguese,

they were re-translated from the Portuguese into Italian by Ramusio,

who searched for but failed to obtain a copy of the original in

Latin. This original was first published in 1723 by the Abbe Oliva

of Paris under the title P. BRACCIOLINI, DE VARIETATE FORTUNAE,

LIBER QUATUOR.

Nicolo, on reaching India, visited first the city of Cambaya

in Gujarat. After twenty days' sojourn there he passed down the

coast to "Pacamuria," probably Barkur, and "Helly," which is the

"Mount d'Ely" or "Cabo d'Eli" of later writers. Thence he travelled

inland and reached the Raya's capital, Vijayanagar, which he calls

"Bizenegalia."[125] He begins his description thus: --

"The great city of Bizenegalia is situated near very steep

mountains. The circumference of the city is sixty miles; its walls

are carried up to the mountains and enclose the valleys at their

foot, so that its extent is thereby increased. In this city there

are estimated to be ninety thousand men fit to bear arms."

I must here interpose a correction. There were no "mountains" properly

so called at Vijayanagar; only a confused and tumbled mass of rocky

hills, some rising to considerable altitude. The extent of its

lines of defences was extraordinary. Lofty and massive stone walls

everywhere crossed the valleys, and led up to and mounted over the

hillsides. The outer lines stretched unbroken across the level country

for several miles. The hollows and valleys between the boulder-covered

heights were filled with habitations, poor and squalid doubtless,

in most instances, but interspersed with the stone-built dwellings

of the nobles, merchants, and upper classes of the vast community;

except where the elaborately constructed water-channels of the Rayas

enabled the land to be irrigated; and in these parts rich gardens

and woods, and luxurious crops of rice and sugar-cane, abounded. Here

and there were wonderfully carved temples and fanes to Hindu deities,

with Brahmanical colleges and schools attached to the more important

amongst their number.

As to the appearance of the scenery, I cannot do better than quote the

description given in 1845 by a distinguished South-Indian geologist,

Lieutenant Newbold:[126] --

"The whole of the extensive site occupied by the ruins of Bijanugger

on the south bank of the Tumbuddra, and of its suburb Annegundi on the

northern bank, is occupied by great bare piles and bosses of granite

and granitoidal gneiss, separated by rocky defiles and narrow rugged

valleys encumbered by precipitated masses of rock. Some of the larger

flat-bottomed valleys are irrigated by aqueducts from the river.... The

peaks, tors, and logging-stones of Bijanugger and Annegundi indent the

horizon in picturesque confusion, and are scarcely to be distinguished

from the more artificial ruins of the ancient metropolis of the Deccan,

which are usually constructed with blocks quarried from their sides,

and vie in grotesqueness of outline and massiveness of character

with the alternate airiness and solidity exhibited by nature in the

nicely-poised logging stones and columnar piles, and in the walls of

prodigious cuboidal blocks of granite which often crest and top her

massive domes and ridges in natural cyclopean masonry."

The remains of palaces, temples, walls, and gateways are still to be

seen, and these abound not only on the site of Vijayanagar proper,

but also on the north side of the swiftly rushing river, where stood

the stately citadel of Anegundi, the mother of the empire-city. The

population of this double city was immense, and the area occupied by

it very extensive. From the last fortification to the south, beyond

the present town of Hospett, to the extreme point of the defences of

Anegundi on the north, the distance is about twelve miles. From the

extreme western line of walls in the plain to the last of the eastern

works amongst the hills lying in the direction of Daroji and Kampli the

interval measures about ten miles. Within this area we find the remains

of the structures of which I have spoken. The hovels have disappeared,

and the debris lies many feet thick over the old ground-level. But the

channels are still in working order, and wherever they exist will be

found rich crops, tall and stately trees, and a tangle of luxuriant

vegetation. On the rocks above are the ruins of buildings and temples

and walls, and in many places small shrines stand out, built on the

jutting edges of great boulders or on the pinnacles of lofty crags, in

places that would seem inaccessible to anything but monkeys and birds.

In the central enclosure are the remains of great structures that

must once have been remarkable for their grandeur and dignity. These

immediately surrounded the king's palace; but in 1565 the Muhammadans

worked their savage will upon them with such effect that only the

crumbling ruins of the more massive edifices amongst them still

stand. The site of the palace itself is marked by a large area of

ground covered with heaps of broken blocks, crushed masonry, and

fragments of sculpture, not one stone being left upon another in its

original position.

To return to Nicolo. He continues: --

"The inhabitants of this region marry as many wives as they please,

who are burnt with their dead husbands. Their king is more powerful

than all the other kings of India. He takes to himself 12,000 wives,

of whom 4000 follow him on foot wherever he may go, and are employed

solely in the service of the kitchen. A like number, more handsomely

equipped, ride on horseback. The remainder are carried by men in

litters, of whom 2000 or 3000 are selected as his wives on condition

that at his death they should voluntarily burn themselves with him,

which is considered to be a great honour for them....

"At a certain time of the year their idol is carried through the city,

placed between two chariots, in which are young women richly adorned,

who sing hymns to the god, and accompanied by a great concourse

of people. Many, carried away by the fervour of their faith, cast

themselves on the ground before the wheels, in order that they may be

crushed to death -- a mode of death which they say is very acceptable

to their god. Others, making an incision in their side, and inserting a

rope thus through their body, hang themselves to the chariot by Nay of

ornament, and thus suspended and half-dead accompany their idol. This

kind of sacrifice they consider the best and most acceptable of all.

"Thrice in the year they keep festivals of especial solemnity. On

one of these occasions the males and females of all ages, having

bathed in the rivers or the sea, clothe themselves in new garments,

and spend three entire days in singing, dancing, and feasting. On

another of these festivals they fix up within their temples, and on

the outside on the roofs, an innumerable number of lamps of oil of

SUSIMANNI, which are kept burning day and night. On the third, which

lasts nine days, they set up in all the highways large beams, like the

masts of small ships, to the upper part of which are attached pieces

of very beautiful cloth of various kinds, interwoven with gold. On the

summit of each of these beams is each day placed a man of pious aspect,

dedicated to religion, capable of enduring all things with equanimity,

who is to pray for the favour of God. These men are assailed by the

people, who pelt them with oranges, lemons, and other odoriferous

fruits, all which they bear most patiently. There are also three

other festival days, during which they sprinkle all passers-by, even

the king and queen themselves, with saffron water, placed for that

purpose by the wayside. This is received by all with much laughter."

The first of these festivals may be the Kanarese New Year's Day,

which Domingo Paes in his chronicle asserts to have fallen, during

his visit to Vijayanagar, on October 12 -- "FESTAS EM QUE TODOS VESTEM

PANOS NOVOS E RICOS E GALANTES, E CADA HUU COMO O TEM, E DAO TODOS OS

CAPITAEES PANOS A TODA SUA GNETE DE MUYTAS CORES E GALANTES."[127]

The second should be the Dipavali festival, which occurs about the

month of October, when lamps are lighted by all the householders,

and the temples are illuminated. The description of the third answers

to the nine-days' festival, called the MAHANAVAMI, at Vijayanagar,

which, during the visit of Paes, took place on September 12. The

other feast of three days' duration answers to the HOLI festival.

Conti next describes the finding of diamonds on a mountain which

he called "Albenigaras" and places fifteen days' journey beyond

Vijayanagar "towards the north." He repeats the story which we

know as that of "Sinbad the Sailor," saying that the diamonds lie

in inaccessible valleys, into which lumps of flesh being thrown, to

which the precious stones adhere, these are carried up TO the summits

by eagles, which are then driven off and the stones secured. The

direction given, though it should rather be east than north, points to

the mines on the Krishna river being those alluded to -- mines which

are often styled the "mines of Golkonda" by travellers. Marco Polo told

the same tale of the same mines in the year 1296. Conti continues: --

"They divide the year into twelve months, which they name after the

signs of the zodiac. The era is computed variously...."

After having given a short account of the different coinages and

currencies, which is interesting, but of which the various localities

are left to the imagination, he writes: --

"The natives of Central India make use of the ballistae,[128] and

those machines which we call bombardas, also other warlike implements

adapted for besieging cities.

"They call us Franks and say, 'While they call other nations blind,

that they themselves have two eyes, and that we have but one, because

they consider that they excel all others in prudence.'[129]

"The inhabitants of Cambay alone use paper; all other Indians write

on the leaves of trees. They have a vast number of slaves, and, the

debtor who is insolvent is everywhere adjudged to be the property

of his creditor. The numbers of these people and nations exceeds

belief. Their armies consist of a million men and upwards."

Abdur Razzak also visited, the city during the reign of Deva Raya

II., but about twenty years later than Conti. He was entrusted with

an embassy from Persia, and set out on his mission on January 13,

A.D. 1442. At the beginning of November that year he arrived at

Calicut, where he resided till the beginning of April 1443. Being

there he was summoned to Vijayanagar, travelled thither, and was in

the great city from the end of April till the 5th December of the

same year. The following passage explains why he left Calicut.

"On a sudden a man arrived who brought me the intelligence that

the king of Bidjanagar, who holds a powerful empire and a mighty

dominion under his sway, had sent him to the Sameri[130] as delegate,

charged with a letter in which he desired that he would send on to him

the ambassador of His Majesty, the happy Khakhan (I.E. the king of

Persia). Although the Sameri is not subject to the laws of the king

of Bidjanagar, he nevertheless pays him respect and stands extremely

in fear of him, since, if what is said is true, this latter prince

has in his dominions three hundred ports, each of which is equal to

Calicut, and on TERRA FIRMA his territories comprise a space of three

months' journey."

In obedience to this request, Abdur Razzak left Calicut by sea

and went to Mangalore, "which forms the frontier of the kingdom of

Bidjanagar." He stayed there two or three days and then journeyed

inland, passing many towns, and amongst them a place where he saw a

small but wonderful temple made of bronze.

"At length I came to a mountain whose summit reached the skies. Having

left this mountain and this forest behind me, I reached a town called

Belour,[131] the houses of which were like palaces."

Here he saw a temple with exquisite sculpture.

"At the end of the month of Zoul'hidjah[132] we arrived at the city of

Bidjanagar. The king sent a numerous cortege to meet us, and appointed

us a very handsome house for our residence. His dominion extends from

the frontier of Serendib to the extremities of the country of Kalbergah

(I.E. from the Krishna River to Cape Comorin). One sees there more

than a thousand elephants, in their size resembling mountains and in

their form resembling devils. The troops amount in number to eleven LAK

(1,100,000). One might seek in vain throughout the whole of Hindustan

to find a more absolute RAI; for the monarchs of this country bear

the title of RAI.

"The city of Bidjanagar is such that the pupil of the eye has never

seen a place like it, and the ear of intelligence has never been

informed that there existed anything to equal it in the world. It

is built in such a manner that seven citadels and the same number

of walls enclose each other. Around the first citadel are stones of

the height of a man, one half of which is sunk in the ground while

the other half rises above it. These are fixed one beside the other

in such a manner that no horse or foot soldier could boldly or with

ease approach the citadel."

The position of these seven walls and gates have long been a puzzle to

me, but I hazard the following explanation. The traveller approached

from the southwest, and the first line of wall that he saw must have

been that on the neck between the two hills south-west of Hospett. Paes

also describes this outer defence-work as that seen by all travellers

on their first arrival from the coast. After being received at

this entrance-gate Razzak must have passed down the slope through

"cultivated fields, houses, and gardens" to the entrance of Hospett,

where the second line of fortification barred the way; and since that

town was not then thickly populated, the same features would meet

his eye till he passed a third line of wall on the north side of that

town. From this point the houses became thicker, probably forming a

long street, with shops on either side of the road, leading thence

to the capital. The fourth line of wall, with a strong gateway, is

to be seen on the south of the present village of Malpanagudi, where

several remains of old buildings exist; and notably a handsome stone

well, once probably belonging to the country-house of some noble

or chief officer. The fifth line is on the north of Malpanagudi,

and here the great gateway still stands, though the wall is much

damaged and destroyed. The sixth line is passed just to the south

of the Kamalapur tank. The seventh or inner line is the great wall

still to be seen in fairly good repair north of that village. This

last surrounded the palace and the government buildings, the space

enclosed measuring roughly a mile from north to south, and two miles

and a quarter from east to west. The remains of the upright stones

alluded to by Razzak were seen by Domingo Paes in A.D. 1520.[133]

I believe that they have now disappeared.

Razzak describes the outer citadel as a "fortress of round shape, built

on the summit of a mountain, and constructed of stones and lime. It has

very solid gates, the guards of which are constantly at their post,

and examine everything with severe inspection." This passage must

refer to the outer line of wall, since Razzak's "seventh fortress"

is the innermost of all. The guards at the gates were doubtless the

officers entrusted with the collection of the octroi duties. Sir

Henry Elliot's translation (iv. 104) adds to the passage as quoted

the words, -- "they collect the JIZYAT or taxes." This system of

collecting octroi dues at the gates of principal towns lasted till

recent days, having only been abolished by the British Government.

"The seventh fortress is to the north, and is the palace of the

king. The distance between the opposite gates of the outer fortress

north and south is two parasangs,[134] and the same east to west.

"The space which separates the first fortress from the second, and

up to the third fortress, is filled with cultivated fields and with

houses and gardens. In the space from the third to the seventh one

meets a numberless crowd of people, many shops, and a bazaar. By the

king's palace are four bazaars, placed opposite each other. On the

north is the portico of the palace of the RAI. Above each bazaar is

a lofty arcade with a magnificent gallery, but the audience-hall of

the king's palace is elevated above all the rest. The bazaars are

extremely long and broad.[135]

"Roses are sold everywhere. These people could not live without roses,

and they look upon them as quite as necessary as food.... Each class

of men belonging to each profession has shops contiguous the one to

the other; the jewellers sell publicly in the bazaars pearls, rubies,

emeralds, and diamonds. In this agreeable locality, as well as in the

king's palace, one sees numerous running streams and canals formed

of chiselled stone, polished and smooth.[136]

"On the left of the Sultan's portico rises the DEWAN KHANEH,[137]

which is extremely large and looks like a palace. In front of

it is a hall, the height of which is above the stature of a man,

its length thirty ghez and its breadth ten.[138] In it is placed

the DEFTER-KHANEH (court-house), and here sit the scribes.... In the

middle of this palace, upon an high estrade, is seated an eunuch called

the Danaik,[139] who alone presides over the divan. At the end of the

hall stand chobdars[140] drawn up in line. The Dewan or Danaik settles

people's affairs and hears their petitions. There is no appeal. After

concluding business the Danaik passes through seven doors into the

palace, and entering the last alone, makes his report to the king.

"Behind the king's palace[141] are the house and hall allotted to

the Danaik. To the left of the said palace is the Mint.

"This empire contains so great a population that it would be impossible

to give an idea of it without entering into extensive details. In the

king's palace are several cells, like basins, filled with bullion,

forming one mass."

Opposite the DIVAN-KHANEH, he continues, is the house of the elephants.

"Each elephant has a separate compartment, the walls of which

are extremely solid, and the roof composed of strong pieces of

wood.... Opposite the Mint is the house of the Governor, where are

stationed twelve thousand soldiers on guard.... Behind the Mint is a

sort of bazaar, which is more than three hundred ghez in length, and

more than twenty in breadth.[142] On two sides are ranged houses and

forecourts; in front of them are erected, instead of benches (KURSI),

several lofty seats constructed of beautiful stones. On the two sides

of the avenue formed by the chambers are represented figures of lions,

panthers, tigers, and other animals.[143] Thrones and chairs are

placed on the platforms, and the courtesans seat themselves thereon,

bedecked in gems and fine raiment."

The author took up his abode in a lofty house which had been allotted

to him, on the 1st Muharram (May 1, 1443)

"One day some messengers sent from the palace of the king came

to see me, and at the close of the same day I presented myself at

court.... The prince was seated in a hall, surrounded by the most

imposing attributes of state. Right and left of him stood a numerous

crowd of men arranged in a circle. The king was dressed in a robe of

green satin, around his neck he wore a collar, composed of pearls of

beautiful water, and other splendid gems. He had an olive complexion,

his frame was thin, and he was rather tall; on his cheeks might be

seen a slight down, hut there was no beard on his chin. The expression

of his countenance was extremely pleasing.[144] ...

"If report speaks truly, the number of the princesses and concubines

amounts to seven hundred."

Abdur Razzak gives a glowing account of the brilliancy of a great

festival of which he was a spectator while in the capital. He calls it

the Mahanavami[145] festival, but I have my doubts as to whether he

was not mistaken, since he declares that it took place in the month

Rajab (October 25 to November 23, 1443 A.D.). The Hindus celebrate

the MAHANAVAMI by a nine days' festival beginning on Asvina Sukla

1st in native reckoning, that is, on the day following the new moon

which marks the beginning of the month Asvina; while the New Year's

Day at that period was the first day of the following month, Karttika

(if the year began, as it certainly did at Vijayanagar in the time of

Paes, eighty years later, on 1st Karttika). But the new moon of Rajab

in A.D. 1443 corresponded to the new moon of KARTTIKA, not to that

of ASVINA.[146] Either, therefore, the festival which he witnessed

was the New Year's Day festival, or the traveller was in error in

giving the month "Rajab." It seems most probable that the former

was the case, because he apparently makes the festival one of only

three days' duration, whereas the MAHANAVAMI, as its name implies,

was a nine days' feast. But there is also another difficulty. The

MAHANAVAMI celebrations began with the new moon, whereas Razzak says

that the festival he saw began with the "full moon." This, however,

may have been due to a slip of the pen.

However that may be, he certainly was a spectator of a brilliant scene,

and I append his account of it.

"In pursuance of orders issued by the king of Bidjanagar, the

generals and principal personages from all parts of his empire

... presented themselves at the palace. They brought with them a

thousand elephants ... which were covered with brilliant armour and

with castles magnificently adorned.... During three consecutive days

in the month of Redjeb the vast space of land magnificently decorated,

in which the enormous elephants were congregated together, presented

the appearance of the waves of the sea, or of that compact mass which

will be assembled together at the day of the resurrection. Over this

magnificent space were erected numerous pavilions, to the height of

three, four, or even five storeys, covered from top to bottom with

figures in relief.... Some of these pavilions were arranged in such a

manner that they could turn rapidly round and present a new face: at

each moment a new chamber or a new hall presented itself to the view.

"In the front of this place rose a palace with nine pavilions

magnificently ornamented. In the ninth the king's throne was set

up. In the seventh was allotted a place to the humble author of this

narrative.... Between the palace and the pavilions ... were musicians

and storytellers."

Girls were there in magnificent dresses, dancing "behind a pretty

curtain opposite the king." There were numberless performances given

by jugglers, who displayed elephants marvellously trained.

During three consecutive days, from sunrise to sunset,

the royal festival was prolonged in a style of the greatest

magnificence. Fireworks, games, and amusements went on. On the third

day the writer was presented to the king.

"The throne, which was of extraordinary size, was made of gold,

and enriched with precious stones of extreme value.... Before the

throne was a square cushion, on the edges of which were sown three

rows of pearls. During the three days the king remained seated on

this cushion. When the fete of Mahanawi was ended, at the hour of

evening prayer, I was introduced into the middle of four ESTRADES,

which were about ten ghez both in length and breadth.[147] The roof

and the walls were entirely formed of plates of gold enriched with

precious stones. Each of these plates was as thick as the blade of a

sword, and was fastened with golden nails. Upon the ESTRADE, in the

front, is placed the throne of the king, and the throne itself is of

very great size."

The descriptions given by these travellers give us a good idea of

the splendours of this great Hindu capital in the first half of the

fifteenth century; and with this in our minds we return to the history

of the period.

CHAPTER 8

Close of the First Dynasty (A.D. 1449 to 1490)

Mallikarjuna and Virupaksha I. -- Rajasekhara and Virupaksha II. --

The Dakhan splits up into five independent kingdoms -- The Bijapur

king captures Goa and Belgaum -- Fighting at Rajahmundry, Kondapalle,

and other parts of Telingana -- Death of Mahmud Gawan -- The Russian

traveller Nikitin -- Chaos at Vijayanagar -- Narasimha seizes the

throne.

I have already stated that the period following the reign of Deva

Raya II. is one very difficult to fill up satisfactorily from any

source. It was a period of confusion in Vijayanagar -- a fact that

is clearly brought out by Nuniz in his chronicle.

A.D. 1449 is the last date in any known inscription containing mention

of a Deva Raya, and Dr. Hultzsch[148] allots this to Deva Raya II. It

may be, as already suggested, that there was a Deva Raya III. on the

throne between A.D. 1444 and 1449, but this remains to be proved. Two

sons of Deva Raya II., according to the inscriptions, were named

Mallikarjuna and Virupaksha I. respectively. There are inscriptions

of the former dated in A.D. 1452 -- 53 and 1464 -- 65,[149] and one

of the latter in 1470.[150] Mallikarjuna appears to have had two sons,

Rajasekhara, of whom we have inscriptions in the years A.D. 1479 -- 80

and 1486 -- 87, and Virupaksha II., mentioned in an inscription dated

A.D. 1483 -- 84, three years earlier than the last of Rajasekhara.

Dr. Hultzsch, in the third volume of the EPIGRAPHIA INDICA, p. 36,

gives these dates, but in the fourth volume of the same work (p. 180)

he notes that an inscription of Rajasekhara exists at Ambur in North

Arcot, which is dated in the year corresponding to A.D. 1468 --

69. I have also been told of an inscription on stone to be seen at

the village of Parnapalle (or Paranapalle) in the Cuddapah district,

of which a copy on copper-plate is said to be in the possession of one

Narayana Reddi of Goddamari in the Tadpatri Taluq of the Anantapur

district. This is reported to bear the date Saka 1398 (A.D. 1476 --

77), and to mention as sovereign "Praudha Deva Raya of Vijayanagar."

Rajasekhara's second inscription must have been engraved very shortly

before the final fall of the old royal house, for the first certain

date of the usurper Narasimha is A.D. 1450.

Amid this confusion of overlapping dates we turn for help to

Nuniz; but though his story, gathered from tradition about the year

1535, is clear and consecutive, it clashes somewhat with the other

records. According to him, Deva Raya II. had a son, Pina Raya, who

died six months after his attempted assassination; but we have shown

that Abdur Razzak conclusively establishes that this unfortunate

monarch was Deva Raya II. himself, and that the crime was committed

before the month of April 1443. Pina Raya left a son unnamed, who

did nothing in particular, and was succeeded by his son "Verupaca,"

by which name Virupaksha is clearly meant. Virupaksha was murdered

by his eldest son, who in turn was slain by his younger brother,

"Padea Rao," and this prince lost the kingdom to the usurper Narasimha.

The period was without doubt a troublous one, and all that can be

definitely and safely stated at present is that for about forty years

prior to the usurpation of Narasimha the kingdom passed from one hand

to the other, in the midst of much political agitation, discontent,

and widespread antagonism to the representatives of the old royal

family, several of whom appear to have met with violent deaths. The

usurpation took place at some period between A.D. 1487 and 1490.

Leaving the Hindu and Portuguese records, we must turn to the

Muhammadan historians in order to see what were the political relations

existing at this time between Vijayanagar and its hereditary enemies

to the north. Firishtah tells us of no event occurring between the

year 1443 and 1458 A.D. to disturb the peaceful conditions then

existing. Kulbarga was itself in too troubled a condition to venture

on further national complications. Internal disputes and civil war

raged in the Dakhan, and the country was divided against itself. The

trouble had begun which ended only with the extinction of the Bahmani

monarchy, and the establishment of five rival Muhammadan kingdoms in

the place of one.

Ala-ud-din died February 13, A.D. 1458, (?)[151] and was succeeded by

his son Humayun, a prince of "cruel and sanguinary temper." In the

following year Humayun waged war against the country of the Telugus

and besieged Devarakonda, which made so stout a resistance that the

Dakhani armies were baffled, and retired. He died on the 5th September

1461,[152] to the great relief of all his subjects. Mallikarjuna

appears to have been then king of Vijayanagar.

Nizam Shah succeeded to the throne, being then only eight years old,

but his reign was of short duration. He was succeeded by his brother

Muhammad on July 30, A D. 1463,[153]

In the middle of the year 1469, while either Rajasekhara or Virupaksha

I. was the king of Vijayanagar, Mahmud Gawan, Muhammad's minister,

marched towards the west, and after a fairly successful campaign

attacked Goa, then in the possession of the Raya of Vijayanagar, both

by sea and land. He was completely victorious and captured the place.

The war was probably undertaken in revenge for a cruel massacre of

Muhammadans which took place in this Year A.D. 1469, according to

Barros.[154] At this period the coast trade was altogether in the hands

of the Muhammadans, and they used to import large numbers of horses,

principally for the use of the great contending armies in the Dakhan

and Vijayanagar. The Hindu king depended on this supply to a large

extent. In 1469 the Moors at Batecala (Bhatkal) having sold horses

to the "Moors of Decan," the king of Vijayanagar ordered his vassal

at Onor (Honawar) "to kill all those Moors as far as possible, and

frighten the rest away." The result of this was a terrible massacre, in

which 10,000 Musulmans lost their lives. The survivors fled and settled

themselves at Goa, thus founding the city that afterwards became

the capital of Portuguese India. Nuniz alludes to the loss of "Goa,

Chaull, and Dabull" by Vijayanagar in the reign of "Verupaca."[155]

(Purchas states that the massacre took place in 1479 A.D.)

Shortly afterwards there arose to power under the Sultan Muhammad

one Yusuf Adil Khan, a slave, who before long grew to such power

that he overthrew the Bahmani dynasty, and became himself the first

independent sovereign of Bijapur -- the first "Adil Shah." In 1470,

says the BURHAN-I MAASIR, the Sultan took Rajahmundry and Kondavid from

the king of Orissa. An inscription at Kondapalle, a fine hill-fort

beautifully situated on a range of hills, gives the date as 1470 or

1471; my copy is imperfect.

Firishtah tells us that --

"In the year 877 (A.D. 1472 -- 73) Perkna, roy of the fortress of

Balgoan, at the instigation of the prince of Beejanuggur, marched

to retake the island of Goa.... Mahummud Shaw, immediately upon

intelligence of this irruption, collected his forces and moved against

Balgoan, a fortress of great strength, having round it a deep wet

ditch, and near it a pass, the only approach, defended by redoubts."

The attack ended in the reduction of the place, when the Sultan

returned to Kulbarga.

The BURHAN-I MAASIR CALLS the chief of Belgaum "Parkatapah," and Major

King, the translator of the work, gives a large variety of spellings of

the name, viz.: "Birkanah," "Parkatabtah," "Parkatiyah," "Parkitah,"

"Barkabtah."[156] Briggs gives it as "Birkana." It has been supposed

that the real name was Vikrama.

About the year 1475 there was a terrible famine in the Dakhan and

the country of the Telugus, which lasted for two years. At its close

the Hindu population of Kondapalle revolted, murdered the Muhammadan

governor, and invited aid from the king of Orissa. This monarch

accordingly advanced and laid siege to Rajahmundry, which was then

the governorship of Nizam-ul-Mulkh, but on the Shah marching in person

to the relief of the place the army of Orissa retired. In the latter

part of the year 882, which corresponds to March 1478 A.D., Muhammad

penetrated to the capital of Orissa, "and used no mercy in slaughtering

the inhabitants and laying waste the country of the enemy." The Rajah

submitted, and purchased his immunity from further interference on

the part of the Sultan by a present of some valuable elephants.

Firishtah and the BURHAN-I MAASIR differ considerably as to what

followed. The former states that, after his raid into Orissa,

Muhammad Shah reduced Kondapalle, where he destroyed a temple,

slew the Brahman priests attached to it, and ordered a mosque to be

erected on its site. He remained nearly three years at Rajahmundry,

secured the Telingana country, expelled some refractory zamindars,

and "resolved on the conquest of Nursing Raya."

"Nursing," says Firishtah, "was a powerful raja, possessing the country

between Carnatic[157] and Telingana, extending along the sea-coast,

to Matchiliputtum,[158] and had added much of the Beejanuggur territory

to his own by conquest, with several strong forts."

This was probably the powerful chief Narasimha Raya, a relation of

the king of Vijayanagar, who, intrusted with the government of large

tracts, was rising rapidly to independence under the weak and feeble

monarch whom he finally supplanted. The Sultan went to Kondapalle,[159]

and there was told that, at a distance of ten days' journey, "was

the temple of Kunchy,[160] the walls and roof of which were plated

with gold, ornamented with precious stones;" upon receipt of which

intelligence the Sultan is said to have made a forced march thither,

taking with him only 6000 cavalry, and to have sacked the place.

The account given by the BURHAN-I MAASIR as to Muhammad Shah's

proceedings at this period is that on going to Rajahmundry he found

there Narasimha Raya "with 700,000 cursed infantry, and 500 elephants

like mountains of iron," who, in spite of all his pomp and power,

fled like a craven on the approach of the army of Islam. The Sultan

then reduced Rajahmundry, which had been held by a HINDU force --

not Muhammadan, as Firishtah declares. In November 1480[161] he

marched from Rajahmundry to Kondavid, going "towards the kingdom

of Vijayanagar." After reducing that fortress, he proceeded after

a while to Malur, which belonged to Narasimha, "who, owing to his

numerous army and the extent of his dominions, was the greatest and

most powerful of all the rulers of Telingana and Vijayanagar," and who

"had established himself in the midst of the countries of Kanara and

Telingana, and taken possession of most of the districts of the coast

and interior of Vijayanagar."

While at Malur the Sultan was informed that "at a distance of fifty

farsakhas from his camp was a city called Ganji," containing temples,

&c., to which he promptly marched, arriving before the place on 13th

March A.D. 1481.[162] He sacked the city and returned.

After this the Sultan went to Masulipatam, which he reduced, and thence

returned to Kondapalle. This was his last success. His cold-blooded

murder of the celebrated Mahmud Gawan, his loyal and faithful servant,

in 1481, so disgusted the nobles that in a short time the kingdom

was dismembered, the chiefs revolted, the dynasty was overthrown,

and five independent kingdoms were raised on its ruins.

Muhammad Shah died on 21st March. A.D. 1482. Shortly before his death

he planned an expedition to relieve Goa from a Vijayanagar army which

"Sewaroy, Prince of Beejanuggur," had sent there (Firishtah); but

the Sultan's death put a stop to this (BURHAN-I MAASIR).

We have some further information on the affairs of Kulbarga during

the reign of Muhammad Shah in the writings of the Russian traveller

Athanasius Nikitin, but it is very difficult to fix the exact date

of his sojourn there. Nikitin was a native of Twer, and set out on

his wanderings by permission of the Grand Duke Michael Borissovitch,

and his own bishop, Gennadius. This fixes the time of his start so

far that it must have taken place subsequent to 1462, and the author

of the "Bombay Gazetteer," RE Poonah, assigns the period 1468 to 1474

as that of Nikitin's stay in India.

Nikitin first went to Chaul, and thence travelled by land to Junir.

"Here resides Asat, Khan of Indian Jooneer, a tributary of

Meliktuchar.... He has been fighting the Kofars for twenty years,

being sometimes beaten but mostly beating them."

By "Meliktuchar" is probably meant the celebrated minister Mahmud

Gawan, who in 1457 A.D. received the title "Mallik-al-Tijar,"

a title which was borne by the chief amongst the nobility at the

Bahmani court. It meant literally "chief of the merchants." The

"Kofars" are, of course, the Kaffirs or Hindus. Firishtah tells us of

fighting having taken place in 1469 between the Mallik-al-Tijar and

"the roles of Songeer, Khalneh, and rebels in Kokun," when the troops

of Junir were under the Mallik's command. During the war he captured

Goa, as already stated. There were campaigns also against the Hindus

of Rajahmundry, Vinukonda, and other places, and in 1472 one against

Belgaum, which has been already described. Firishtah tells us that the

Daulatabad and Junir troops were sent against the powerful Hindu Raja

Narasimha on the east coast.[163] As to Kulbarga and his experiences

there, Nikitin writes as follows: --

"The Hindus ... are all naked and bare-footed. They carry a shield

in one hand and a sword in the other. Some of the servants are

armed with straight bows and arrows. Elephants are greatly used

in battle.... Large scythes are attached to the trunks and tusks

of the elephants, and the animals are clad in ornamental plates of

steel. They carry a citadel, and in the citadel twelve men in armour

with guns and arrows.... The land is overstocked with people; but those

in the country are very miserable, whilst the nobles are extremely

opulent and delight in luxury. They are wont to be carried on their

silver beds, preceded by some twenty chargers caparisoned in gold,

and followed by three hundred men on horseback and five hundred on

foot, and by horn-men, ten torch-bearers, and ten musicians.

"There may be seen in the train of the Sultan about a thousand ordinary

horses in gold trappings, one hundred carrels with torch-bearers,

three hundred trumpeters, three hundred dancers.... The Sultan, riding

on a golden saddle, wears a habit embroidered with sapphires, and on

his pointed headdress a large diamond; he also carries a suit of gold

armour inlaid with sapphires, and three swords mounted in gold.... The

brother of the Sultan rides on a golden bed, the canopy of which is

covered with velvet and ornamented with precious stones.... Mahmud

sits on a golden bed, with a silken canopy to it and a golden top,

drawn by four horses in gilt harness. Around him are crowds of people,

and before him many singers and dancers....

"Melikh Tuchar took two Indian Towns whose ships pirated on the Indian

Sea, captured seven princes with their treasures.... The town had

been besieged for two years by an army of two hundred thousand men,

a hundred elephants, and three hundred camels.[164] ...

"Myza Mylk, Mek-Khan, and Farat Khan took three large cities, and

captured an immense quantity of precious stones, the whole of which

was brought to Melik Tuchar.... They came to Beder on the day of

the Ascension."

The Sultan's brother "when in a campaign is followed by his mother

and sister, and 2000 women on horseback or on golden beds;[165]

at the head of his train are 300 ordinary horses in gold equipment."

"Melik Tuchar moved from Beder with his army, 50,000 strong, against

the Indians.... The Sultan sent 50,000 of his own army.... With this

force Melik Tuchar went to fight against the great Indian dominion

of CHENUDAR. But the king of BINEDAR[166] possessed 300 elephants,

100,000 men of his own troops, and 50,000 horse."

The writer then gives details as to the rest of the Sultan's forces,

and the total comes to the enormous amount of over 900,000 foot,

190,000 horse, and 575 elephants.

"The Sultan moved out with his army ... to join Melich Tuchar at

Kalbarga. But their campaign was not successful, for they took only one

Indian town, and that at the loss of many people and treasures.[167]

"The Hindu Sultan Kadam is a very powerful prince. He possesses

a numerous army and resides on a mountain at BICHENEGHER. This

vast city is surrounded by three forts and intersected by a river,

bordering on one side on a dreadful jungle, and on the other on a

dale; a wonderful place and to any purpose convenient. On one side

it is quite inaccessible; a road gives right through the town, and as

the mountain rises high with a ravine below, the town is impregnable.

"The enemy besieged it for a month and lost many people, owing to

the walls of water and food. Plenty of water was in sight but could

not be got at.

"This Indian stronghold was ultimately taken by Melikh Khan Khoda,

who stormed it, and fought day and night to reduce it. The army

that made the siege with heavy guns had neither eaten nor drunk for

twenty days. He lost 5000 of his best soldiers. On the capture of

the town 20,000 inhabitants men and women, had their heads cut off,

20,000 young and old were made prisoners and sold.... The treasury,

however, having been found empty, the town was abandoned."

It is impossible to decide to what this refers, as we have no other

information of any capture of Vijayanagar by the Sultan's forces

at this period. But the traveller may have confused the place with

Rajahmundry or one of the eastern cities of Telingana.

In 1482 A.D., as before stated, Mahmud Shah II. succeeded to the throne

of Kulbarga, being then a boy of twelve, but his sovereignty was only

nominal. Constant disturbances took place; the nobles in many tracts

rose against the sovereign, and amongst others the governor of Goa

attempted to assert his independence, seizing many important places

on the coast; civil war raged at the capital; and before long the

great chiefs threw off all semblance of obedience to the authority

of the Bahmanis, and at length divided the kingdom amongst themselves.

At Vijayanagar, too, there seems to have been chaos, and about the time

when the Dakhani nobles finally revolted, Narasimha Raya had placed

himself on the throne and established a new and powerful dynasty.

The five separate kingdoms which arose in the Dakhan were those of

the Adil Shahs of Bijapur, with whom we have most to do; the Barid

Shahs of Bidr or Ahmadabad; the Imad Shahs of Birar; the Nizam Shahs

of Ahmadnagar; and the Qutb Shahs of Golkonda.

Adil Shah was the first of his line at Bijapur, and he proclaimed

his independence in A.D. 1489. The unhappy king Mahmud II. lived in

inglorious seclusion till December 18, A.D. 1517, and was nominally

succeeded by his eldest son, Ahmad. Ahmad died after two years' reign,

and was followed in rapid succession by his two brothers, Ala-ud-din

III. (deposed) and Wali (murdered), after whom Kalim Ullah, son of

Ahmad II., was nominally placed on the throne but was kept a close

prisoner, and with his death the Bahmani dynasty fell for ever.

CHAPTER 9

The First Kings of the Second Dynasty (A.D. 1490 to 1509)

Narasimha usurps the throne -- Flight of the late king -- Saluva

Timma -- Vira Narasimha -- Bijapur again attacks Vijayanagar --

The Portuguese in India -- They seize Goa -- Varthema's record --

Albuquerque.

In my "Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India," published in 1883

(p. 106), the following passage occurs: --

"We now come to the second or Narasimha dynasty, whose scions became

more powerful than any monarchs who had ever reigned over the south of

India. Dr. Burnell fixes A.D. 1490 as the initial date of Narasimha's

reign, and at present no inscription that I can be sure of appears to

overthrow that statement. I observe, however, that Bishop Caldwell, in

his 'History of Tinnevelly' (p. 48), fixes the date of the beginning

of Narasimha's ... reign as A.D. 1487.... WE HAVE YET TO

LEARN THE HISTORY OF HIS ACQUIRING THE SOVEREIGNTY

OF VIJAYANAGAR AND OUSTING THE OLDER DYNASTY."

Nothing has since transpired to throw light on this subject, and the

whole matter has remained up to the present in its primeval darkness;

but this newly-found chronicle of Nuniz gives us the entire story

in most interesting form though I can by no means vouch for its

accuracy. It is, nevertheless, a RESUME of the traditional history

of the early sixteenth century, written within fifty or sixty years

of the events with which it deals. He tells us that Virupaksha Raya

("Verupacarao") was a weak and unworthy sovereign, in whose days

large tracts of land were lost to the Muhammadans, including Goa,

Chaul, and Dabhol; and this statement, at least, is historically

accurate. Virupaksha was despotic, cruel, and sensuous, "caring for

nothing but women and to fuddle himself with drink," so that the whole

country was roused to indignation and rebellion. Eventually he was

murdered by his eldest son, who in his turn was slain by his brother

"Padearao," in whom the nation merely found repeated the crimes and

follies of his dead sire. Disgusted with this line of sovereigns,

the nobles rose, deposed their king, and placed on the throne one

of their own number, Narasimha -- "Narsymgua, WHO WAS IN SOME

MANNER AKIN TO HIM."

Nuniz gives us a graphic account of the last scenes; how Narasimha's

captain arrived at the city gates and found them undefended; how he

penetrated the palace and found no one to oppose him; how he even

went as far as the harem, "slaying some of the women;" and how at

last the craven king fled.

"After that, Narasymgua was raised to be king.... And as he had much

power and was beloved by the people, thence-forward this kingdom of

Bisnaga was called the kingdom of Narsymga."

The problem of Narasimha's relationship to the old royal line has never

yet been satisfactorily solved. He belonged to a family called SALUVA,

and we constantly hear, in the inscriptions and literary works of the

time, of powerful lords who were relations or descendants of his. Thus

our chronicle has much to say about the Saluva Timma, whom Nuniz

calls "Salvatinea," who was minister to King Krishna Deva Raya. An

inscription of the Saka year 1395, which corresponds to A.D. 1472 --

73, speaks of Narasimha as a great lord, but a great lord ONLY,[168]

and so does another of A.D. 1482 -- 83.[169] In one of A.D. 1495 -- 96,

however,[170] he is called "MAHA-RAYA," or the "king." But although

the exact date of the usurpation and the exact relationship of the

usurper to the deposed king may be difficult to ascertain, the fact

remains that Narasimha actually became sovereign about this time,

that Muhammadan aggression was stayed by his power and the force

of his arms, and that the empire of Vijayanagar was under him once

more consolidated.

The account of this period as given by Firishtah differs

altogether from that of Nuniz, and gives rise to much confusion and

difficulty. And as to the relationship of the succeeding sovereigns,

Narasa, Vira Narasimha, Krishna Deva Raya, Achyuta, and Sadasiva,

the native inscriptions themselves are totally at variance with one

another. Some few points, however, in the general scheme of history

of the second dynasty are quite certain, and these may be shortly

summarised. The last kings of the first dynasty were recognised down to

ABOUT the year 1490 A.D. Narasimha and Vira Narasimha ruled till the

accession of Krishna Deva Raya in 1509; Achyuta succeeded Krishna in

1530, and Sadasiva succeeded Achyuta in 1542. The latter was virtually

a prisoner in the hands of Rama Raya, the eldest of three brothers, at

first nominally his minister, but afterwards independent. The names of

the other brothers were Tirumala and Venkatadri. These three men held

the government of the kingdom till 1565, when the empire was utterly

overthrown by a confederation of the five Muhammadan kings of the

Dakhan, already mentioned, at the battle of Talikota -- so-called --

and the magnificent capital was almost wiped out of existence.

With these few facts to guide us, we turn to the chronicles of Nuniz

and Firishtah, trying in vain to obtain some points of contact

between them as to the origin of the second dynasty -- some clue

which will enable us to reconcile differences and arrive at the real

truth. If we are to be guided purely by probabilities, it would seem

that the history given by Nuniz is likely to be the more accurate of

the two. His chronicle was written about the year 1535, during the

reign of Achyuta; he lived at the Hindu capital itself, and he gained

his information from Hindu sources not long subsequent to the events

related. Firishtah did not write till about A.D. 1607, was not in any

sense a contemporary recorder, and did not live amongst the Hindus,

but at the court of Nizam Shah at Ahmadnagar. The lengths of reigns,

however, as given by Nuniz do not tally with the dates which we obtain

from sources undoubtedly reliable.

Nuniz has it that Virupaksha's son "Padearao," the last of the old

line, fled from the capital when the usurper Narasimha seized the

throne; that the latter reigned forty-four years, and died leaving

two sons. These youths being too young to govern, the dying king

intrusted the kingdom to his minister, Narasa Naik, and both the

princes were murdered. Narasa seized the throne, and held it till his

death. The length of his reign is not given. His son, "Busbalrao"

(? Basava Raya), succeeded, and reigned six years, being succeeded

by his brother, the great Krishna Deva Raya. Now we know that Krishna

Deva Raya began to reign in A.D. 1509. This gives 1503 for the date of

the accession of his predecessor, "Busbal." If we allow five years for

the reign of Narasa -- a pure guess -- we have his accession in 1498

A.D., and the forty-four years of Narasimha would begin in A.D. 1454;

but this would apparently coincide with the reign of Mallikarjuna,

son of Deva Raya II. It is perhaps possible that in after years the

usurper Narasimha's reign was measured by the Hindus from the time when

he began to attain power as minister or as a great noble, and not from

the date when he actually became king; but this is pure conjecture.

Firishtah mentions a certain "Sewaroy" as being raya of Vijayanagar in

1482, shortly before the death of Muhammad Shah Bahmani. Speaking of

the new sovereign of Bijapur, the first of the Adil Shahs, in 1489,

the historian tells us that the Adil's rival, Kasim Barid, asked

the then minister of Vijayanagar for aid against the rising power

of his enemy;[171] and that "the Roy being a child, his minister,

Heemraaje,[172] sent an army" and seized the country as far as Mudkal

and Raichur. This occurred in A.H. 895, which embraces the period from

November 1489 to November 1490. "HEEMraaje," therefore, is probably

for SIMHA or Narasimha Raja, or perhaps for Narasa, otherwise called

Vira Narasimha.

Firishtah also gives another account of the same event. According to

this, the Adil Shah, hearing of dissensions in the Hindu capital,

marched, apparently in 1493, against Raichur, when Heemraaje,

having settled these dissensions, advanced "with the young Raya" to

that city. A battle ensued, in which Heemraaje was defeated; and the

young king being mortally wounded, and dying before he reached home,

Heemraaje seized the government and the country.

There are, furthermore, two other passages in Firishtah dealing

with the overthrow of the old dynasty and the accession of

"Heemraaje." One[173] runs as follows: --

"Heemraaje was the first usurper. He had poisoned the young Raja of

Beejanuggur, son of Sheoroy, and made his infant brother a tool to

his designs, by degrees overthrowing the ancient nobility, and at

length establishing his own absolute authority over the kingdom."

The other[174] states: --

"The government of Beejanuggur had remained in one family, in

uninterrupted succession, for seven hundred years, when Seoroy dying,

was succeeded by his son, a minor, who did not live long after him, and

left the throne to a younger brother. He also had not long gathered the

flowers of enjoyment from the garden of royalty before the cruel skies,

proving their inconstancy, burned-up the earth of his existence with

the blasting wind of annihilation.[175] Being succeeded by an infant

only three months old, Heemraaje, one of the principal ministers of

the family, celebrated for great wisdom and experience, became sole

regent, and was cheerfully obeyed by all the nobility and vassals of

the kingdom for forty years; though, on the arrival of the young king

at manhood, he had poisoned him, and put an infant of the family on

the throne, in order to have a pretence for keeping the regency in

his own hands.[176] Heemraaje at his death was succeeded in office by

his son, Ramraaje, who having married a daughter of the son of Seoroy,

by that alliance greatly added to his influence and power."

He then proceeds to describe an event that took place in 1535 or

thereabouts, which will be considered in its place.

Writing of the events of the year 1530,[177] we find Firishtah

stating that the affairs of Vijayanagar were then in confusion

owing to the death of Heemraaje, who was newly succeeded by his son

Ramraaje. And this passage helps us definitely to the conclusion that

his Heemraaje, or Timma Raja, was the Muhammadan name for the ruler of

the state during the reigns of Narasimha, Narasa or Vira Narasimha,

and Krishna Deva Raya, the latter of whom died in 1530. Firishtah

seems to have confused Narasa's and Krishna Deva Raya's powerful

minister, Saluva Timma, with Narasimha and Narasa, and made all three

one person. "Ramraaje" is mentioned as king by Firishtah from the

accession of Achyuta in 1530 down to the year 1565.

Though names and details differ, it will be observed that there is

evidently a common basis of truth in the accounts given by Firishtah

and Nuniz. Both relate the deaths of two young princes, brothers,

the subsequent murder of two other heirs to the kingdom, and the

usurpation of the throne by a minister.

With these remarks we turn to the more reliable portion of Firishtah's

narrative.

Yusuf Adil Khan proclaimed himself independent king of Bijapur in

A.D. 1489. Shortly afterwards his rival, Kasim Barid, who ultimately

became sovereign of the territories of Ahmadabad, in a fit of jealousy

called in the aid of Vijayanagar against Bijapur, promising for reward

the cession of Mudkal and Raichur, or the country between the two

rivers. Narasimha collected the forces of the Hindus, crossed the

Tungabhadra with a large army, and after laying waste the country

seized the two cities Mudkal and Raichur, which thus once more passed

into the possession of Vijayanagar.

Shortly after this, probably about the year 1493 A.D., Sultan Yusuf

Adil again marched to recover the lost territory and advanced to

the Krishna, but falling ill he halted for two months; and Firishtah

gives us the following account of what occurred. This has been already

alluded to, but is now given in full: --

"In this interval Heemraaje, having settled his dissensions,[178]

advanced with the young roy at the head of a great army to Roijore,

which struck terror into the army of Adil Shaw, for whose recovery

earnest prayers were offered up by his subjects." ... (The prayers

were answered and the Sultan recovered.)

"Intelligence arriving that Heemraaje had crossed the Tummedra and

was advancing by hasty marches, Eusuff Adil Shaw ordered a general

review of his army ... (and advanced, entrenching his camp a short

distance from the Hindus). Several days passed inactively, till on

Saturday in Regib 898[179] both armies drew out, and in the beginning

of the action near five hundred of Adil Shaw's troops being slain,

the rest were disordered and fell back, but were rallied again by the

sultan. One of the officers, who had been taken prisoner and made his

escape, observed that the enemy were busily employed in plunder, and

might be attacked with advantage. The sultan relished this advice and

proceeded; when Heemraaje, not having time to collect his whole army,

drew out with seven thousand horse and a considerable number of foot,

also three hundred elephants. Adil Shaw charged his center with such

fury, that Heemraaje was unable to stand the shock. Victory waved the

royal standard, and the infidels fled, leaving two hundred elephants,

a thousand horses, and sixty lacs of OONS,[180] with many jewels

and effects, to the conquerors. Heemraaje and the young roy fled to

Beejanuggur, but the latter died on the road of a wound he had received

by an arrow in the action. Heemraaje seized the government of the

country; but some of the principal nobility opposing his usurpation,

dissensions broke out, which gave Adil Shaw relief from war for some

time from that quarter."

The disputed territory between the two rivers once more passed

into the hands of the Muhammadans. Goa also remained in the Bijapur

Sultan's possession.

The last historical event in the reign of Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur,

as narrated by Firishtah, is as follows: --

"In the year 915,[181] the Christians surprised the town of Goa, and

put to death the governor with many mussulmauns. Upon intelligence

of which, Adil Shaw, with three thousand chosen men, Dekkanees and

foreigners, marched with such expedition, that he came upon the

Europeans unawares, retook the fort, and put many to death; but some

made their escape in their ships out to sea."

These Christians were the Portuguese under Albuquerque, and the date

of their entry into Goa was March 1, A.D. 1510.

At this period there was a complete change in the PERSONNEL of the

chief actors on our Indian stage. Ahmad Nizam Shah, who had declared

himself independent at Ahmadnagar in A.D. 1490, died in 1508, and

was succeeded by his son, a boy of seven years of age named Burhan,

with whom the traveller Garcia da Orta[182] afterwards became very

friendly. Da Orta calls him "my friend."[183] Yusuf Adil Shah died

in A.D. 1510, and his successor on the throne of Bijapur was his son

Ismail. Krishna Deva Raya became Raya of Vijayanagar in 1509. The two

last-mentioned monarchs were frequently in contact with one another,

and in the end, according to our chronicles, the Hindu king was

completely victorious. Even Firishtah admits that he dealt Ismail a

crushing blow at the great battle of Raichur, a full description of

which is given by Nuniz.

But before dealing with the history of the reign of Krishna Deva Raya

it is necessary that we should learn how it came about that these

Portuguese Christians who seized Goa came to be living in India,

and some of them even resident at the Hindu capital.

The Portuguese Arrive in India.

King John of Portugal had acquired some knowledge of India in

A.D. 1484, and after causing inquiries to be made as to the possibility

of discovering the rich and interesting country in the Far East, had

begun to fit out three ships, but he died before they were ready. His

successor, Dom Manuel, took up the matter warmly, and sent these ships

out under Vasco da Gama and his brother Paulo, with orders to try and

double the Cape of Good Hope. The full account of the extraordinary

voyage made by them is given in the "Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama,"

translated and published in the Hakluyt edition; being a translation of

certain portions of Correa's LENDAS DA INDIA. Da Gama sailed on July

8, A.D. 1497, and arrived close to Calicut on August 26, 1498.[184]

The Samuri, or king, of Calicut was at first friendly, but there were

misunderstandings on the part of the Portuguese, and they made little

or no progress either in trade or in establishing amicable relations

with the Hindus. Da Gama returned shortly after to Portugal. Early

in 1500 A.D. Cabral took out another and larger fleet, and arrived

at Calicut on September 13th. He at once quarrelled with the Samuri,

and instead of peaceful commerce we read of attacks and counter-attacks

conducted in such sort by the Portuguese as irretrievably to alienate

the natives of the country. A few Europeans, however, settled in that

tract, and amongst them Duarte Barbosa, the celebrated chronicler of

the time.

Da Gama returned to India in 1504, proclaiming the king of Portugal

lord of the seas, and wantonly destroying with all hands a large

vessel having several hundred people on board near the Indian coast. He

reached Calicut on October 29th, and immediately bombarded the city,

seizing the inoffensive native fishermen in the port, eight hundred

of whom he massacred in cold blood under circumstances of brutal

atrocity. In 1503 he again left for Europe, after establishing a

factory at Cochin. In consequence of his violence a war ensued between

Cochin and Calicut. In 1504 Lopo Soares came out with a fleet of

fourteen caravels, and proclaimed a blockade of the port of Cochin,

in spite of the fact that the Rajah of that place had always shown

great kindness and hospitality to the Portuguese.

The next year, 1505, Almeida was appointed viceroy of the king of

Portugal on the Indian coast, and took out with him a large fleet and

1500 soldiers. After some preliminary fighting at Honawar, Almeida

began for the first time to perceive that the true interests of the

Portuguese lay in peaceful commerce, and not in sanguinary and costly

attacks on the natives; and he also learned from an influential native

of the existence of the great kingdom of Vijayanagar and the power

of its king, Narasimha (or Narasa). At Cannanore the viceroy's son,

Lourenco, in 1506, received further information as to the state of

the country from the Italian traveller Varthema, and in consequence

of this Almeida asked King Narasa to allow him to erect a fortress

at Bhatkal, but no answer was returned.

Varthema has left behind him a valuable account of his experiences[185]

at this period. He speaks of Goa as being then under the "Savain,"

which is this writer's form of expressing the ruler known to the

Portuguese as the "Sabayo,"[186] who was the governor of the place

under the Adil Shah of Bijapur. The Sabayo was then at war with

Narasimha of Vijayanagar.

He describes Vijayanagar as a great city, "very large and strongly

walled. It is situated on the side of a mountain,[187] and is seven

miles in circumference. It has a triple circlet of walls." It was very

wealthy and well supplied, situated on a beautiful site, and enjoying

an excellent climate. The king "keeps up constantly 40,000 horsemen"

and 400 elephants. The elephants each carry six men, and have long

swords fastened to their trunks in battle -- a description which agrees

with that of Nikitin and Paes. "The common people go quite naked,

with the exception of a piece of cloth about their middle. The king

wears a cap of gold brocade two spans long.... His horse is worth

more than some of our cities on account of the ornaments which it

wears."[188] Calicut, he says, was ruined in consequence of its wars

with the Portuguese.

Varthema saw forty-eight Portuguese traders massacred at Calicut by the

"Moors," and in consequence of the dangerous state of things existing

there he left the city and pursued his journey southwards round the

coast. Here we may leave him.

In March 1505 a Portuguese fleet destroyed, with immense loss of life,

a large flotilla of small boats belonging to the Rajah of Calicut. In

the next year an outrage committed by the Portuguese led to a siege

of their factory at Cannanore, but the timely arrival of Tristan da

Cunha with a new fleet from home relieved the beleaguered garrison. At

the end of 1507 Almeida and Da Cunha joined forces and again attacked

Calicut, with some measure of success.

Afonso d'Albuquerque was now in the Persian seas fighting with all

the "Moors" he could meet. At the end of 1509 he became "Governor of

India," I.E. of Portuguese India, in succession to Almeida; Diogo Lopes

de Sequeira receiving the governorship under the king of Portugal of

the seas east of Cape Comorin.

From the accession of Krishna Deva Raya to the throne of Vijayanagar in

A.D. 1509 we once more enter a period when the history of the country

becomes less confused, and we are able to trace the sequence of events

without serious difficulty. This was the period of Vijayanagar's

greatest successes, when its armies were everywhere victorious,

and the city was most prosperous.

CHAPTER 10

The Reign of Krishna Deva Raya (A.D. 1509 to 1530)

His character and person -- Bankapur -- Almeida and Fr. Luis's mission

-- Duarte Barbosa -- His description of the city -- The king's early

wars -- Kondapalle -- Rajahmundry -- Kondavid -- Udayagiri -- Wars

of the Qutb Shah of Golkonda in Telingana.

An inscription in the Pampapati temple at Hampe states that on

the occasion of a festival in honour of the coronation of Krishna

Deva Raya, the king built a hall of assembly and a GOPURA or tower

there, and the date is given as the 14th of the first half of the

lunar month Magha in the expired Saka year 1430, the year of the

cycle being "Sukla."[189] It so happens that the cyclic year Sukla

does not correspond to Saka 1430 expired, but to Saka 1431 expired;

and this unfortunate error leaves us in doubt as to the true date of

that important event. If we conceive the mistake as having occurred,

not in the NAME of the year, which was perhaps in constant daily use,

but in the number of the Saka year, then the date corresponds to 23rd

or 24th January A.D. 1510; but if the number of the Saka year was

correct and the name wrong, then the day must have been February 4,

1509, the cyclic year being properly "Vibhava." Even then it is not

certain whether this festival took place on the coronation day itself,

or on an anniversary of that event; and a considerable interval may

have elapsed between the king's accession and coronation. Probably

we shall not be wrong if we consider that the new king succeeded to

the throne in A.D. 1509.[190]

Krishna Raya seems to have possessed a very striking personality,

to judge from the glowing description given us by Paes, who saw

him about the year 1520. The account given by him is all the more

interesting and valuable because without it the world would have

remained justly in doubt as to whether this king really reigned at

all, in the usual acceptation of the word -- whether he was not a

mere puppet, entirely in the hands of his minister, perhaps even an

actual prisoner. For Firishtah never mentions him by name, and the

inscriptions which relate his conquests prove nothing beyond the fact

that they took place during a reign which, for all we know, might have

been a reign only in name, the real power being in the hands of the

nobles. But with the description of Paes in our hands there can be no

longer a shadow of doubt. Krishna Deva was not only monarch DE JURE,

but was in very practical fact an absolute sovereign, of extensive

power and strong personal influence. He was the real ruler. He was

physically strong in his best days, and kept his strength up to the

highest pitch by hard bodily exercise. He rose early, and developed

all his muscles by the use of Indian clubs and the use of the sword;

he was a fine rider, and was blessed with a noble presence which

favourably impressed all who came in contact with him. He commanded his

immense armies in person, was able, brave, and statesmanlike, and was

withal a man of much gentleness and generosity of character. He was

beloved by all and respected by all. Paes writes of him that he was

"gallant and perfect in all things." The only blot on his scutcheon

is, that after his great success over the Muhammadan king he grew to

be haughty and insolent in his demands. No monarch such as the Adil

Shah could brook for a moment such a humiliation as was implied by a

peace the condition of which was that he should kiss his triumphant

enemy's foot; and it was beyond all doubt this and similar contemptuous

arrogance on the part of successive Hindu rulers that finally led,

forty years later, to the downfall of the Hindu empire.

All Southern India was under Krishna Deva's sway, and several

quasi-independent chiefs were his vassals. These were, according to

Nuniz, the chief of Seringapatam, and those of Bankapur,[191] Garsopa,

Calicut, Bhatkal, and Barkur. The Portuguese treated these lesser

chiefs as if they were kings, called them so and sent embassies to

them, no doubt much to their satisfaction.

The present head of the Brahmanical establishment at the Hampe temple

informed me that Krishna Deva Raya celebrated his accession by erecting

the great tower at the entrance of the temple, and the next largest

tower shortly afterwards. Nuniz tells us that immediately on attaining

power, the king, making Saluva Timma his minister, sent his nephew,

the son of the last sovereign, and his own three brothers, to the

fortress of Chandragiri, 250 miles to the south-east, for his greater

security, and himself remained for some time at the capital. This

accords well with the writings of the other Portuguese, who relate

that at least on two occasions, when missions were sent from Calicut

and Goa, viz., those of Fr. Luis and Chanoca, the envoys saw the king

in person at Vijayanagar.

At the beginning of Krishna's reign, Almeida, as stated above,

was viceroy of the Portuguese settlements on the coast, but at the

end of the year 1509 Albuquerque succeeded him under the title of

governor. The latter suffered a severe reverse at Calicut, and from

thence despatched Fr. Luis, of the Order of St. Francis, as ambassador

to Vijayanagar, begging the Raya to come by land and reduce the Samuri

of Calicut, promising himself to assault simultaneously by sea.[192]

The governor declared that he had orders from his master, the king

of Portugal, to war against the Moors, but not against the Hindus;

that Calicut had been destroyed by the governor, and its king had

fled into the interior; that he (the governor) offered his fleet to

assist the king of Vijayanagar in his conquest of the place; that as

soon as Calicut was captured the Moors would be driven therefrom, and

that afterwards the Portuguese would assist the king of Vijayanagar

against his enemies, the "Moors" of the Dakhan. He promised in future

to supply Vijayanagar alone with Arab and Persian horses, and not to

send any to Bijapur. No answer was returned.

Albuquerque next attacked Goa, then under the Adil Shah, and

captured the place, making his triumphal entry into it on March 1,

A.D. 1510. Immediately afterwards he despatched Gaspar Chanoca on

a mission to Vijayanagar, renewing Almeida's request for a fort at

Bhatkal for the protection of Portuguese trade. Barros[193] states

that Chanoca reported that, though he was received "solemnly," Krishna

Deva Raya only made a general answer in courteous terms, and did not

specifically grant the governor's request; the reason being that the

king had then made peace with the Adil Shah. Presumably this peace

was made in order to enable the Adil Shah to retake Goa.[194]

Upon this a message was sent from Vijayanagar to Albuquerque

congratulating the Portuguese on their conquest of Goa, and promising

to aid them against the Adil Shah. This aid, however, does not appear

to have been given. The Muhammadan troops attacked Goa in May and after

a severe struggle were successful, Albuquerque evacuating the place

after decapitating a hundred and fifty of the principal Muhammadans

there, and slaughtering their wives and children.[195]

In November of the same year, Ismail Adil's attention being called off

by internal dissension at Bijapur, Albuquerque attacked Rasul Khan,

Ismail's deputy at Goa, and the eight thousand men under his command,

defeated them, retook the place on December 1, and slew six thousand

men, women, and children of the Muhammadans. Firishtah states that

the young Adil Shah's minister, Kummal Khan, after this made peace

with the Europeans, and left them securely established at Goa. This,

however, is not quite correct, for Rasul Khan made a desperate attempt

in 1512 to retake the place, but failed after severe fighting.[196]

As soon as the news reached Vijayanagar of Albuquerque's success

in December 1510, Krishna Deva Raya sent ambassadors to Goa, and

by them Fr. Luis sent letters to Albuquerque detailing the result

of his mission. He "had been well received by all except the king,"

but the king had nevertheless granted permission for the Portuguese

to build a fort at Bhatkal. Poor Fr. Luis never returned from his

embassy. History is silent as to what happened or what led to the

tragedy, but he was one day murdered in the city of Vijayanagar.[197]

His despatch is interesting as containing information regarding

Vijayanagar and the Sultan of Bijapur, part of which is certainly

accurate, while part tells us of Krishna Deva Raya's proceedings

at this period, regarding which we know nothing from any other

source. Fr. Luis wrote to Albuquerque that the Adil Shah had attacked

Bijapur, and had taken it after a siege of two months, while four lords

had risen against him "since the latter had carried off the king of

Decan as a prisoner." This king was the Bahmani king, while the Adil

Shah and the "four lords" were the revolting Muhammadan princes. He

added that the people of Belgaum had revolted from the Adil Shah and

submitted to the Hindu sovereign. As to Vijayanagar, he said that the

king was getting ready a small expedition of seven thousand men to send

against one of his vassals, who had risen up in rebellion and seized

the city of Pergunda (? Pennakonda), saying that it belonged to himself

by right; and that after he had taken the rebel the king would proceed

to certain places on the sea-coast. Fr. Luis professed himself unable

to understand the drift of this latter design, but warned Albuquerque

to be careful. He advised him to keep up friendly communications with

the king, and by no means to place any reliance on the man on whom, of

all others, the Portuguese had pinned their faith -- one Timoja,[198]

a Hindu who had befriended the new-comers. The priest declared that

Timoja was a traitor to them, and had, in conjunction with the king

of Garsopa, promised Krishna Deva Raya that he would deliver Goa to

him before the Portuguese could fortify their possessions therein,

if he should send a fully equipped army to seize the place.

After Albuquerque's second capture of Goa the chief of Bankapur

also sent messages of congratulation to the Portuguese, and asked

for permission to import three hundred horses a year. The request

was granted, as the place was on the road to Vijayanagar, and

it was important that its chief should be on friendly terms with

the Europeans. Moreover, Bankapur contained a number of superior

saddlers.[199]

Krishna Deva's anxiety was to secure horses. He must have thought

little of this foreign settlement on the coast as a political power,

but what he wanted was horses, and again horses, for his perpetual

wars against the Adil Shah; and Albuquerque, after toying a little

with the Muhammadan, gratified the Hindu by sending him a message in

which he declared that he would prefer to send cavalry mounts to him

rather than to supply them to the Sultan of Bijapur.

About the year 1512 Krishna Deva Raya, who had, taken advantage of

the times to invade the Sultan's dominions, attacked the fortress of

Raichur, which at last was given up to him by the garrison; Ismail

Adil being too much employed in attending to the internal affairs of

his government to afford it timely relief. So says Firishtah.[200]

This event is not noticed by Nuniz, who writes as if the Raya's first

campaign against the Adil Shah took place in 1520, when he advanced

to attack Raichur, it being then in the Shah's possession; and here we

see a difference between the story of Nuniz and the story of Firishtah,

for the latter, writing of the same event, viz., the campaign of 1520,

states that "Ismail Adil Shaw made preparations for marching to recover

Mudkal and Roijore from the Roy of Beejanuggar," he having taken these

cities about 1512, as narrated. Which account is correct I cannot say.

It appears[201] that in 1514 A.D. Krishna Deva offered Albuquerque

[pound sterling] 20,000 for the exclusive right to trade in horses, but

the Portuguese governor, with a keen eye to business, refused. A little

later the Hindu king renewed his proposal, declaring his intention of

making war against the Adil Shah; and the Adil Shah, hearing of this

message, himself sent an embassy to Goa. Albuquerque was now placed

in a position of some political importance, and he wrote first to

Vijayanagar saying that he would give the Raya the refusal of all his

horses if he would pay him 30,000 cruzados per annum for the supply,

and send his own servants to Goa to fetch away the animals, and also

that he would aid the king in his war if he was paid the expense of

the troops; and he wrote afterwards to Bijapur promising the Sultan

the refusal of all horses that came to Goa if he would surrender to

the king of Portugal a certain portion of the mainland opposite the

island. Before this matter was settled, however, Albuquerque died.

We learn from this narrative the Krishna Deva Raya was meditating a

grand attack on the Muhammadans at least five years before his advance

to Raichur -- a year even before his expedition against Udayagiri and

the fortresses on the east, the story of which campaign is given in

our chronicle.

We have an account of what Vijayanagar was like in A.D. 1504 --

14 in the narrative of Duarte Barbosa, a cousin of Magellan, who

visited the city during that period.

Speaking of the "kingdom of Narsinga," by which name the Vijayanagar

territories were always known to the Portuguese, Barbosa writes:[202]

"It is very rich, and well supplied with provisions, and is very full

of cities and large townships."

He describes the large trade of the seaport of Bhatkal on its western

coast, the exports from which consisted of iron, spices, drugs,

myrabolans, and the imports of horses and pearls; but as regards

he last two items he says, "They now go to Goa, on account of the

Portuguese." The governor of Bhatkal was a nephew of King Krishna

Deva. "He lives in great state and calls himself king, but is in

obedience to the king, his uncle."

Leaving the sea-coast and going inland, Barbosa passed upwards through

the ghats.

"Forty-five leagues from these mountains there is a very large city

which is called BIJANAGUER, very populous, and surrounded on one side

by a very good wall, and on another by a river, and on the other

by a mountain. This city is on level ground; the king of Narsinga

always resides in it. He is a gentile, and is called Raheni.[203]

He has in this place very large and handsome palaces, with numerous

courts.... There are also in this city many other palaces of great

lords, who live there. And all the other houses of the place are

covered with thatch, and the streets and squares are very wide. They

are constantly filled with an innumerable crowd of all nations and

creeds.... There is an infinite trade in this city.... In this city

there are many jewels which are brought from Pegu and Celani (Ceylon),

and in the country itself many diamonds are found, because there is

a mine of them in the kingdom of Narsinga and another in the kingdom

of Decani. There are also many pearls and seed-pearls to be found

there, which are brought from Ormuz and Cael ... also silk-brocades,

scarlet cloth, and coral....

"The king constantly resides in the before-mentioned palaces, and

very seldom goes out of them....

"All the attendance on the king is done by women, who wait upon him

within doors; and amongst them are all the employments of the king's

household; and all these women live and find room within these palaces,

which contain apartments for all....

"This king has a house[204] in which he meets with the governors and

his officers in council upon the affairs of the realm.... They come in

very rich litters on men's shoulders.... Many litters and many horsemen

always stand at the door of this palace, and the king keeps at all

times nine hundred elephants and more than twenty thousand horses,

all which elephants and horses are bought with his own money.... This

king has more than a hundred thousand men, both horse and foot,

to whom he gives pay....

"When the king dies four or five hundred women burn themselves with

him.... The king of Narsinga is frequently at war with the king of

Dacani, who has taken from him much of his land; and with another

gentile king of the country of Otira (apparently Orissa), which is

the country in the interior."

Barbosa mentions that the lord of Goa, before the Portuguese attack

on the place, was "Sabaym Delcani," meaning the king of the Dakhan,

and he alludes to its first capture by Albuquerque on 25th February

1510, and the second on 25th November of the same year.

We learn from other sources that about this time Krishna Deva Raya

was engaged with a refractory vassal in the Maisur country, the Ganga

Rajah of Ummatur, and was completely successful. He captured the

strong fortress of Sivasamudra and the fortress of Srirangapattana,

or Seringapatam, reducing the whole country to obedience.

In 1513 A.D. he marched against Udayagiri, in the present district

of Nellore, an exceedingly strong hill-fortress then under the king

of Orissa,[205] and after the successful termination of the war

he brought with him from a temple on the hill a statue of the god

Krishna, which he set up at Vijayanagar and endowed with a grant of

lands. This is commemorated by a long inscription still in existence

at the capital. It was then that the great temple of Krishnasvami was

built, which, though now in ruins, is still one of the most interesting

objects in the city. This is also attested by a long inscription

on stone, still in its place. The king further built the temple of

Hazara Ramasvami near, or in, his palace enclosure, at the same time.

Nuniz relates that at Udayagiri Krishna Raya captured an aunt of the

king of Orissa and took her prisoner to Vijayanagar. He next proceeded

against Kondavid, another very strong hill-fortress also in possession

of the king of Orissa, where he met and defeated the king in person

in a pitched battle, and captured the citadel after a two months'

siege. He left Saluva Timma here as a governor of the conquered

provinces, and went in pursuit of his enemy northwards. Nuniz says

that Saluva Timma appointed his own brother captain of Kondavid,

but an inscription at that place gives us the name of this man as

Nadendla Gopamantri, and calls him a nephew of Timma. Kondavid seems

to have been under the kings of Orissa since A.D. 1454; its capture

by Krishna Deva took place in 1515.[206] To confirm our chronicler's

account of the king's northward journey, I find that there is at the

town of Meduru, twenty-two miles south-east of Bezvada on the Krishna,

an inscription which states that in 1516 a battle took place there

between Krishna Deva and some enemy whose name is obliterated, in

which the former was victorious.

The king, advanced to Kondapalle, took the place after a three months'

siege, and captured therein a wife and son of the king of Orissa. The

unhappy fate of the latter is told in the chronicle. Thence he marched

to Rajahmundry and halted six months. Peace was made shortly after,

and Krishna Deva married a daughter of the Orissan king.[207] After

this marriage King Krishna made an expedition against a place in the

east which Nuniz calls "Catuir," on the Coromandel side, and took

it. I have been unable to locate this place.

By these conquests the whole of his eastern dominions were brought

into entire subjection to the sovereign.

Nuniz writes as though the attack on Raichur immediately followed the

campaign against Udayagiri, Kondavid, and "Catuir," but, according

to the evidence afforded by inscriptions, these expeditions were at

an end in 1515, and the battle of Raichur did not take place for at

least five years later.

A long account of wars in the south-eastern Dakhan country

between Sultan Quli Qutb Shah of Golkonda and his neighbours, both

Mussulman and Hindu, is given in the third volume of Colonel Briggs'

"Firishtah,"[208] translated from a Muhammadan historian -- not

Firishtah himself; and as this certainly covers the period of at least

a portion of Krishna Deva's reign, it is well to give a summary of

it. I cannot, however, as yet determine the exact dates referred to,

and the story differs from that acquired from Hindu and Portuguese

accounts, the dates of which are confirmed by epigraphical records.

Sultan Quli proclaimed himself an independent sovereign in 1512. The

historian referred to states that shortly after this Quli attacked and

took Razukonda and Devarakonda, fortresses respectively south-east

and south-south-east of Hyderabad in Telingana. After the second of

these places had fallen Krishna Raya of Vijayanagar marched against

the Sultan with an immense army and invaded his dominions. This must,

I think, refer to about the year 1513. The Hindu army encamped at

Pangul, in the angle of the Krishna river almost due east of Raichur,

and here a battle took place in which the Qutb Shah was victorious

The place was then besieged; it capitulated, and the Muhammadans

proceeded to Ghanpura, twenty miles to the north. This fort was

captured after heavy loss, and the Sultan led his army to Kovilkonda,

twenty miles to the north-west, on the borders of the country of Bidar,

the territory of Ala-ud-din Imad Shah. This place also fell.

A war with the Imad Shah followed, in which Sultan Quli was again

victorious. Shortly afterwards there were disturbances on the east

of the Golkonda territories. Sitapati, Rajah of Kambampeta, on the

Muniyer river, who possessed extensive territories -- including

Warangal and Bellamkonda, a fortress south of the Krishna -- rose

against the Muhammadans, and the Sultan marched against Bellamkonda,

which, after a long siege, he captured. Sitapati then fought a pitched

battle, was defeated, and fled, Quli returning to Golkonda. The Rajah

then stirred up a number of neighbouring chiefs and assembled large

forces at Kambampeta. Hearing of this, the Golkonda forces marched

to attack them, and met with complete success, Sitapati flying to

the protection of "Ramchunder Dew, the son of Gujputty, who held his

court at Condapilly," and was king of Orissa. The Sultan advanced

and attacked Kambampeta, where, after his capture of the place, he

slew every man, woman, and child in the city, seizing the females

of Sitapati's household for his own seraglio. Meanwhile an immense

Hindu host from all the countries about, under command of the king

of Orissa, prepared to do battle for their country, and a decisive

action took place near the river at Palinchinur, in which the Hindus

were completely defeated. Quli then seized Kondapalle, Ellore, and

Rajahmundry, and a treaty was made between him and Orissa fixing the

Godavari river as the eastern boundary of Golkonda. By this the Sultan

added the districts of Ellore and Bezvada to his own dominions.

Krishna Raya then advanced to the rescue and the Sultan marched to

Kondavid. He invested the place, but was forced to retreat owing to

attacks made on him from Bellamkonda and Vinukonda, the first of

which fortresses he succeeded in reducing after heavy loss. After

this he retired towards Kondapalle. Krishna Raya now arrived and

attacked the Muhammadan garrison in Bellamkonda, upon which the Sultan

counter-marched, and suddenly appeared in rear of the Hindu army. In

the battle which ensued he was victorious and the siege was raised,

after which he returned to Kondavid and took it. On learning of the

fall of Kondavid, Krishna Raya detached "his general and son-in-law

Seeva Ray"[209] with 100,000 foot and 8000 horse to march against

the Muhammadans. The Sultan retreated and encamped on the banks of

the Krishna, leaving Kondavid to the Hindus.[210] After settling

the place the Vijayanagar forces proceeded in pursuit of the Sultan,

were attacked by him, defeated, and retired to Kondavid, which was

a second time invested by the army of Golkonda. The Hindus then

submitted and agreed to become tributary.

On his return towards his capital the Sultan learned that Ismail

Adil Shah of Bijapur was besieging Kovilkonda, "at the instance of

the Raja of Beejanuggur."[211] He marched against him, and a series

of actions ensued, the campaign lasting eleven months, at the end of

which Ismail died of a fever, and was succeeded by his son Malu. In

one of the fights Sultan Quli was wounded severely by a sabre in the

face, and disfigured for life.[212]

I have given the whole of this story in this place because it

runs as a consecutive series of events in the original Muhammadan

account. But it really covers a period of at least twenty-one years;

for the narrative begins shortly after the beginning of Quli's reign

(1512), and ends with Ismail's death (1534). We are left, therefore,

entirely in the dark as to the exact years referred to. But there are

some points of agreement between our authorities. It is certain that

Krishna Deva took Kondavid in A.D. 1515, and fought battles in the

neighbourhood in the following year; and though Nuniz asserts that he

took Kondavid from the king of Orissa, he also alludes to the presence

of armed bodies of Muhammadans in that tract opposed to the Hindus.

With these remarks we return to Vijayanagar history.

From 1516 to 1520 we have no records from Hindu sources to guide us

as to events at the capital.

The Portuguese traded on the coast, and there were some fights with

the neighbouring Hindu chiefs, but they seem to have affected the

capital but little; the foreigners were generally on friendly terms

with the suzerain at Vijayanagar, and so far as he was concerned were

welcome to consolidate their commerce, since he benefited largely by

the import of horses and other requisites. The rest of his dominions

were tranquil and the inhabitants obedient to his rule.

The whole country was divided out -- so Nuniz tells us, and his

account is confirmed by other evidence -- into governorships. Each

chief was allowed entire independence in the territory allotted to

him so long as he maintained the quota of horse, foot, and elephants,

the maintenance of which was the price of his possession, in perfect

readiness for immediate action, and paid his annual tribute to the

sovereign. Failing these he was liable to instant ejection, as the

king was lord of all and the nobles held only by his goodwill.

But during this period of peace the king made extensive preparations

for a grand attack on the territory between the rivers, the

ever-debatable land which for nearly two centuries had been the subject

of dispute between his predecessors and their northern neighbours. His

objective was the city of Raichur, then under the Muhammadans,[213]

and when all was ready he marched to the attack with an immense force.

This event requires a chapter to itself.