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This Etext Created by Jeroen Hellingman <jehe@kabelfoon.nl>
A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar; A Contribution to the History of India

by Robert Sewell


Preface

The two Portuguese chronicles, a translation of which into English is now for the first time offered to the public, are contained in a vellum-bound folio volume in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, amongst the manuscripts of which institution it bears the designation "PORT. NO. 65." The volume in question consists of copies of four original documents; the first two, written by Fernao Nuniz and Domingo Paes, being those translated below, the last two (at the end of the MS.) letters written from China about the year 1520 A.D. These will probably be published in translation by Mr. Donald Ferguson in the pages of the INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

The first pair of original papers was sent with a covering letter by some one at Goa to some one in Europe. The names are not given, but there is every reason for believing that the recipient was the historian Barros in Lisbon.

Both these papers are in the same handwriting, which fact -- since they were written by separate Portuguese merchants or travellers at Vijayanagar in different years, one, I believe, shortly subsequent to 1520 A.D., the latter not later than about 1536 or 1537 -- conclusively proves them to be copies of the originals, and not the originals themselves.[2] I have inserted a facsimile of two pages of the text, so that no doubt may remain on this point. The first portion consists of the conclusion of the text of Fernao Nuniz; the second of the covering letter written by the person who sent the originals to Europe; the third of the beginning of the text of Domingo Paes.

Paes being the earlier in date (about 1520) I have given his account of personal experiences first, and afterwards the historical summary composed by Nuniz about the year 1536 or 1537.

I have stated that the person to whom the documents were sent from Goa was probably the celebrated historian Barros. He is alluded to in the covering letter in the words: "It seemed necessary to do what your Honour desired of me," "I send both the summaries ... because your Honour can gather what is useful to you from both;" and at the end of the long note on "Togao Mamede," king of Delhi, quoted in my introduction, "I kiss your Honour's hand."

Since the first DECADA of Barros was published in 1552,[3] this argument is not unreasonable; while a comparison between the accounts given by Nuniz and Barros of the siege and battle of Raichur sufficiently proves that one was taken from the other. But we have fortunately more direct evidence, for the discovery of which we have to thank Mr. Ferguson. I have mentioned above that at the end of the MS. volume are copies of two letters concerning China. These were written subsequent to the year 1520 by Vasco Calvo and Christovao Vieyra. Mr. Ferguson has pointed out to me that, in the third DECADA (liv. IV, caps. 4, 5), after quoting some passages almost verbatim from this chronicle of Nuniz regarding Vijayanagar, Barros writes: "According to two letters which our people had two or three years afterwards from these two men, Vasco Calvo, brother of Diogo Calvo, and Christovao Vieyra, who were prisoners in Canton, etc...." He also mentions these letters in two subsequent passages, and quotes from them. This renders it certain that Barros saw those letters; and since they are copied into the same volume which contains the chronicles of Nuniz and Paes, we may be sure that Barros had the whole before him. It is of little importance to settle the question whether the chronicles of Nuniz and Paes were sent direct to Barros -- whether, that is, Barros himself is the addressee of the covering letter -- or to some other official (the "our people" of the passage from Barros last quoted); but that Barros saw them seems certain, and it is therefore most probable that the Paris MS. was a volume of copies prepared for him from the originals.

* * *

These documents possess peculiar and unique value; that of Paes because it gives us a vivid and graphic account of his personal experiences at the great Hindu capital at the period of its highest grandeur and magnificence -- "things which I saw and came to know" he tells us -- and that of Nuniz because it contains the traditional history of the country gathered first-hand on the spot, and a narrative of local and current events of the highest importance, known to him either because he himself was present or because he received the information from those who were so. The summaries of the well-known historians already alluded to, though founded, as I believe, partly on these very chronicles, have taken all the life out of them by eliminating the personal factor, the presence of which in the originals gives them their greatest charm. Senhor Lopes, who has published these documents in the original Portuguese in a recent work,[4] writes in his introduction: "Nothing that we know of in any language can compare with them, whether for their historical importance or for the description given of the country, and especially of the capital, its products, customs, and the like. The Italian travellers who visited and wrote about this country -- Nicolo di Conti, Varthema, and Federici -- are much less minute in the matter of the geography and customs of the land, and not one of them has left us a chronicle." They are indeed invaluable, and throw an extraordinary light on the condition of Vijayanagar as well as on several doubtful points of history.

Thus, for instance, we have in Nuniz for the first time a definite account of the events that led to the fall of the First Dynasty and the establishment of the second by the usurpation of Narasimha. Previous to the publication of these chronicles by Senhor Lopes we had nothing to guide us in this matter, save a few vague and unsatisfactory lines in the chronicle of the historian Firishtah.[5] Now all is made clear, and though as yet the truth cannot be definitely determined, at least we have an explicit and exceedingly interesting story. Paes too, as well as Nuniz, conclusively proves to us that Krishna Deva Raya was really the greatest of all the kings of Vijayanagar, and not the mere puppet that Firishtah appears to consider him (Firishtah does not mention him by name); for Paes saw him on several occasions and speaks of him in warm and glowing terms, while Nuniz, whose narrative was evidently firsthand, never so much as hints that his armies were led to victory by any other general but the king himself. Nuniz also gives us a graphic description from personal knowledge of the character of Krishna's degenerate successor Achyuta, whose feebleness, selfishness, cowardice, and cruelty paved the way for the final destruction of the great empire.

By the side of these two chronicles the writings of the great European historians seem cold and lifeless.

* * *

I have mentioned the publication of Senhor Lopes. It is to that distinguished Arabic scholar that we owe the knowledge of the existence of these precious documents. He it was who brought them to light in the first instance, and to him personally I owe the fact of my being able to translate and publish them. His introduction to the DOS REIS DE BISNAGA is full of valuable matter. India owes him a debt of gratitude for his services; and for myself I desire to record here my sincere thanks for the disinterested and generous help he has so constantly accorded to me during the last two years.

My thanks are also due to Mr. Donald Ferguson for his careful revision of the whole of my translations.

I desire further to express my appreciation of a particular kindness done to me by Colonel R. C. Temple, C.I.E., and lastly to acknowledge gratefully the liberality of H.E. the Governor of Madras and the Members of his Council, who by subsidising this work have rendered its publication possible.

I trust that my remarks regarding the causes of the downfall of Portuguese trade in the sixteenth century will not be misunderstood. It is not in any spirit of criticism or comparison that I have written those passages. History, however, is history; and it is a fact that while the main cause of the small success which attended the efforts of the Portuguese to establish a great and lasting commerce with India was no doubt the loss of trade after the destruction of Vijayanagar, there must be added to this by the impartial recorder the dislike of the inhabitants to the violence and despotism of the Viceroys and to the uncompromising intolerance of the Jesuit Fathers, as well as the horror engendered in their minds by the severities of the terrible Inquisition at Goa.

* * *

A word as to my spelling of names. I have adopted a medium course in many cases between the crudities of former generations and the scientific requirements of the age in which we live; the result of which will probably be my condemnation by both parties. But to the highly educated I would point out that this work is intended for general reading, and that I have therefore thought it best to avoid the use of a special font of type containing the proper diacritical points; while to the rest I venture to present the plea that the time has passed when Vijayanagar needs to be spelt "Beejanuggur," or Kondavidu "Condbeer."

Thus I have been bold enough to drop the final and essential "a" of the name of the great city, and spell the word "Vijayanagar," as it is usually pronounced by the English. The name is composed of two words, VIJAYA, "victory," and NAGARA, "city," all the "a's" to be pronounced short, like the "u" in "sun," or the "a" in "organ."

"Narasimha" ought, no doubt, to be spelt "Nrisimha," but that in such case the "ri" ought to have a dot under the "r" as the syllable is really a vowel, and I have preferred the common spelling of modern days. (Here again all three "a's" are short.)

As with the final "a" in "Vijayanagara," so with the final "u" in such names as "Kondavidu" -- it has been dropped in order to avoid an appearance of pedantry; and I have preferred the more common "Rajahmundry" to the more correct "Rajamahendri," "Trichinopoly" to "Tiruchhinapalle," and so on.

This system may not be very scientific, but I trust it will prove not unacceptable.

* * *

The name of the capital is spelt in many different ways by the chroniclers and travellers. The usual Portuguese spelling was "Bisnaga;" but we have also the forms "Bicheneger" (NIKITIN), "Bidjanagar" (ABDUR RAZZAK), "Bizenegalia" (CONTI), "Bisnagar," "Beejanuggur," &c.


A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Introductory remarks -- Sources of information -- Sketch of history of Southern India down to A.D. 1336 -- A Hindu bulwark against Muhammadan conquest -- The opening date, as given by Nuniz, wrong -- "Togao Mamede" or Muhammad Taghlaq of Delhi -- His career and character.

In the year 1336 A.D., during the reign of Edward III. of England, there occurred in India an event which almost instantaneously changed the political condition of the entire south. With that date the volume of ancient history in that tract closes and the modern begins. It is the epoch of transition from the Old to the New.

This event was the foundation of the city and kingdom of Vijayanagar. Prior to A.D. 1336 all Southern India had lain under the domination of the ancient Hindu kingdoms, -- kingdoms so old that their origin has never been traced, but which are mentioned in Buddhist edicts rock-cut sixteen centuries earlier; the Pandiyans at Madura, the Cholas at Tanjore, and others. When Vijayanagar sprang into existence the past was done with for ever, and the monarchs of the new state became lords or overlords of the territories lying between the Dakhan and Ceylon.

There was no miracle in this. It was the natural result of the persistent efforts made by the Muhammadans to conquer all India. When these dreaded invaders reached the Krishna River the Hindus to their south, stricken with terror, combined, and gathered in haste to the new standard which alone seemed to offer some hope of protection. The decayed old states crumbled away into nothingness, and the fighting kings of Vijayanagar became the saviours of the south for two and a half centuries.

And yet in the present day the very existence of this kingdom is hardly remembered in India; while its once magnificent capital, planted on the extreme northern border of its dominions and bearing the proud title of the "City of Victory," has entirely disappeared save for a few scattered ruins of buildings that were once temples or palaces, and for the long lines of massive walls that constituted its defences. Even the name has died out of men's minds and memories, and the remains that mark its site are known only as the ruins lying near the little village of Hampe.

Its rulers, however, in their day swayed the destinies of an empire far larger than Austria, and the city is declared by a succession of European visitors in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to have been marvellous for size and prosperity -- a city with which for richness and magnificence no known western capital could compare. Its importance is shown by the fact that almost all the struggles of the Portuguese on the western coast were carried on for the purpose of securing its maritime trade; and that when the empire fell in 1565, the prosperity of Portuguese Goa fell with it never to rise again.

Our very scanty knowledge of the events that succeeded one another in the large area dominated by the kings of Vijayanagar has been hitherto derived partly from the scattered remarks of European travellers and the desultory references in their writings to the politics of the inhabitants of India; partly from the summaries compiled by careful mediaeval historians such as Barros, Couto, and Correa, who, though to a certain degree interested in the general condition of the country, yet confined themselves mostly to recording the deeds of the European colonisers for the enlightenment of their European readers; partly from the chronicles of a few Muhammadan writers of the period, who often wrote in fear of the displeasure of their own lords; and partly from Hindu inscriptions recording grants of lands to temples and religious institutions, which documents, when viewed as state papers, seldom yield us more than a few names and dates. The two chronicles, however, translated and printed at the end of this volume, will be seen to throw a flood of light upon the condition of the city of Vijayanagar early in the sixteenth century, and upon the history of its successive dynasties; and for the rest I have attempted, as an introduction to these chronicles, to collect all available materials from the different authorities alluded to and to weld them into a consecutive whole, so as to form a foundation upon which may hereafter be constructed a regular history of the Vijayanagar empire. The result will perhaps seem disjointed, crude, and uninteresting; but let it be remembered that it is only a first attempt. I have little doubt that before very long the whole history of Southern India will be compiled by some writer gifted with the power of "making the dry bones live;" but meanwhile the bones themselves must be collected and pieced together, and my duty has been to try and construct at least the main portions of the skeleton.

Before proceeding to details we must shortly glance at the political condition of India in the first half of the fourteenth century, remembering that up to that time the Peninsula had been held by a number of distinct Hindu kingdoms, those of the Pandiyans at Madura and of the Cholas at Tanjore being the most important.

The year 1001 A.D. saw the first inroad into India of the Muhammadans from over the north-west border, under their great leader Mahmud of Ghazni. He invaded first the plains of the Panjab, then Multan, and afterwards other places. Year after year he pressed forward and again retired. In 1021 he was at Kalinga; in 1023 in Kathiawar; but in no case did he make good his foothold on the country. His expeditions were raids and nothing more. Other invasions, however, followed in quick succession, and after the lapse of two centuries the Muhammadans were firmly and permanently established at Delhi. War followed war, and from that period Northern India knew no rest. At the end of the thirteenth century the Muhammadans began to press southwards into the Dakhan. In 1293 Ala-ud-din Khilji, nephew of the king of Delhi, captured Devagiri. Four years later Gujarat was attacked. In 1303 the reduction of Warangal was attempted. In 1306 there was a fresh expedition to Devagiri. In 1309 Malik Kafur, the celebrated general, with an immense force swept into the Dakhan and captured Warangal. The old capital of the Hoysala Ballalas at Dvarasamudra was taken in 1310, and Malik Kafur went to the Malabar coast where he erected a mosque, and afterwards returned to his master with enormous booty.[6] Fresh fighting took place in 1312. Six years later Mubarak of Delhi marched to Devagiri and inhumanly flayed alive its unfortunate prince, Haripala Deva, setting up his head at the gate of his own city. In 1323 Warangal fell.

Thus the period at which our history opens, about the year 1330, found the whole of Northern India down to the Vindhya mountains firmly under Moslem rule, while the followers of that faith had overrun the Dakhan and were threatening the south with the same fate. South of the Krishna the whole country was still under Hindu domination, but the supremacy of the old dynasties was shaken to its base by the rapidly advancing terror from the north. With the accession in 1325 of Muhammad Taghlaq of Delhi things became worse still. Marvellous stories of his extraordinary proceedings circulated amongst the inhabitants of the Peninsula, and there seemed to be no bound to his intolerance, ambition, and ferocity.

Everything, therefore, seemed to be leading up to but one inevitable end -- the ruin and devastation of the Hindu provinces; the annihilation of their old royal houses, the destruction of their religion, their temples, their cities. All that the dwellers in the south held most dear seemed tottering to its fall.

Suddenly, about the year 1344 A.D., there was a check to this wave of foreign invasion -- a stop -- a halt -- then a solid wall of opposition; and for 250 years Southern India was saved.

The check was caused by a combination of small Hindu states -- two of them already defeated, Warangal and Dvarasamudra -- defeated, and therefore in all probability not over-confident; the third, the tiny principality of Anegundi. The solid wall consisted of Anegundi grown into the great empire of the Vijayanagar. To the kings of this house all the nations of the south submitted.

If a straight line be drawn on the map of India from Bombay to Madras, about half-way across will be found the River Tungabhadra, which, itself a combination of two streams running northwards from Maisur, flows in a wide circuit north and east to join the Krishna not far from Kurnool. In the middle of its course the Tungabhadra cuts through a wild rocky country lying about forty miles north-west of Bellary, and north of the railway line which runs from that place to Dharwar. At this point, on the north bank of the river, there existed about the year 1330 a fortified town called Anegundi, the "Nagundym" of our chronicles, which was the residence of a family of chiefs owning a small state in the neighbourhood. They had, in former years, taken advantage of the lofty hills of granite which cover that tract to construct a strong citadel having its base on the stream. Fordable at no point within many miles the river was full of running water at all seasons of the year, and in flood times formed in its confined bed a turbulent rushing torrent with dangerous falls in several places. Of the Anegundi chiefs we know little, but they were probably feudatories of the Hoysala Ballalas. Firishtah declares that they had existed as a ruling family for seven hundred years prior to the year 1350 A.D.[7]

The chronicle of Nuniz gives a definite account of how the sovereigns of Vijayanagar first began to acquire the power which afterwards became so extensive. This account may or may not be accurate in all details, but it at least tallies fairly with the epigraphical and other records of the time. According to him, Muhammad Taghlaq of Delhi, having reduced Gujarat, marched southwards through the Dakhan Balaghat, or high lands above the western ghats, and a little previous to the year 1336[8] seized the town and fortress of Anegundi. Its chief was slain, with all the members of his family. After a futile attempt to govern this territory by means of a deputy, Muhammad raised to the dignity of chief of the state its late minister, a man whom Nuniz calls "Deorao," for "Deva Raya." or Harihara Deva I. The new chief founded the city of Vijayanagar on the south bank of the river opposite Anegundi and made his residence there, with the aid of the great religious teacher Madhava, wisely holding that to place the river between him and the ever-marauding Moslems was to establish himself and his people in a condition of greater security than before. He was succeeded by "one called Bucarao" (Bukka), who reigned thirty-seven years, and the next king was the latter's son, "Pureoyre Deo" (Harihara Deva II.).

We know from other sources that part at least of this story is correct. Harihara I. and Bukka were the first two kings and were brothers, while the third king, Harihara II., was certainly the son of Bukka.

The success of the early kings was phenomenal. Ibn Batuta, who was in India from 1333 to 1342, states that even in his day a Muhammadan chief on the western coast was subject to Harihara I., whom he calls "Haraib" or "Harib," from "Hariyappa" another form of the king's name; while a hundred years later Abdur Razzak, envoy from Persia, tells us that the king of Vijayanagar was then lord of all Southern India, from sea to sea and from the Dakhan to Cape Comorin -- "from the frontier of Serendib (Ceylon) to the extremities of the country of Kalbergah ... His troops amount in number to eleven lak," I.E. 1,100,000. Even so early as 1378 A.D., according to Firishtah,[9] the Raya of Vijayanagar was "in power, wealth, and extent of country" greatly the superior of the Bahmani king of the Dakhan.

The old southern states appear (we have little history to guide us) to have in general submitted peaceably to the rule of the new monarchy. They were perhaps glad to submit if only the dreaded foreigners could be kept out of the country. And thus by leaps and bounds the petty state grew to be a kingdom, and the kingdom expanded till it became an empire. Civil war and rebellion amongst the Muhammadans helped Harihara and Bukka in their enterprise. Sick of the tyranny and excesses of Muhammad Taghlaq, the Dakhan revolted in 1347, and the independent kingdom of the Bahmanis was for a time firmly established.

The chronicle of Nuniz opens with the following sentence: --

"In the year twelve hundred and thirty these parts of India were ruled by a greater monarch than had ever reigned. This was the king of Dili,[10] who by force of arms and soldiers made war on Cambaya for many years, taking and destroying in that period the land of Guzarate which belongs to Cambaya,[11] and in the end he became its lord."

After this the king of Delhi advanced against Vijayanagar by way of the Balaghat.

This date is a century too early, as already pointed out. The sovereign referred to is stated in the following note (entered by Nuniz at the end of

Chapter xx

., which closes the historical portion of his narrative) to have been called "Togao Mamede."

"This king of Delhi they say was a Moor, who was called Togao Mamede. He is held among the Hindus as a saint. They relate that once while he was offering prayer to God, there came to him four arms with four hands; and that every time he prayed roses fell to him from out of heaven. He was a great conqueror, he held a large part of this earth under his dominion, he subdued ... (blank in original) kings, and slew them, and flayed them, and brought their skins with him; so that besides his own name, he received the nickname ... which means 'lord of ... skins of kings;' he was chief of many people.

"There is a story telling how he fell into a passion on account of (BEING GIVEN?) eighteen letters (OF THE ALPHABET TO HIS NAME?), when according to his own reckoning he was entitled to twenty-four.[12] There are tales of him which do indeed seem most marvellous of the things that he did; as, for instance, how he made ready an army because one day in the morning, while standing dressing at a window which was closed, a ray of the sun came into his eyes, and he cried out that he would not rest until he had killed or vanquished whomsoever had dared to enter his apartments while he was dressing. All his nobles could not dissuade him from his purpose, even though they told him it was the sun that had done it, a thing without which they could not live, that it was a celestial thing and was located in the sky, and that he could never do any harm to it. With all this he made his forces ready, saying that he must go in search of his enemy, and as he was going along with large forces raised in the country through which he began his march so much dust arose that it obscured the sun. When he lost sight of it he made fresh inquiries as to what the thing was, and the captains told him that there was now no reason for him to wait, and that he might return home since he had put to flight him whom he had come to seek. Content with this, the king returned by the road that he had taken in his search for the sun, saying that since his enemy had fled he was satisfied.

"Other extravagances are told of him which make him out a great lord, as, for instance, that being in the Charamaodel country he was told that certain leagues distant in the sea there was a very great island, and its land was gold, and the stones of its houses and those which were produced in the ground were rubies and diamonds: in which island there was a pagoda, whither came the angels from heaven to play music and dance. Being covetous of being the lord of this land, he determined to go there, but not in ships because he had not enough for so many people, so he began to cart a great quantity of stones and earth and to throw it into the sea in order to fill it up, so that he might reach the island; and putting this in hand with great labour he did so much that he crossed over to the island of Ceyllao, which is twelve or fifteen leagues off[13], This causeway that he made was, it is said, in course of time eaten away by the sea, and its remains now cause the shoals of Chillao. Melliquiniby,[14] his captain-general, seeing how much labour was being spent in a thing so impossible, made ready two ships in a port of Charamaodell which he loaded with much gold and precious stones, and forged some despatches as of an embassy sent in the name of the king of the island, in which he professed his obedience and sent presents; and after this the king did not proceed any further with his causeway.

"In memory of this work he made a very large pagoda, which is still there; it is a great place of pilgrimage.

"There are two thousand of these and similar stories with which I hope at some time to trouble your honour; and with other better ones, if God gives me life. I kiss your honour's hand."[15]

To conclusively establish the fact that this account can only refer to Muhammad Taghlaq of Delhi, who reigned from 1325 to 1351, it is necessary that we should look into the known character of that monarch and the events of his reign.

Nuniz states that his "Togao Mamede" conquered Gujarat, was at war with Bengal, and had trouble with the Turkomans on the borders of Sheik Ismail, I.E. Persia.[16] To take these in reverse order. Early in the reign of Muhammad Taghlaq vast hordes of Moghuls invaded the Panjab and advanced almost unopposed to Delhi, where the king bought them off by payment of immense sums of money. Next as to Bengal. Prior to his reign that province had been subdued, had given trouble, and had again been reduced. In his reign it was crushed under the iron hand of a viceroy from Delhi, Ghiyas-ud-din Bahadur "Bura," who before long attempted to render himself independent. He styled himself Bahadur Shah, and issued his own coinage. In 1327 (A.H. 728) the legends on his coins acknowledge the overlordship of Delhi, but two years later they describe him as independent king of Bengal.[17] In 1333 Muhammad issued his own coinage for Bengal and proceeded against the rebel. He defeated him, captured him, flayed him alive, and causing his skin to be stuffed with straw ordered it to be paraded through the provinces of the empire as a warning to ambitious governors. With reference to Gujarat, Nuniz has been led into a slight error. Muhammad Taghlaq certainly did go there, but only in 1347. What he did do was to conquer the Dakhan. Firishtah mentions among his conquests Dvarasamudra, Malabar, Anegundi (under the name "Kampila," for a reason that will presently be explained), Warangal, &c, and these places "were as effectually incorporated with his empire as the villages in the vicinity of Delhi."[18] He also held Gujarat firmly. If, therefore, we venture to correct Nuniz in this respect, and say that "Togao Mamede" made war on the "Dakhan" instead of on "Gujarat," and then advanced against Anegundi (wrongly called "Vijayanagar," which place was not as yet founded) we shall probably be not far from the truth. The history of "Togao Mamede" so far is the history of Muhammad Taghlaq.

Then as to the extraordinary stories told of him. True or not, they apply to that sovereign. Muhammad is described by contemporary writers as having been one of the wonders of the age. He was very liberal, especially to those learned in the arts. He established hospitals for the sick and alm-houses for widows and orphans. He was the most eloquent and accomplished prince of his time. He was skilled in many sciences, such as physic, logic, astronomy, and mathematics. He studied the philosophies and metaphysics of Greece, and was very strict in religious observances.

"But," continues Firishtah, from whom the above summary is taken, "with all these admirable qualities he was wholly devoid of mercy or consideration for his people. The punishments he inflicted were not only rigid and cruel, but frequently unjust. So little did he hesitate to spill the blood of God's creatures that when anything occurred which excited him to proceed to that horrid extremity, one might have supposed his object was to exterminate the human species altogether. No single week passed without his having put to death one or more of the learned and holy men who surrounded him, or some of the secretaries who attended him."

The slightest opposition to his will drove him into almost insane fury, and in these fits he allowed his natural ferocity full play. His whole life was spent in visionary schemes pursued by means equally irrational. He began by distributing enormous sums of money amongst his nobles, spending, so it is said, in one day as much as [pound sterling]500,000. He bought off the invading Moghuls by immense payments instead of repelling them by force of arms. Shortly after this he raised a huge army for the conquest of Persia, his cavalry, according to Firishtah, numbering 370,000 men. But nothing came of it except that the troops, not receiving their pay, dispersed and pillaged the country. Then he decided to try and conquer China and sent 100,000 men into the Himalayas, where almost all of them miserably perished; and when the survivors returned in despair the king put them all to death. He tried to introduce a depreciated currency into his territories as a means to wealth, issuing copper tokens for gold, which resulted in entire loss of credit and a standstill of trade. This failing to fill the treasury he next destroyed agriculture by intolerable exactions; the husbandmen abandoned their fields and took to robbery as a trade, and whole tracts became depopulated, the survivors living in the utmost starvation and misery and being despoiled of all that they possessed. Muhammad exterminated whole tribes as if they had been vermin. Incensed at the refusal of the inhabitants of a certain harassed tract to pay the inordinate demands of his subordinates, he ordered out his army as if for a hunt, surrounded an extensive tract of country, closed the circle towards the centre, and slaughtered every living soul found therein. This amusement was repeated more than once, and on a subsequent occasion he ordered a general massacre of all the inhabitants of the old Hindu city of Kanauj.[19] These horrors led of course to famine, and the miseries of the Hindus exceeded all power of description. On his return from Devagiri on one occasion he caused a tooth which he had lost to be interred in a magnificent stone mausoleum, which is still in existence at Bhir.

But perhaps the best known of his inhuman eccentricities was his treatment of the inhabitants of the great city of Delhi. Muhammad determined to transfer his capital thence to Devagiri, whose name he changed to Doulatabad. The two places are six hundred miles apart. The king gave a general order to every inhabitant of Delhi to proceed forthwith to Devagiri, and prior to the issue of this order he had the entire road lined with full-grown trees, transplanted for the purpose. The unfortunate people were compelled to obey, and thousands -- including women, children, and aged persons -- died by the way. Ibn Batuta, who was an eye-witness of the scenes of horror to which this gave rise, has left us the following description: --

"The Sultan ordered all the inhabitants to quit the place (Delhi), and upon some delay being evinced he made a proclamation stating that what person soever, being an inhabitant of that city, should be found in any of its houses or streets should receive condign punishment. Upon this they all went out; but his servants finding a blind man in one of the houses and a bedridden one in the other, the Emperor commanded the bedridden man to be projected from a balista, and the blind one to be dragged by his feet to Daulatabad, which is at the distance of ten days, and he was so dragged; but his limbs dropping off by the way, only one of his legs was brought to the place intended, and was then thrown into it; for the order had been that they should go to this place. When I entered Delhi it was almost a desert."[20]

It is characteristic of Muhammad's whimsical despotism that shortly afterwards he ordered the inhabitants of different districts to go and repeople Delhi, which they attempted to do, but with little success. Batuta relates that during the interval of desolation the king mounted on the roof of his palace, and seeing the city empty and without fire or smoke said, "Now my heart is satisfied and my feelings are appeased."

Ibn Batuta was a member of this king's court, and had every opportunity of forming a just conclusion. He sums up his qualities thus: --

"Muhammad more than all men loves to bestow gifts and to shed blood. At his gate one sees always some fakir who has become rich, or some living being who is put to death. His traits of generosity and valour, and his examples of cruelty and violence towards criminals, have obtained celebrity among the people. But apart from this he is the most humble of men and the one who displays the most equity; the ceremonies of religion are observed at his court; he is very severe in all that concerns prayer and the punishment that follows omission of it ... his dominating quality is generosity.... It rarely happened that the corpse of some one who had been killed was not to be seen at the gate of his palace. I have often seen men killed and their bodies left there. One day I went to his palace and my horse shied. I looked before me and I saw a white heap on the ground, and when I asked what it was one of my companions said it was the trunk of a man cut into three pieces.... Every day hundreds of individuals were brought chained into his hall of audience, their hands tied to their necks and their feet bound together. Some were killed, and others were tortured or well beaten."[21]

A man of these seemingly opposite qualities, charity, generosity, and religious fervour linked to unbridled lust for blood and an apparently overmastering desire to take life, possesses a character so bizarre, so totally opposed to Hindu ideals, that he would almost of necessity be accounted as something superhuman, monstrous, a saint with the heart of a devil, or a fiend with the soul of a saint. Hence Muhammad in the course of years gathered round his memory, centuries after his death, all the quaint tales and curious legends which an Oriental imagination could devise; and whenever his name is mentioned by the old chroniclers it is always with some extraordinary story attached to it.

Nuniz, therefore, though accurate in the main, was a century too early in his opening sentence. His "Togao Mamede" can be none other than Muhammad Taghlaq.

Henceforward this will be assumed.[22]


CHAPTER 2

Origin of the Empire (A.D. 1316)

Muhammad's capture of Kampli and Anegundi -- Death of his nephew Baha-ud-din -- Malik Naib made governor of Anegundi -- Disturbances -- Harihara Deva Raya raised to be king of Anegundi -- Madhavacharya Vidyaranya -- The city of Vijayanagar founded -- Legends as to the origin of the new kingdom.

The city of Vijayanagar is, as already stated, generally supposed to have been founded in the year 1336, and that that date is not far from the truth may be gathered from two facts. Firstly, there is extant an inscription of the earliest real king, Harihara I. or Hariyappa, the "Haraib" of Ibn Batuta,[23] dated in A.D. 1340. Secondly, the account given by that writer of a raid southwards by Muhammad Taghlaq tallies at almost all points with the story given at the beginning of the Chronicle of Nuniz, and this raid took place in 1334.[24]

For if a comparison is made between the narrative of Batuta and the traditional account given by Nuniz as to the events that preceded and led to the foundation of Vijayanagar, little doubt will remain in the mind that both relate to the same event. According to Ibn Batuta,[25] Sultan Muhammad marched southwards against his rebel nephew, Baha-ud-din Gushtasp, who had fled to the protection of the "Rai of Kambila," or "Kampila" as Firishtah calls the place, in his stronghold amongst the mountains. The title "Rai" unmistakably points to the Kanarese country, where the form "Raya" is used for "Rajah;" while in "Kambila" or "Kampila" we recognise the old town of Kampli, a fortified place about eight miles east of Anegundi, which was the citadel of the predecessors of the kings of Vijayanagar. Though not itself actually "amongst the mountains," Kampli is backed by the mass of rocky hills in the centre of which the great city was afterwards situated. It is highly natural to suppose that the "Rai," when attacked by the Sultan, would have quitted Kampli and taken refuge in the fortified heights of Anegundi, where he could defend himself with far greater chance of success than at the former place; and this would account for the difference in the names given by the two chroniclers. Ibn Batuta goes on to say that the Raya sent his guest safely away to a neighbouring chief, probably the Hoysala Ballala, king of Dvarasamudra in Maisur, then residing at Tanur. He caused a huge fire to be lit on which his wives and the wives of his nobles, ministers, and principal men immolated themselves, and this done he sallied forth with his followers to meet the invaders, and was slain. The town was taken, "and eleven sons of the Rai were made prisoners and carried to the Sultan, who made them all Mussalmans." After the fall of the place the Sultan "treated the king's sons with great honour, as much for their illustrious birth as for his admiration of the conduct of their father;" and Batuta adds that he himself became intimately acquainted with one of these -- "we were companions and friends."

There are only two substantial points of difference between this story and the traditional Hindu account given by Nuniz. One of these concerns the reason for the Sultan's attack. According to the Hindus it was a war undertaken from pure greed of conquest; according to Muhammadan story it was a campaign against a rebel. The second is that while the Hindus declare that none of the blood royal escaped, Batuta distinctly mentions the survival of eleven sons, and proves his point incontestably. But this does not vitiate the general resemblance of the two accounts, while the synchronism of the dates renders it impossible to believe that they can refer to two separate events. We may suppose that since the eleven sons became followers of Islam they were for ever blotted out of account to the orthodox Hindu.

After the capture of the fortress the Sultan, according to Ibn Batuta, pursued Baha-ud-din southwards and arrived near the city of the prince with whom he had taken refuge. The chief abandoned his guest to the tender mercies of the tyrant, by whom he was condemned to a death of fiendish barbarity.

"The Sultan ordered the prisoner to be taken to the women his relations, and these insulted him and spat upon him. Then he ordered him to be skinned alive, and as his skin was torn off his flesh was cooked with rice. Some was sent to his children and his wife, and the remainder was put into a great dish and given to the elephants to eat, but they would not touch it. The Sultan ordered his skin to be stuffed with straw, to be placed along with the remains of Bahadur Bura,[26] and to be exhibited through the country."

To continue briefly the story given by Nuniz. After the capture of Anegundi in 1334 the Sultan left Malik Naib (whom Nuniz calls "Enybiquymelly" in his second chapter, and "Mileque neby," "Meliquy niby," and "Melinebiquy" in the third) as his local governor, and retired northwards. The country rose against the usurpers, and after a time the Sultan restored the principality to the Hindus, but made a new departure by raising to be Raya the former chief minister Deva Raya, called "Deorao" or "Dehorao" by Nuniz. He reigned seven years. During his reign this chief was one day hunting amongst the mountains south of the river when a hare, instead of fleeing from his dogs, flew at them and bit them.[27] The king, astonished at this marvel, was returning homewards lost in meditation, when he met on the river-bank the sage Madhavacharya, surnamed VIDYARANYA or "Forest of Learning," -- for so we learn from other sources to name the anchorite alluded to -- who advised the chief to found a city on the spot. "And so the king did, and on that very day began work on his houses, and he enclosed the city round about; and that done, he left Nagumdym, and soon filled the new city with people. And he gave it the name VYDIAJUNA, for so the hermit called himself who had bidden him construct it."[28]

Thus, in or about the year A.D. 1336, sprung into existence the great city which afterwards became so magnificent and of such wide-spread fame.

The chronicle continues by saying that the king constructed in the city of Vijayanagar a magnificent temple in honour of the sage. This temple I take to be the great temple near the river, still in use and known as the temple of Hampi or Hampe, having a small village clustering about it. On the rocks above it, close to a group of more modern Jain temples, is to be seen a small shrine built entirely, roof as well as walls, of stone. Everything about this little relic proves it to be of greater antiquity than any other structure in the whole circuit of the hills, but its exact age is doubtful. It looks like a building of the seventh century A.D. Mr. Rea, superintendent of the Madras Archaeological Survey, in an article published in the MADRAS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE for December 1886, points out that the fact of mortar having been used in its construction throws a doubt upon its being as old as its type of architecture would otherwise make it appear. It is quite possible, however, that the shrine may have been used by a succession of recluses, the last of whom was the great teacher Madhava. If we stand on that rock and imagine all the great ruins of the city visible from thence, the palaces and temples, the statues and towers and walls, to be swept out of existence, we have around us nothing but Nature in one of her wildest moods -- lofty hills near and far, formed almost entirely of huge tumbled boulders of granite, but with trees and grass on all the low ground. It was a lonely spot, separated by the river from the mere inhabited country on the farther side, where dwelt the chiefs of Anegundi, and was just such as would have been chosen for their abode by the ascetics of former days, who loved to dwell in solitude and isolation amid scenes of grandeur and beauty.

We shall, however, in all probability never know whether this hermit, whose actual existence at the time is attested by every tradition regarding the origin of Vijayanagar, was really the great Madhava or another less celebrated sage, on whom by a confusion of ideas his name has been foisted. Some say that Madhavacharya lived entirely at Sringeri.

There are a number of other traditions relating to the birth of the city and empire of Vijayanagar.

One has it that two brothers named Bukka and Harihara, who had been in the service of the king of Warangal at the time of the destruction of that kingdom by the Muhammadans in 1323, escaped with a small body of horse to the hill country about Anegundi, being accompanied in their flight by the Brahman Madhava or Madhavacharya Vidyaranya, and by some means not stated became lords of that tract, afterwards founding the city of Vijayanagar.[29]

Another states that the two brothers were officers in the service of the Muhammadan governor of Warangal subsequent to its first capture in 1309. They were despatched against the Hoysala Ballala sovereign in the expedition under the command of Malik Kafur in 1310, which resulted in the capture of the Hindu capital, Dvarasamudra; but the portion of the force to which the brothers belonged suffered a defeat, and they fled to the mountainous tract near Anegundi. Here they met the holy Madhava, who was living the life of a recluse, and by his aid they established the kingdom and capital city.

A variant of this relates that the two brothers for some reason fled direct from Warangal to Anegundi. This account redounds more to their honour as Hindus. Though compelled first to accept service under their conquerors, their patriotism triumphed in the end, and they abandoned the flesh pots of Egypt to throw in their luck with their co-religionists.

A fourth story avers that the hermit Madhava himself founded the city after the discovery of a hidden treasure, ruled over it himself, and left it after his death to a Kuruba family who established the first regular dynasty.

A fifth, mentioned by Couto,[30] who fixes the date as 1220, states that while Madhava was living his ascetic life amongst the mountains he was supported by meals brought to him by a poor shepherd called Bukka, "and one day the Brahman said to him, 'Thou shalt be king and emperor of all Industan.' The other shepherds learned this, and began to treat this shepherd with veneration and made him their head; and he acquired the name of 'king,' and began to conquer his neighbours, who were five in number, viz., Canara, Taligas, Canguivarao, Negapatao, and he of the Badagas, and he at last became lord of all and called himself Boca Rao." He was attacked by the king of Delhi, but the latter was defeated and retired, whereupon Bukka established a city "and called it Visaja Nagar, which we corruptly call Bisnaga; and we call all the kingdom by that name, but the natives amongst themselves always call it the 'kingdom of Canara.' " Couto's narrative seems to be a mixture of several stories. His wrong date points to his having partly depended upon the original chronicle of Nuniz, or the summary of it published by Barros; while the rest of the tale savours more of Hindu romance than of historical accuracy. He retains, however, the tradition of an attack by the king of Delhi and the latter's subsequent retirement.

Another authority suggests that Bukka and Harihara may have been feudatories of the Hoysala Ballalas.

Nikitin, the Russian traveller, who was in India in 1474, seems to favour the view that they belonged to the old royal house of the Kadambas of Banavasi, since he speaks of "the Hindoo Sultan Kadam," who resided at "Bichenegher."[31]

Here we have a whole bundle of tales and traditions to account for the origin of the great kingdom, and can take our choice. There are many others also. Perhaps the most reasonable account would be one culled from the general drift of the Hindu legends combined with the certainties of historical fact; and from this point of view we may for the present suppose that two brothers, Hindus of the Kuruba caste, who were men of strong religious feeling, serving in the treasury of the king of Warangal, fled from that place on its sack and destruction in 1323 and took service under the petty Rajah of Anegundi. Both they and their chiefs were filled with horror and disgust at the conduct of the marauding Moslems, and pledged themselves to the cause of their country and their religion. The brothers rose to be minister and treasurer respectively at Anegundi. In 1334 the chief gave shelter to Baha-ud-din, nephew of Muhammad of Delhi, and was attacked by the Sultan. Anegundi fell, as narrated by Batuta, and the Sultan retired, leaving Mallik as his deputy to rule the state. Mallik found the people too strong for him, and eventually the Sultan restored the country to the Hindus, raising to be rajah and minister respectively the two brothers who had formerly been minister and treasurer. These were Harihara I. ("Hukka") and Bukka I.


The First Vijayanagar Dynasty

[The following shows the pedigree of this dynasty as given in the EPIGRAPHIA INDICA (iii. p. 36). Inscriptions not yet satisfactorily examined will probably add to the information given.]


CHAPTER 3

The First Kings (A.D. 1336 to 1379)

Rapid acquisition of territory -- Reign of Harihara I. -- Check to Muhammadan aggression -- Reign of Bukka I. -- Kampa and Sangama? -- The Bahmani kingdom established, 1347 -- Death of Nagadeva of Warangal -- Vijayanagar's first great war -- Massacres by Muhammad Bahmani -- Battle at Adoni, 1366 -- Flight of Bukka -- Mujahid's war, 1375 -- He visits the Malabar coast -- Siege of Vijayanagar -- Extension of territory -- Death of Mujahid, 1378.

The city of Vijayanagar, thus founded about the year 1335, speedily grew in importance and became the refuge of the outcasts, refugees, and fighting men of the Hindus, beaten and driven out of their old strongholds by the advancing Muhammadans.

The first rulers of Vijayanagar, however, did not dare to call themselves kings, nor did even the Brahmans do so who composed the text of their early inscriptions. It is for this reason that I have spoken of Harihara I. and Bukka I. as "Chiefs." The inscription referred to of Harihara in 1340 calls him "Hariyappa VODEYA," the former name being less honourable than "Harihara," and the latter definitely entitling him to rank only as a chieftain. Moreover, the Sanskrit title given him is MAHAMANDALESVARA, which may be translated "great lord" -- not king. And the same is the case with his successor, Bukka, in two inscriptions,[32] one of which is dated in 1353. Already in 1340 Harihara is said to have been possessed of very large territories, and he was the acknowledged overlord of villages as far north as the Kaladgi district, north of the Malprabha, a country that had been overrun by Muhammad Taghlaq. That this was not a mere empty boast is shown by the fact that a fort was built in that year at Badami by permission of Harihara.

And thus we see the first chief of Vijayanagar quietly, and perhaps peacefully, acquiring great influence and extensive possessions. These so rapidly increased that Bukka's successor, Harihara II., styles himself RAJADHIRAJA, "king of kings," or emperor.

But to revert to the first king Harihara, or, as Nuniz calls him, "Dehorao," for DEVA RAYA. He reigned, according to our chronicle, seven years, "and did nothing therein but pacify the kingdom, which he left in complete tranquillity." His death, if this be so, would have taken place about the year 1343. Nuniz relates that he founded a temple in honour of the Brahman hermit, his protector. This was the great temple at Hampe close to the river, which is still in full preservation and is the only one among the massive shrines erected at the capital in which worship is still carried on; the others were remorselessly wrecked and destroyed by the Muhammadans in 1565. As already stated, the traveller Ibn Batuta refers to this king under the name of "Haraib" or "Harib" in or about the year 1342. If the traditions collated by Nuniz, according to which Harihara I. lived at peace during the seven years of his reign, be true, his death must have occurred before 1344, because in that year, as we learn from other sources, Krishna, son of Pratapa Rudra of Warangal, took refuge at Vijayanagar, and, in concert with its king and with the surviving Ballala princes of Dvarasamudra, drove back the Muhammadans, rescued for a time part of the Southern Dakhan country, and prepared the way for the overthrow of the sovereignty of Delhi south of the Vindhyas. I take it, therefore, that Harihara died in or about the year A.D. 1343.

As to his having reigned quietly, I know of only one statement to the contrary. An inscription of Samgama II. recording a grant in 1356, and referred to below, states that Harihara I. "defeated the Sultan;" but perhaps this only alludes to the fact that Muhammad Taghlaq had to abandon his hold on the country.

The next king was Harihara's brother, Bukka I. ("Bucarao"), and according to Nuniz he reigned thirty-seven years, conquering in that time all the kingdoms of the south, even including Orissa (Orya). Without laying too much stress on conquests by force of arms, it seems certain that most if not all Southern India submitted to his rule, probably only too anxious to secure a continuance of Hindu domination in preference to the despotism of the hated followers of Islam.[33] According to the chronicle, therefore, the death of Bukka I., as we must call him, took place about the year A.D. 1380. As to inscriptions of his reign, Dr. Hultzsch[34] mentions that they cover the period from about 1354 to 1371, while the first inscription of his successor, Harihara II., is dated in 1379.[35] If, then, we assume that Bukka I. reigned till 1379, we find the chronicle so far accurate that Bukka I. did in fact reign thirty-six years, though not thirty-seven -- A.D. 1343 to 1379.

But meanwhile we have another story from an inscription on copper-plates which is to be seen preserved in the Collector's office at Nellore.[36] It has been carefully edited by Mr. H. Krishna Sastri. According to this it would appear that Bukka I., who undoubtedly was a man of war, usurped the throne. It asserts that the father of Harihara I., who was named Samgama, had five sons. The eldest was Harihara himself, the second Kampa, and the third Bukka. We want to know who succeeded Harihara. There is extant an inscription of Bukka dated in 1354, and there is this Nellore inscription dated in 1356. The latter comes from a far-off country near the eastern coast, and it relates that Kampa succeeded Harihara, and that Samgama II., son of Kampa, succeeded his father, and granted a village in the Nellore district to the Brahmans on a date which corresponds to May 3, A.D. 1356. It implies that Samgama had succeeded his father Kampa exactly a year previous to the grant. Thus it claims that Kampa was king from 1343 to 1355. We know nothing more of this, and there is only one other document at present known to exist which was executed in the reign either of Kampa or of Samgama This is alluded to by Mr. Krishna Sastri, who refers us to the colophon of the MADHAVIYA DHATUVRITTI, according to which its author, Sayanacharya, uterine brother of the great Madhavacharya, was minister to king Samgama, son of Kampa. The only possible inference is that the succession to Harihara was disputed, and that somehow Bukka got the upper hand and at least as early as 1354 declared himself king, afterwards claiming to have immediately succeeded Harihara. It will be seen farther on that in almost every case the kingdom was racked with dissension on the demise of the sovereign, and that year after year the members of the reigning family were subjected to violence and murder in order that one or other of them might establish himself as head of the State.

On the assumption, therefore, that the reign of Bukka I. lasted from 1343 to 1379, we turn to Firishtah to learn what were this king's relations with the followers of Islam, now supreme on the north of the Krishna.

Just after his accession, as it would appear, occurred the successful campaign alluded to above, in which a combination of Hindus from different States drove back the invaders. Here is Firishtah's account of what took place.[37] He is speaking of the year A.H. 744, which lasted from May 26, A.D. 1343, to May 15, 1344, and he says that Krishna Naik, son of Rudra Deva of Warangal, went privately to Ballala Deva and urged him to join a combination of Hindus with the view of driving out the Muhammadans from the Dakhan. The Ballala prince consented, and Krishna Naik promised, when the preparations were complete, to raise all the Hindus of Telingana and place himself at their head.

Ballala Deva then built the city of Vijayanagar,[38] raised an army, and the war began. Warangal, then in the hands of the Muhammadans, was reduced, and its governor, Imad-ul-Mulkh, retreated to Daulatabad or Devagiri. The two chiefs then induced other Rajahs of the Malabar and Kanara countries to join them, and the joint forces seized the whole of the Dakhan and expelled the Muhammadans there, "so that within a few months Muhammad Taghlak had no possessions in that quarter except Daulatabad."

So far the Muhammadan historian. It is necessary to observe that this success of the Hindus was only temporary, for their enemies still swarmed in the Dakhan, and immediately after this contest the Hindus appear to have retired south of the Krishna, leaving the distracted country a prey to temporary anarchy. This, however, was of short duration, for though the domination of the Sultan of Delhi in that tract was completely destroyed, yet three years later, viz, on Friday the 24th Rabi-al-akhir A.H. 748, according to Firishtah, a date which corresponds to Friday, August 3, A.D. 1347, Ala-ud-din Bahmani was crowned sovereign of the Dakhan at Kulbarga, establishing a new dynasty which lasted for about 140 years.

A few years after this there was a successful invasion of the Carnatic country by Ala-ud-Din; but though the army returned with some booty Firishtah does not claim for him a decisive victory. He does, however, claim that the new Sultan extended his territory as far south as the river Tungabhadra, "the vicinity of the fortress of Adoni." Ala-ud-din died at the age of sixty-seven on Sunday, February 2, A.D. 1358,[39] and was succeeded by Muhammad Shah. The Raya of Vijayanagar had presented Ala-ud-din with a ruby of inestimable price, and this, set in a bird of paradise composed of precious stones, the Sultan placed in the canopy over his throne; but some say that this was done by Muhammad, and that the ruby was placed above his umbrella of State.

Early in the reign of Muhammad it was discovered that the gold and silver coins of the Bahrami Sultans were being melted down in large quantities by the Hindus of Vijayanagar and Warangal, and numbers of the merchants were put to death. At the same time Bukka I., supported by his friend at Warangal, demanded the restoration of certain territories,[40] and as the Sultan was not ready for war, he "during a year and a half kept the ambassadors of the Raies at his court, and sent his own to Beejanugger to amuse his enemies." Finally he resolved on war, and made extravagant counter-demands on the Hindus. Bukka joined forces with Warangal, and Muhammad waged war on the latter state, plundering the country up to the capital, and retiring only on receipt of a large indemnity. Firishtah does not relate that any further campaign was at that time initiated, and we are therefore free to suppose that the Muhammadans were unable to press their advantage. Warangal was not long left in peace, and it may be well to glance at its subsequent history before returning to the events of the reign of Bukka at Vijayanagar.

After an interval, enraged at an insult offered or supposed to have been offered by the Rajah of Warangal, Muhammad made a rapid advance to the former's city of "Vellunputtun," as it is spelt by Firishtah, or "Filampatan," according to the author of the BURHAN-I-MAASIR. He seized it, slaughtered the inhabitants without mercy, and captured the unfortunate prince Vinayaka Deva.[41] The Sultan "commanded a pile of wood to be lighted before the citadel, and putting Nagdeo in an engine (catapult), had him shot from the walls into the flames, in which he was consumed." After a few days' rest the Sultan retired, but was followed and harassed by large bodies of Hindus and completely routed. Only 1500 men returned to Kulbarga, and the Sultan himself received a severe wound in his arm.

This was followed by a joint embassy from Bukka of Vijayanagar and the prince of Warangal to the Sultan of Delhi, in which they offered to act in conjunction with him should an army be sent southwards by that monarch in order to regain his lost power in the Dakhan; "but Feroze Shah, being too much employed with domestic commotions to assist them, did not attend to their representations." Thus encouraged, Muhammad assembled fresh forces and despatched them in two divisions against Warangal and Golkonda. The expedition was successful and the Rajah submitted, the Sultan receiving Golkonda, an immense treasure, and a magnificent throne as the price of peace. The throne was set with precious stones of great value, and being still further enriched by subsequent sovereigns was at one time valued at four millions sterling.[42] Warangal finally fell in A.D. 1424, and was annexed to the Bahmani kingdom, thus bringing the Muhammadans down to the River Krishna all along its length except in the neighbourhood of the east coast.

Now for the principal events of Bukka's reign and the affairs of Vijayanagar. The story deepens in interest from about the year 1365, and for two centuries we can follow the fortunes of the Hindu kingdom without much difficulty.

Early in A.D. 1366[43] the Sultan opened his first regular campaign against Vijayanagar. Originating in an after-dinner jest, it ended only after such slaughter that Firishtah computes the victims on the Hindu side alone as numbering no less than half a million. The story is told us by an eye-witness, one Mullah Daud of Bidar, who was seal-bearer to Sultan Muhammad.[44]

"One evening, when the spring of the garden of mirth had infused the cheek of Mahummud Shaw with the rosy tinge of delight, a band of musicians sung two verses of Ameer Khoossroo in praise of kings, festivity, and music. The Sultan was delighted beyond measure, and commanded Mallek Syef ad Dien Ghoree to give the three hundred performers a draft for a gratuity on the treasury of the roy of Beejanuggur. The minister, though he judged the order the effect of wine, in compliance with the humour of the Sultan wrote it, but did not despatch it. However, Mahummud Shaw penetrated his thoughts. The next day he inquired if the draft had been sent to the roy, and being answered, not, exclaimed, 'Think you a word without meaning could escape my lips? I did not give the order in intoxication, but serious design.' Mallek Syef ad Dien upon this, affixed the royal seal to the draft, and despatched it by express messenger to the roy of Beejanuggur. The roy, haughty and proud of his independence, placed the presenter of the draft on an ass's back, and, parading him through all the quarters of Beejanuggur, sent him back with every mark of contempt and derision. He also gave immediate orders for assembling his troops, and prepared to attack the dominions of the house of Bhamenee. With this intent he marched with thirty thousand horse, three thousand elephants, and one hundred thousand foot to the vicinity of the fortress of Oodnee;[45] from whence he sent detachments to destroy and lay waste the country of the faithful."

The Raya, in spite of the season being that of the rains, pressed forward to Mudkal, an important city in the Raichur Doab, or the large triangle of country lying west of the junction of the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers, a territory which was ever a debatable ground between the Hindus and Mussulmans, and the scene of constant warfare for the next 200 years. Mudkal was captured, and all the inhabitants, men, women, and children, put to the sword. One man only escaped and carried the news to Kulbarga.

"Mahummud Shaw, on hearing it, was seized with a transport of grief and rage, in which he commanded the unfortunate messenger to be instantly put to death; exclaiming that he could never bear in his presence a wretch who could survive the sight of the slaughter of so many brave companions."

The same day -- I.E. on a day in A.H. 767, in the month of Jamad-ul-awwal, which lasted from January to February 13, A.D. 1366 -- the Sultan marched southwards taking a solemn oath --

"that till he should have put to death one hundred thousand infidels, as an expiation for the massacre of the faithful, he would never sheathe the sword of holy war nor refrain from slaughter. When he reached the banks of the Kistna, he swore by the power who had created and exalted him to dominion, that eating or sleep should be unlawful for him till he had crossed that river in face of the enemy, by the blessing of heaven routed their army, and gladdened the souls of the martyrs of Mudkul with the blood of their murderers. He then appointed his son Mujahid Shaw to succeed him, and Mallek Syef ad Dien regent of his kingdom. He resigned all his elephants, except twenty, to the prince, gave him his advice, and sent him back to Kulbarga. He then crossed the river with nine thousand chosen horse without delay. The roy of Beejanuggur, notwithstanding his vast army, was so alarmed[46] that he sent off all his treasure, valuable baggage, and elephants towards his capital, intending to engage the next morning, or retreat, as he should find it adviseable. The night being stormy and heavy rain falling, the elephants and other beasts of burden stuck frequently in the mud,[47] and were not able to advance above four miles from the camp. Mahummud Shaw heard of the enemy's movement during the night, and immediately marched towards them, leaving his encampment standing. Towards the dawn he arrived at the roy's camp, and the alarm being given, so great was the confusion, that the infidels fled with the utmost precipitation towards the fortress of Oodnee, leaving everything behind them. Mahummud Shaw entered the camp of their market and baggage, putting all to death without any distinction; and it is said that the slaughter amounted to seventy thousand men, women, and children."

Muhammad passed the hot weather and the season of the early rains that year near Mudkal, and after being reinforced marched against Adoni -- "in the plains of which, on the banks of the Tummedra (Tungabhadra), the roy of Beejanuggur had taken up his station in his own territories, having given the command of Oodnee to his sister's son. Here he had collected a great army, and brought elephants and all the splendid insignia of empire from Beejanuggur."[48]

The Sultan had with him a train of artillery[49] and in a short time crossed the Tungabhadra, "and entered the domains of Beejanuggur, which were now for the first time invaded by a Muhammadan sovereign in person." This remark of Firishtah's is historically correct, for the Delhi Sultan's attack on Anegundi took place on the north bank of that river.

Before continuing the story I must note that Firishtah calls the king of Vijayanagar "Kishen Roy," otherwise Krishna Raya; but there can be no doubt that his real name was Bukka. The historian collected his information more than two hundred years after these events, and often misnamed the Hindu kings of whom he writes.

Muhammad, then, crossed the Tungabhadra, and only about twenty-five miles intervened between him and the great fortress of Adoni, which is situated on a precipitous range of hills about that distance from the river. The Tungabhadra at this portion of its course may be considered as forming the arc, west to north, of a quarter circle having Adoni for its centre, the radius roughly measuring about twenty-five miles. The river is fordable at most seasons of the year, lying as it does in a shallow rocky bed with low banks. It is difficult to locate with any certainty the scenes of this campaign, but I gather generally that, finding the Muhammadans aiming at the reduction of Adoni, Bukka marched out with a very large force to intercept this move, and placed himself on the south bank of the Tungabhadra, In the neighbourhood of the threatened fortress. The Sultan crossed somewhere near the present town of Siruguppa, and the great battle that ensued took place in the open cotton-plains, perhaps near Kavutal ("Kowtall" on the Ordnance Map).

Here is Firishtah's account:[50] --

"Roy Kishen Roy (I.E. Bukka), on receiving the intelligence (that Muhammad had crossed), called together all the first nobles of his court, and consulted on the best mode of opposing the mussulmauns. It was agreed that Hoje Mul,[51] a maternal relation to the roy and commander of his armies, should have the conduct of the war. Hoje Mul, vain to excess, on receiving his command, asked the roy if he should bring the prince of the mussulmauns alive a prisoner into his presence, or present him only his head upon a spear. Kishen Roy replied, that a living enemy, in any situation, was not agreeable, therefore he had better put him to death as soon as he should take him. Hoje Mul, having received his dismission marched to oppose Mahummud Shaw with forty thousand horse and five hundred thousand foot. He commanded the Bramins to deliver every day to the troops discourses on the meritoriousness of slaughtering the mahummedans, in order to excite zeal for expelling them. He ordered them to describe the butchery of cows,[52] the insults to sacred images, and destroying of temples, practised by the true believers.

"Mahummud Shaw, when the enemy arrived within fifteen coss[53] of his camp, commanded his general, Khan Mahummud, to muster the troops, who were found to be fifteen thousand horse and fifty thousand foot. Ten thousand horse and thirty thousand foot, with all the artillery, he advanced under Khan Mahummud Khan.

"On the 14th of Zeekaud (A.H. 767, or Thursday, July 23, A.D. 1366), the armies of light and darkness met. From the dawn till four in the afternoon, like the waves of the ocean, they continued in warm conflict with each other, and great numbers were slain on both sides. Mooseh Khan and Eeseh Khan, who commanded the right and left wings of Khan Mahummud's line, drank the sherbet of martyrdom, and their troops broke; which misfortune had nearly given a blow to the army of Islaam. At this instant Mahummud Shaw appeared with three thousand fresh horse. This restored the spirits of Khan Mahummud as also of the disordered troops, who rallied and joined him. Mukkrib Khan, advancing with the artillery, was not wanting in execution, greatly disordering the enemy's horse and foot. He asked leave to charge and complete the rout. Khan Mahummud upon this, detached a number of the nobility to support him, and permitted him to advance; which he did with such rapidity that the infidels had not time to use fireworks (I.E. cannon), but cane to short weapons such as swords and daggers. At this time an elephant, named Sheer Shikar,[54] belonging to Khan Mahummud, refused the guidance of his driver, and rushed into the center of the enemy's line, where he was stopped by the elephants of Hoje Mul Roy, and his driver was killed. Khan Mahummud with five hundred horse followed, and the elephant becoming unruly, turned upon the enemy, throwing their ranks into confusion. Hoje Mul Roy, after receiving a mortal wound, fled, and his followers no longer made resistance. The infidels, seeing their center broke, fled on all sides. The scymetars of the faithful were not yet sheathed from slaughter when the royal umbrella appeared. The sultan gave orders to renew the massacre of the unbelievers. They were executed with such strictness that pregnant women, and even children at the breast, did not escape the sword.

"Mahummud Shaw halted a week on the field, and dispatched accounts of his victory to his own dominions. In performance of his vow of massacre he next marched towards the camp of Kishen Roy, who, thinking himself unable to oppose notwithstanding his numerous force, fled to the woods and mountains for shelter. The sultan followed him from place to place for three months, putting to death all who came in his way, without distinction. At length Kishen Roy took the road of Beejanuggur, his capital. The sultan, pursuing, soon arrived with his army near the city."

To make a long story short, the Sultan besieged Vijayanagar in vain for a month, and then retreated across the Tungabhadra, harassed at every step by masses of the Hindus from the city. He halted at last in an open plain, and the king also pitched his camp at no great distance. Muhammad's retreat had been deliberately carried out in order to draw on his enemy, and cause him by over-confidence to neglect proper precautions. The ruse was successful. The Muhammadans made a sudden and unexpected night-attack. Bukka (called, as before, "Kishen") was off his guard, having indulged in wine and the amusements provided by a band of dancing-women. The slaughter was terrible, and the Raya fled to Vijayanagar, ten thousand of his troops being slain; -- "But this did not satisfy the rage of the sultan, who commanded the inhabitants of every place round Beejanuggur to be massacred without mercy."

Then Bukka tried to make peace, but the Sultan refused.

"At this time a favourite remarked to the sultan that he had only sworn to slaughter one hundred thousand Hindoos, and not totally to destroy their race The sultan replied that though twice the number of his vow might have been slain, yet till the roy should submit, and satisfy the musicians, he would not pardon him or spare the lives of his subjects. To this the ambassadors, who had full powers, agreed, and the money was paid at the instant. Mahummud Shaw then said, 'Praise be to God that what I ordered has been performed. I would not let a light word be recorded of me in the pages of time!' "

The ambassadors then pleaded that no religion ordained that the innocent, and particularly helpless women and children, should suffer for the guilty: --

"If Kishen Roy had been faulty, the poor and wretched had not been partakers in his crimes. Mahummud Shaw replied that the decrees of providence had so ordered, and that he had no power to alter them."

The ambassadors finally urged that as the two nations were neighbours, it were surely best to avoid unnecessary cruelty, which would only embitter their relations with one another; and this argument had effect.

"Mahummud Shaw was struck by their remarks, and took an oath that he would not in future put to death a single enemy after victory, and would bind his successors to observe the same lenity."

For some years, no doubt, the promise was fulfilled, but we read of wholesale massacres perpetrated by sovereigns of later date. As to Muhammad, Firishtah glories in the statement that he had slaughtered 500,000 Hindus, and so wasted the districts of the Carnatic that for several decades they did not recover their natural population.

Thus ended the war, and for some years there was peace between Vijayanagar and Kulbarga.

Muhammad Shah died on 21st April A.D. 1375,[55] and was succeeded by his son Mujahid, then nineteen years old. Shortly after his accession Mujahid wrote to Bukka Raya (still called "Kishen Roy" by Firishtah[56]), "that as some forts and districts between the Kistnah and Tummedra (Tungabhadra) rivers were held by them in participation, which occasioned constant disagreements, he must for the future limit his confines to the Tummedra, and give up all on the eastern side to him, with the fort of Beekapore and some other places." This "Beekapore" is the important fortress of Bankapur, south of Dharwar. The Dakhani sovereigns always looked on it with covetous eyes, as it lay on the direct route from Vijayanagar to the sea, and its possession would paralyse Hindu trade.

The Raya replied by a counter-demand that the Sultan should evacuate the whole of the Doab, since Raichur and Mudkal had always belonged to the Anegundi family. Bukka declared the Krishna river to be the true boundary, and asked that the elephants taken by Sultan Muhammad should be restored.

The Sultan's answer was a declaration of war. He advanced in person, crossed both the rivers, and arrived before Adoni. On hearing that the Raya was encamped on the bank of the Tungabhadra, he left one force to besiege the fortress, sent another to advance towards Vijayanagar, and himself marched, probably in a north-westerly direction, towards the river, "by slow marches and with great caution." The Hindu prince at first prepared to receive his attack, but for some reason[57] lost heart and retired to the forests on the hills of Sandur, south of his capital.

Firishtah here pays a tribute to the interest felt by the inhabitants of this part of India in the new city, then only forty years old, but evidently growing in grandeur year by year.

"Mujahid Shaw, having heard great praises of the beauty of the city, advanced to Beejanuggur; but thinking it too strong to besiege at present, he moved in pursuit of the enemy in the field."

Now follows a passage on which it is difficult to place full reliance, but which only echoes common tradition. It runs to the effect that, on the advance of the Sultan, the Raya

"fled through the woods and hills towards Seet Bunder Ramessar followed by the sultan, who cut passages for his cavalry; through forests before inaccessible. In this manner the roy fled from place to place for six months, but never dared to appear without the woods. It was in vain that the favourites of the sultan represented the pursuit as fruitless and destructive to the troops. He would not desist. At last his good fortune prevailed. The health of Kishen Roy and his family became affected by the noxious air of the woods, and they were warned to quit them by the physicians.... Driven by necessity, he retired by secret paths to his capital of Beejanuggur. The sultan despatched an army after him, while he himself, with the ameer al amra Bahadur Khan and five thousand men, went to amuse himself with the sight of Seet Bunda Ramessar.

"The sultan at this place repaired a mosque which had been built by the officers of Sultan Alla ad Dien Khiljee. He broke down many temples of the idolaters, and laid waste their country after which he hastened with all expedition to Beejanuggur."

It is a fact that a mosque is declared to have been erected by Malik Kafur on the sea-coast in 1310, but apparently not at Ramesvaram, which lies in the extreme south of India, on the eastern coast opposite the island of Ceylon. Moreover, it is extremely improbable that a Muhammadan sovereign could, in the fourteenth century A.D., have penetrated so far south with such a handful of men. They would have been harassed at every step by myriads of Hindus, who, though doubtless trembling at the sight of a Muhammadan, would, we may be sure, never have permitted 5000 men to traverse in peace 1000 miles of forest and mountain; for Ramesvaram is fully 500 miles from Vijayanagar. Malik Kafur's expedition is said to have taken place after the conquest by him of the Ballala Rajah of Dvarasamudra in Maisur, when he erected a mosque on the SEA-COAST OF MALABAR, and therefore nowhere near Ramesvaram. Colonel Briggs has observed this difficulty,[58] and thinks that the place alluded to must be Sadasivaghur, on the western coast,) south of Goa, adding, "The spot ... is called Cape Ramas on our maps."[59] He believes, however, that the remains of an old mosque do exist at Ramesvaram, and its date should be settled. Leaving it to others better informed to throw light on this point, I return to Bukka Raya and his doings.

Firishtah says that there were two roads to Vijayanagar:

"one fit for the passage of armies, the other narrow and difficult. As the former was lined with ambushes, he chose the latter, through which he marched with a select-body of troops, and appeared suddenly in the suburbs of the city."

If Mujahid came up from the Malabar coast, the former of these two roads would perhaps be the usual route adopted by travellers, which leads through open undulating plains. Avoiding this route, the Sultan may have turned the Sandur hills by a flank movement to his right, and approached either along the valley of Sandur or along the valley which now carries the main road from Bellary to Vijayanagar, between the Sandur hills and the hills that surround the latter city.

"Kishen Roy was astonished at his boldness, and sent myriads of his people to defend the streets. The sultan drove them before him and gained the bank of a piece of water which alone now divided him from the citadel, in which Kishen Roy resided. Near this was an eminence, upon which stood a temple covered with plates of gold and silver set with jewels, much venerated by the Hindoos, and called in the language of the country Puttuk. The sultan, esteeming the destruction of it as a religious obligation, ascended the hill, and having razed the temple, possessed himself of the precious metals and jewels."

The piece of water alluded to may have been the picturesque lake at Kamalapuram; but which was the temple that Mujahid destroyed? It seems useless to speculate, considering that the historian only wrote from tradition after a lapse of two centuries. There are many temples on hills to choose from, and several pieces of water. But the strangest part of the story is that we are not told how the Sultan succeeded in penetrating the outer lines of works, and in reaching a spot which divided him only from the inner citadel or palace enclosure. It must, however, be remembered that though in A.D. 1443 Abdur Razzak saw seven lines of walls, we are not certain how many there were in the days of Bukka Raya.

At this point Mujahid was attacked and nearly lost his life.

"The idolaters, upon seeing their object of veneration destroyed, raised their shrieks and lamentations to the sky. They obliged Kishen Roy to head them and advanced resolutely in astonishing numbers. Upon which the sultan formed his disposition. He laid aside his umbrella, and with one of his arms-bearers, an Afghaun named Mhamood, crossed a small rivulet to observe the numbers and motions of the infidels. A Hindoo, who knew the sultan from the horse he rode, resolved, by revenging the destruction of his gods and country, to gain immortal reputation for himself. He moved unperceived through the hollows and broken ground along the bank of the rivulet, had gained the plain, and was charging towards the sultan at full speed, when Mujahid Shaw, at a lucky instant, perceiving him, made a sign to Mhamood Afghaun, who without delay charged the Hindoo. Mhamood's horse rearing, he fell to the ground. His antagonist, having every advantage, was on the point of putting him to death, when sultan Mujahid Shaw advanced with the quickness of lightning. The Hindoo, changing his object, aimed a heavy stroke at the sultan, giving at the same instant a shout of triumph, which made the spectators believe his blow was effectual. Luckily, a helmet of iron saved the head of the sultan, who now inflicted such a wound on his enemy that he was divided from the shoulder to the navel and fell dead from his horse,[60] upon which the sultan remounted Mhamood and joined his army on the other side of the rivulet."

A battle ensued in which the Hindus were defeated; but while the invading force had hardly recovered from their fatigue, the Raya's brother[61] "arrived at the city from his government with a reinforcement of twenty thousand horse and a vast army of foot"[62] The fighting then became furious. In the middle of the battle the Sultan's uncle, Daud Khan,[63] fearful for the safety of his sovereign, quitted his post at "Dhunna Sodra"[64] and joined in the engagement with distinguished gallantry. The Muhammadans were again victorious; but the enemy, having taken advantage of Daud Khan's movement, had captured the abandoned position, and thus seriously threatened the Sultan's retreat. He therefore left the field, and by skilful manoeuvring enabled the whole of his force to extricate themselves in safety from the hills. With between sixty and seventy thousand prisoners, mostly women, he retreated from Vijayanagar and sat down before Adoni; but after a siege lasting nine months the attempt was abandoned, and the Sultan retired to his own territories. Thus ended the campaign.

Firishtah gives a short account of the kingdom of Vijayanagar at this period (about 1378 A.D.), from which the following extracts are taken.

"The princes of the house of Bahmanee maintained themselves by superior valour only, for in power, wealth, and extent of country the roles of Beejanuggur were greatly their superiors;" and he implies that at this time, as certainly in after years, all Southern India had submitted to the sway of the Raya.

"The seaport of Goa,[65] the fortress of Malgaon,[66] ... belonged to the roy of Beejanuggur, and many districts of Tulghaut[67] were in his possession. His country was well peopled, and his subjects submissive to his authority. The roles of Malabar, Ceylon, and other islands and other countries kept ambassadors at his court, and sent annually rich presents."[68]

We must revert for a moment to the Sultan's uncle and his behaviour before Vijayanagar. It will be remembered that, filled with the best intentions, he had quitted his post to defend his king.

"The sultan, on seeing the standard of Daood Khan, was enraged, but stifled his displeasure till the gale of victory had waved over the standards of the faithful. He then called Daood Khan before him, and gave him a harsh reprimand for quitting a station so important that, should the enemy gain possession, not a mussulmaun could make his escape from the city."

Daud treasured up his resentment at this treatment, and, being joined by other disaffected nobles, secretly plotted the assassination of the Sultan. The conspirators waited till Mujahid was on his way from Adoni towards Kulbarga, and then one night, that of Friday, April 16, A.D. 1378,[69] while the Sultan was asleep in his tent, Daud, accompanied by three other men, rushed in and stabbed him. There was a struggle, and the unfortunate monarch was despatched by the blow of a sabre.[70] Daud at once proclaimed himself Sultan as nearest of kin -- Mujahid having no children -- and being acknowledged, proceeded to Kulbarga, where he was proclaimed.

The assassination of his nephew availed Daud but little, as the country was at once divided into two opposing factions, and on May 21, A.D. 1378,[71] after a reign of only one month, the murderer was himself assassinated while at prayer in the great mosque of the capital. Meanwhile Bukka Raya overrun the Doab, advanced as far as the river Krishna, and invested the fortress of Raichur.

Daud was succeeded by Ala-ud-din's youngest son Mahmud I,[72] Mujahid's sister Ruh Parvar Agah having blinded Daud's son, then a boy of eight years, in order to prevent dissension. Mahmud was apparently welcome to all parties, for even the Raya raised the siege of Raichur and agreed to pay him the tribute exacted by Muhammad Shah; so at least says Firishtah. And during the whole of his reign of nearly twenty years there was peace and tranquillity at home and abroad. He died on the 20th April A.D. 1397.[73]

The decease of Bukka I. of Vijayanagar must apparently, for reasons shown, be placed at about A.D. 1379.


CHAPTER 4

Growth of the Empire (A.D. 1379 to 1406)

Harihara II. -- Firuz Shah of Kulbarga -- Fresh wars -- Assassination of a prince in 1399 A.D. -- Bukka II.

Bukka I. was succeeded by Harihara II., his son by his wife Gauri. Nuniz calls the new king "Pureoyre Deorao," and "Pureoyre" seems to be a rough Portuguese version of the name Harihara; H and P representing the same sound in the Kanarese and Telugu languages. According to the inscriptions,[74] Harihara II. reigned at least twenty years, and he was the first king who gave himself imperial titles under the style of MAHARAJADHIRAJA. He gave many grants to the temples, and consolidated the supremacy of his dynasty over all Southern India. Sayana, brother of Madhavacharya, appears to have been his chief minister, as he was to King Samgama II.[75] Mudda is mentioned in two inscriptions of A.D. 1379 and 1382 as the king's general. Another of his generals was called Iruga. He was son of Chaicha, minister of Bukka II. His name appears on a pillar in a Jain temple near Kamalapura at Vijayanagar in an inscription bearing date A.D. 1385; which proves that the king was tolerant in religious matters. There seems also to have been a general named Gunda living in his reign, but his date is uncertain.[76] According to another inscription,[77] King Harihara early in his reign expelled the Muhammadans from Goa; and the last inscription of his reign at present discovered[78] mentions that one Bachanna Udaiyar was then governor of that place.

The king's wife, or one of his principal wives, was Malladevi, or Mallambika. The extent of his domination is shown by the fact that inscriptions of his reign are found in Mysore, Dharwar, Conjeeveram, Chingleput, and Trichinopoly.[79] He was a worshipper of Siva under the form Virupaksha, but appears to have been singularly tolerant of other religions. The latest actual date of the reign afforded by inscriptions is October 15, A.D. 1399.[80]

Ghias-ud-din, a boy of seventeen, eldest son of the late Sultan Mahmud, had succeeded his father on the throne of Kulbarga; but on June 14, 1397,[81] he was treacherously blinded during an entertainment by an ambitious slave, after a reign of only one month and twenty days. His younger brother, Shams-ud-din, was then placed on the throne, but after a reign of five months was blinded and deposed by his cousin Firuz, second son of the late Sultan Daud. Firuz was by birth undoubtedly of the elder branch, and he became one of the most celebrated monarchs of his line, ascending the throne on November 15, A.D. 1397.[82] He must have then been well advanced in years, as Firishtah says he was "old" in A.D. 1419.

The date of the last inscription of Harihara II. as yet brought to light is, as before stated, October 15, A.D. 1399. There are two inscriptions extant of Bukka II., his eldest son, both dated in A.D. 1406,[83] and several of the latter's successor, the younger brother of Bukka II., whose name was Devaraya I., and whose reign lasted till at least A.D. 1412.

It will be remembered that the first king of Vijayanagar, Harihara I., was an old man (Nuniz says "very old"), and reigned seven years. His successor, Bukka, his brother, reigned thirty-seven years according to Nuniz, and perhaps, therefore, it would be best not to assume too great an age for Harihara I. However this may be, it would appear that when the peaceful monarch Harihara II., son of Bukka I., came to the throne, his father must have died at a very advanced age, and he himself must have been by no means young. He reigned at least twenty years, as before stated, and we are therefore justified in assuming that at the close of his reign (in A.D. 1399) he was quite an old man. With this in our minds, let us turn to Firishtah's narrative of the reign of Firuz Shah Bahmani, beginning with his accession in November A.D. 1397.

He tells us that in the Hijra year 801 (13th September 1398 to 3rd September 1399), month not given --

"Dewal Roy of Beejanuggur, with thirty thousand horse and a vast army of foot, invaded the royal territories between the rivers, with a design to reduce the forts of Mudkul and Roijore" (Raichur).

And in a later passage we are told that the campaign was at an end a few months before the end of Hijra 801; I.E. a few months before the end of August A.D. 1399. The first movement of the Hindu army must therefore have taken place at the beginning of the cold season of A.D. 1398, probably not earlier than December in that year, when the great cotton plains across which the troops had to march were passable. It can hardly be supposed that King Harihara II., then quite old and always a lover of peace, would without motive have waged this sudden war and himself led his armies into the field, and it seems more likely that the invasion was a bold dash made by his son with the king's permission. The Muhammadan historians admit an unbroken peace of twenty years previous to this date.

It seems, therefore, that the chronicles of Nuniz, the writings of Firishtah, and the extant inscriptions all agree together, and that we must place the death of Harihara II. at the close of the year A.D. 1399. Little more can be said about the events of his reign.

The new king, his eldest son, Bukka II., must have been a man of middle age, as he had a son old enough to take the field with him before he himself came to the throne.

"This king ('Pureoyre')," says Nuniz, "had a son, who by his death inherited the kingdom, who was called Ajarao; and he reigned forty-three years, in which time he was always at war with the Moors."

I can give no explanation as to why Nuniz calls the successor of Harihara II "Ajarao," nor as to his estimate of forty-three years for his reign. The names and lengths of reigns given to "Ajarao's" successors by our chronicler prove that by "Ajarao" he means two kings, Bukka II. and his successor, Deva Raya I.; and the period covered by their combined reigns was only fourteen years, not forty-three.

Nuniz states that the successor of Harihara II. greatly improved the city of Vijayanagar, raising fresh walls and towers, increasing its extent, and building further lines of fortification. But his great work was the construction of a huge dam in the Tungabhadra river, and the formation of an aqueduct fifteen miles long from the river into the city. If this be the same channel that to the present day supplies the fields which occupy so much of the site of the old city, it is a most extraordinary work. For several miles this channel is cut out of the solid rock at the base of the hills, and is one of the most remarkable irrigation works to be seen in India. No details are given of the wars he engaged in, except that, besides his campaigns against the Moors, he took "Goa, Chaul, and Dabull," and reduced the Choromandel side of the peninsula to loyalty and obedience to his rule.

We learn a great deal more about the doings of Bukka II. and Deva Raya I. from Firishtah than from Nuniz, and I make no apology for quoting copiously from the former author, whose writings throw much light on the period.

Bukka's first war began with the invasion already alluded to. It took place during his father Harihara's reign, apparently about the month of December A.D. 1398 (rather later than earlier). The wide cotton plains of that tract are only passable during prolonged dry weather, and the prince would certainly not have risked an advance while there was any likelihood of rain falling. Bukka's son accompanied his father, and the objective was the country of the Doab, and particularly the fortresses of Mudkal and Raichur, then in the hands of the Bahmani Sultan. Sultan Firuz moved to meet him, slaughtering on the way a Hindu chief or zamindar and seven or eight thousand of his followers, "who had always been very troublesome and refractory." The Raya had advanced to the northern frontier of the debatable land and was encamped on the river Krishna, then in full flood, having large bodies of troops posted to oppose the passage of the Muhammadans.

"Sultan Feroze Shaw,[84] on his arrival near the river, held a council of war with his chief officers, but received no advice that to him appeared satisfactory.

"While the sultan was debating in his own mind how to act, Cauzi Serauje, seeing his concern, offered, if the sultan would permit him, to cross the river with a few of his friends, whom he would select for that purpose, to assassinate Dewal Roy or his son, as he found most convenient....

"The sultan approving the measure, some hundreds of hurdles covered with leather[85] were prepared expeditiously for the troops to cross. Cauzi Serauje, with seven of his friends disguised as holy mendicants, proceeded to the roy's camp, and repaired to the quarter where the dancing-girls resided.[86] Here the cauzi pretended to be enraptured with a courtesan, and was guilty of a thousand extravagances to support his character. In the evening the girl, having adorned herself in her richest ornaments, prepared to go out, on which the cauzi, like a jealous and distracted lover, falling at her feet, entreated her to stay, or let him attend her, and not rend his heart by her absence. The woman upon this informed him that she was ordered to attend an entertainment by the roy's son, and durst not disobey, nor could she take him with her, as only musicians and dancers would be admitted. The cauzi upon this replied that he played on the same instrument as herself, and had, besides, some curious accomplishments that would highly please the roy's son. The dancing-girl, thinking him in jest, out of contempt gave him her mundal,[87] and desired him to play, which he did in so masterly a manner that she was delighted, saying that his company would give her superiority over her fellows and do her honour with the roy's son. Accordingly he with his companions attended the girl to the tents of the young roy.

"As is the custom of Dekkan, many sets of loolies[88] and dancing-girls were ordered to perform at the same time, and having finished their parts, the roy's son called for the players and mummers. The dancing-girl now obtained leave for the cauzi and one of his companions to show their feats. Having assumed the dress of women, they entered ogling and smiling, and so well imitated the mummers in playing on the mundal, dancing, and mimicry, that the roy's son was charmed with their performances. At length they each drew a dagger, and, like the dancers of Dekkan, continued to flourish them for some time, making a thousand antic postures in advancing, retreating, and turning round. At last, suddenly rushing upon the roy's son, they plunged both the daggers into his breast, afterwards attacking his companions. Their remaining friends, who were watching without the tent, on hearing an alarm, ripped up the curtain, and entered to assist them. Many of the company, being much intoxicated, were easily put to death. The cauzi with his friends extinguished all the lights, and, making their escape through the rent, mingled with the crowd. The outcry soon became general round the tents. Great confusion ensued, and various reports and alarms took place. Some said that the sultan had crossed the river and surprised the camp, others that one of his chiefs, with twelve thousand men, had cut off both the roy and his son. The night was uncommonly dark, and the camp extended near ten miles, so that circumstances were variously reported, and the different chiefs, ignorant of the real cause of the alarm, contended themselves with waiting in their several quarters; under arms. About four thousand of the sultan's troops, in this interim, crossed the river in boats and rafts which had been prepared for the purpose. The enemy's foot, stationed to oppose the passage, terrified by the alarm in camp and the approach of the sultan's forces, fled in confusion without waiting to be attacked. Before the morning Feroze Shaw had crossed the river with his whole army, and at dawn assaulted the enemy's camp with great fury. Dewul Roy grieved by the death of his son and panic struck at the bravery of the assailants, made but a faint resistance. Before sunrise, having taken up his son's corpse, he fled with his army. The sultan gained immense plunder in the camp, and pursued him to the vicinity of Beejanuggur. Several actions happened on the way, all of which were fortunate to the sultan, and the roads were heaped up with the bodies of the slaughtered Hindoos."

Bukka reached Vijayanagar in safety and took refuge behind its fortifications, while the Sultan sent his brother Ahmad (afterwards Sultan), whom he had honoured with the title of "Khankhanan," to ravage the rich districts south of the city. Ahmad fulfilled his instructions and returned with numberless prisoners, and amongst them many Brahmans. The relatives of these in the city begged the aged Raya (Harihara II., still alive) to offer ransom, and after much negotiation the Sultan accepted "ten lakhs of oons"[89] and agreed to the execution of a treaty.

According to this treaty, which was entered into a few months before the close of the Hijra year 801, I.E. a few months before 3rd September A.D. 1399, the boundaries of the two kingdoms were to be the same as before the war, and each party agreed to refrain from molesting the subjects of the other. This does not look as though the Sultan had gained any very material advantage in the campaign, since the true boundary was always a subject of dispute. I obtain the date above given from Firishtah's sentence: "In a few months after the conclusion of this campaign, and the beginning of the year 802, the sultan marched to punish Nersing," a chief who had raised disturbances on the borders of Berar.

The BURHAN-I MAASIR passes over this war with great brevity. It states that the Sultan began it, and that at its close he accepted a large indemnity and promise of payment of annual tribute. The date given is identical.

Not long after this war, but certainly not before October 15, A.D. 1399, Harihara II, died, and was succeeded by Bukka, his son.

We have little to guide us as to the events of Bukka's reign, but Firishtah states that he ceased to pay tribute to Firuz Shah, partly owing to instigation from Gujarat, Malwa, and Khandeish. In Hijra 808 (June 1405 to June 1406 A.D.) four years' tribute was owing, but the Sultan took no notice, and waited for a more convenient time.

Bukka was followed on the throne of Vijayanagar by his brother Deva Raya I., the date of whose coronation is fixed by an inscription at Hasan in Mysore as November 5, 1406.[90] The last inscription of Bukka Raya at present known bears a date corresponding to April 30th in that year -- in Hindu reckoning the 12th day of the first half of the month Vaisakha, in the (expired) Saka year 1328, the name of the cyclic year being "Vyaya."[91]


CHAPTER 5

Deva Raya I. (A.D. 1406 to 1419)

The amorous monarch, Deva Raya I. -- The farmer's beautiful daughter -- The king's escapade -- The city threatened -- A Hindu princess wedded to a Muhammadan prince -- Firuz Shah's anger -- Pertal's marriage -- King Vijaya -- Probable date of accession of Deva Raya II.

Firishtah tells us of an event that must have taken place towards the end of the year A.D. 1406, in which the principal actor was the king of Vijayanagar. This king I believe to have been Bukka II.'s successor, his younger brother, Deva Raya I. The story relates to a mad adventure of the Raya which he undertook in order to secure for himself the person of a beautiful girl, the daughter of a farmer in Mudkal. His desire to possess her attained such a pitch, that he made an expedition into the debatable land north of the Tungabhadra for the sole purpose of capturing the girl and adding her to his harem. I have already shown reasons for supposing that Bukka II. was a middle-aged man at his accession, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that this hot-blooded monarch was his younger brother, who began to reign in November 1406 A.D. His escapade must be narrated in full as told by Firishtah, since it led to very important consequences.

"There resided in the town of Mudkul a farmer, who was blessed with a daughter of such exquisite beauty, that the Creator seemed to have united all his powers in making her perfect."

This attractive person was educated by an old Brahman, whose admiration of her led him to think that she would prove a desirable member of the Raya's household.

"He proceeded to Beejanuggur and being introduced to the roy, spoke in such praise of the beauty and accomplishments of the young maid, that he was fired with the desire of possessing her, and entreated the bramin to procure her for him of her parents in marriage. This request was what the bramin earnestly wished, and he immediately agreed to satisfy him; upon which the roy despatched him with rich gifts and great promises of favours to the parents, and the title of ranee, or princess, for their beautiful daughter. The bramin lost no time in his journey, and, upon his arrival at the farmer's house, delivered to him and his wife the roy's orders, that they should repair to Beejanuggur with their daughter. The parents were overjoyed at such unexpected good fortune, and calling for the young maid, laid before her the rich gifts of the roy, congratulated her on being soon to be united to a great prince, and attempted to throw upon her neck a golden collar set with jewels, as a token of immediate espousals, and which, if done, could not have been broken off.

"The beautiful virgin, to their great astonishment, drawing her neck from compliance, refused to receive the collar, and observed, that whoever entered the harem of Beejanuggur, was afterwards not permitted to see even her nearest relations and friends; and though they might be happy to sell her for worldly riches, yet she was too fond of her parents to submit to eternal absence from them, even for all the splendour of the palace of Beejanuggur. This declaration was accompanied with affectionate tears, which melted her parents; who rather than use force, dismissed the bramin with all his gifts, and he returned, chagrined and disappointed, to Beejanuggur....

"When the bramin arrived at Beejanuggur, and related to the roy the failure of his scheme, the prince's love became outrageous, and he resolved to gratify it by force, though the object resided in the heart of Feroze Shaw's dominions.[92] For this purpose he quitted Beejanuggur with a great army, on pretence of going the tour of his countries; and upon his arrival on the banks of the River Tummedra, having selected five thousand of his best horse, and giving the reins of his conduct to love, commanded them, in spite of the remonstrances of his friends, to march night and day with all expedition to Mudkul,[93] and, surrounding the village where Pertal[94] lived, to bring her prisoner to him, with her whole family, without injury."

The unexpected, however, happened. The king neglected to send the Brahman to warn Pertal's family, and on the arrival of news at Mudkal that a large force of the Raya's troops was approaching, the inhabitants fled, and amongst them the girl and her relatives. The troops therefore resumed, but on the way looted the country. They were attacked by superior forces and 2000 of them were slain. This led to a war.

"In the beginning of the winter of the year 809 (I.E. the winter of A.D. 1406),[95] he (the Sultan) moved in great force, and arrived near Beejanuggur, in which Dewul Roy had shut himself up. An assault was made upon the city, and the Sultan got possession of some streets, which, however, he was obliged to quit, his army being repulsed by the Carnatickehs. Dewul Roy, encouraged by his success, now ventured to encamp his army under protection of the walls, and to molest the royal camp. As the mussulmauns could not make proper use of their cavalry in the rocky unevenness of ground round Beejanuggur, they were somewhat dispirited. During this, Sultan Feroze Shaw was wounded by an arrow in the hand, but he would not dismount; and drawing out the arrow, bound up the wound with a cloth.

"The enemy were at last driven off by the valour and activity of Ahmed Khan and Khankhanan, and the Sultan moved farther from the city to a convenient plain, where he halted till his wounded men were recovered."

He halted here for four months, holding the Raya a prisoner in his own capital, while bodies of troops harassed and wasted the country south of Vijayanagar, and attacked the fortress of Bankapur. The "convenient plain" was probably in the open and rich valley near the town of Hospett, south of the city; for the Sultan could not have ravaged the country to the south unless he had been master of the whole of this valley for many miles. Bankapur was taken, and the detached forces returned bringing with them 60,000 Hindu prisoners; on which the Sultan left Khankhanan to hold Vijayanagar, while he himself attempted to reduce the fortress of Adoni, "the strongest in possession of the enemy."

Deva Raya then began to treat for peace, and was compelled to submit to conditions to the last degree humiliating. He agreed to give the Sultan his daughter in marriage, to indemnify him with an immense treasure, and to cede for ever the fort of Bankapur.[96]

"Though the roies of Carnatic had never yet married their daughters but to persons of their own cast, and giving them to strangers was highly disgraceful, yet Dewul Roy, out of necessity, complied, and preparations for celebrating the nuptials were made by both parties. For forty days communication was open between the city and the sultan's camp. Both sides of the road were lined with shops and booths, in which the jugglers, drolls, dancers, and mimics of Carnatic displayed their feats and skill to amuse passengers. Khankhanan and Meer Fuzzul Oollah, with the customary presents of a bridegroom, went to Beejanuggur, from whence at the expiration of seven days they brought the bride, with a rich portion and offerings from the roy, to the sultan's camp. Dewul Roy having expressed a strong desire to see the sultan, Feroze Shaw with great gallantry agreed to visit him with his bride, as his father-in-law.

"A day being fixed, he with his bride proceeded to Beejanuggur, leaving the camp in charge of Khankhanan. On the way he was met by Dewul Roy in great pomp. From the gate of the city to the palace, being a distance of six miles,[97] the road was spread with cloth of gold, velvet, satin, and other rich stuffs. The two princes rode on horseback together, between ranks of beautiful boys and girls, who waved plates of gold and silver flowers[98] over their heads as they advanced, and then threw them to be gathered by the populace. After this the inhabitants of the city made offerings, both men and women, according to their rank. After passing through a square directly in the centre of the city,[99] the relations of Dewul Roy, who had lined the streets in crowds, made their obeisance and offerings, and joined the cavalcade on foot, marching before the princes. Upon their arrival at the palace gate, the sultan and roy dismounted from their horses, and ascended a splendid palanquin, set with valuable jewels, in which they were carried together to the apartments prepared for the reception of the bride and bridegroom, when Dewul Roy took his leave, and retired to his own palace. The sultan, after being treated with royal magnificence for three days, took his leave of the roy, who pressed upon him richer presents than before given, and attended him four miles on his way, when he returned to the city.

"Sultan Feroze Shaw was enraged at his not going with him to his camp, and said to Meer Fuzzul Oollah that he would one day have his revenge for the affront offered him by such neglect. This declaration being told to Dewul Roy, he made some insolent remarks, so that, notwithstanding the connection of family, their hatred was not calmed."

Firuz returned after this to his capital and sent for the lovely Pertal, and on her arrival, finding that her beauty surpassed all report, he gave her in marriage to his eldest son, Hasan Khan, when "the knot was tied amid great rejoicings and princely magnificence." The lady's husband is described by Firishtah as being "a weak and dissipated prince." He was heir to the throne, but was easily ousted by the valiant Ahmad "Khankhanan," and lived privately at Firuzabad, "entirely devoted to redolence and pleasure." The last we hear of him is that his usurping uncle, Ahmad Shah I., treated him kindly, "gave him the palace of Firozeabad for his residence, with an ample jaghire (estate), and permission to hunt or take his pleasure within eight miles round his palace, without restriction to time or form." Hasan "was more satisfied with this power of indulging his appetites than with the charge of empire. While his uncle lived he enjoyed his ease, and no difference ever happened between them; but he was afterwards blinded and kept confined to the palace of Firozeabad." This must have been after A.D. 1434.

Deva Raya I. lived till at least 1412 A.D., and was succeeded by his son Vira-Vijaya, whom Nuniz calls "Visaya," and who, he says, reigned six years. The last extant inscription of Deva Raya I. is dated in A.D. 1412 -- 13, the first of his successor Vijaya in 1413 -- 14. Vijaya's last known inscription is one of 1416 -- 17, and the first yet known of his successor, his eldest son, Deva Raya II., is dated Monday, June 26, 1424 -- 25. Nuniz gives Deva Raya II. a reign of twenty-five years.

I am inclined to think that Deva Raya II. began to reign in 1419, for the following reason. The informants of Nuniz stated that during Vijaya's reign he "did nothing worth relating," and the chronicle records that during the reign which followed, namely that of Deva Raya II., there was "constant warfare." Now we have it from Firishtah that in 1417 Firuz, Sultan of Kulbarga, commenced a war of aggression against the Hindus of Telingana He besieged the fortress of Pangul,[100] seventy miles north-east of Adoni, for a period of two years, but the attempt to reduce it ended in failure owing to a pestilence breaking out amongst both men and horses.

"Many of the first nobility deserted the camp and tied with their followers to their jaghires. At this crisis Dewul Roy collected his army, and having obtained aid from the surrounding princes, even to the Raja of Telingana (Warangal), marched against the sultan with a vast host of horse and foot."

This then took place in 1419 A.D., and since this energetic action was not consonant with the character of Vijaya, the FAINEANT sovereign, "who did nothing worth recording" in all his career, we must suppose that it took place as soon as Deva Raya, his successor, was crowned; when the nobles surrounding him (he was, I believe, quite young when he began to reign)[101] filled with zeal and ambition, roused the Hindu troops and in the king's name plunged into war against their country's hereditary foe.

If this be correct, the reign of Deva Raya II., granting that it lasted as stated by Nuniz for twenty-five years, ended in A.D. 1444. Now the chronicle tells us a story of how this Deva Raya's son and successor, "Pina Rao,"[102] was attacked by his nephew with a poisoned dagger, and died from the effects of his wounds after a lapse of six months. Abdur Razzak, more reliable because he was not only a contemporary but was at Vijayanagar at the time, relates the same anecdote of Deva Raya II. himself, making the would-be assassin the king's brother, and definitely fixing the date beyond a shadow of a doubt. The event occurred on some day between November 1442 and April 1443 -- the outside limits of Razzak's visit to Calicut -- during his stay at which place he says it happened. Abdur Razzak does not mention the king's death, and this therefore had not supervened up to the time of the traveller leaving the capital in December 1443. On the assumption that we need not be too particular about Nuniz's "six months," we may conclude that the attack was made about the month of April 1443, and that Deva Raya II. died early in 1444 A.D. There is still, however, a difficulty, as will be noticed below, inscriptions giving us the name of a Deva Raya as late as 1449 A.D., but it is just possible that this was another king of the same name.

Putting together the facts given above, we find that the twenty-five years of the reign of Deva Raya II. lay between 1419 and 1444 A.D.


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.