Part 2 out of 8



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.



CHAPTER 10

The Reign of Krishna Deva Raya (A.D. 1509 to 1530)

His character and person -- Bankapur -- Almeida and Fr. Luis's mission
-- Duarte Barbosa -- His description of the city -- The king's early
wars -- Kondapalle -- Rajahmundry -- Kondavid -- Udayagiri -- Wars
of the Qutb Shah of Golkonda in Telingana.

An inscription in the Pampapati temple at Hampe states that on
the occasion of a festival in honour of the coronation of Krishna
Deva Raya, the king built a hall of assembly and a GOPURA or tower
there, and the date is given as the 14th of the first half of the
lunar month Magha in the expired Saka year 1430, the year of the
cycle being "Sukla."[189] It so happens that the cyclic year Sukla
does not correspond to Saka 1430 expired, but to Saka 1431 expired;
and this unfortunate error leaves us in doubt as to the true date of
that important event. If we conceive the mistake as having occurred,
not in the NAME of the year, which was perhaps in constant daily use,
but in the number of the Saka year, then the date corresponds to 23rd
or 24th January A.D. 1510; but if the number of the Saka year was
correct and the name wrong, then the day must have been February 4,
1509, the cyclic year being properly "Vibhava." Even then it is not
certain whether this festival took place on the coronation day itself,
or on an anniversary of that event; and a considerable interval may
have elapsed between the king's accession and coronation. Probably
we shall not be wrong if we consider that the new king succeeded to
the throne in A.D. 1509.[190]

Krishna Raya seems to have possessed a very striking personality,
to judge from the glowing description given us by Paes, who saw
him about the year 1520. The account given by him is all the more
interesting and valuable because without it the world would have
remained justly in doubt as to whether this king really reigned at
all, in the usual acceptation of the word -- whether he was not a
mere puppet, entirely in the hands of his minister, perhaps even an
actual prisoner. For Firishtah never mentions him by name, and the
inscriptions which relate his conquests prove nothing beyond the fact
that they took place during a reign which, for all we know, might have
been a reign only in name, the real power being in the hands of the
nobles. But with the description of Paes in our hands there can be no
longer a shadow of doubt. Krishna Deva was not only monarch DE JURE,
but was in very practical fact an absolute sovereign, of extensive
power and strong personal influence. He was the real ruler. He was
physically strong in his best days, and kept his strength up to the
highest pitch by hard bodily exercise. He rose early, and developed
all his muscles by the use of Indian clubs and the use of the sword;
he was a fine rider, and was blessed with a noble presence which
favourably impressed all who came in contact with him. He commanded his
immense armies in person, was able, brave, and statesmanlike, and was
withal a man of much gentleness and generosity of character. He was
beloved by all and respected by all. Paes writes of him that he was
"gallant and perfect in all things." The only blot on his scutcheon
is, that after his great success over the Muhammadan king he grew to
be haughty and insolent in his demands. No monarch such as the Adil
Shah could brook for a moment such a humiliation as was implied by a
peace the condition of which was that he should kiss his triumphant
enemy's foot; and it was beyond all doubt this and similar contemptuous
arrogance on the part of successive Hindu rulers that finally led,
forty years later, to the downfall of the Hindu empire.

All Southern India was under Krishna Deva's sway, and several
quasi-independent chiefs were his vassals. These were, according to
Nuniz, the chief of Seringapatam, and those of Bankapur,[191] Garsopa,
Calicut, Bhatkal, and Barkur. The Portuguese treated these lesser
chiefs as if they were kings, called them so and sent embassies to
them, no doubt much to their satisfaction.

The present head of the Brahmanical establishment at the Hampe temple
informed me that Krishna Deva Raya celebrated his accession by erecting
the great tower at the entrance of the temple, and the next largest
tower shortly afterwards. Nuniz tells us that immediately on attaining
power, the king, making Saluva Timma his minister, sent his nephew,
the son of the last sovereign, and his own three brothers, to the
fortress of Chandragiri, 250 miles to the south-east, for his greater
security, and himself remained for some time at the capital. This
accords well with the writings of the other Portuguese, who relate
that at least on two occasions, when missions were sent from Calicut
and Goa, viz., those of Fr. Luis and Chanoca, the envoys saw the king
in person at Vijayanagar.

At the beginning of Krishna's reign, Almeida, as stated above,
was viceroy of the Portuguese settlements on the coast, but at the
end of the year 1509 Albuquerque succeeded him under the title of
governor. The latter suffered a severe reverse at Calicut, and from
thence despatched Fr. Luis, of the Order of St. Francis, as ambassador
to Vijayanagar, begging the Raya to come by land and reduce the Samuri
of Calicut, promising himself to assault simultaneously by sea.[192]
The governor declared that he had orders from his master, the king
of Portugal, to war against the Moors, but not against the Hindus;
that Calicut had been destroyed by the governor, and its king had
fled into the interior; that he (the governor) offered his fleet to
assist the king of Vijayanagar in his conquest of the place; that as
soon as Calicut was captured the Moors would be driven therefrom, and
that afterwards the Portuguese would assist the king of Vijayanagar
against his enemies, the "Moors" of the Dakhan. He promised in future
to supply Vijayanagar alone with Arab and Persian horses, and not to
send any to Bijapur. No answer was returned.

Albuquerque next attacked Goa, then under the Adil Shah, and
captured the place, making his triumphal entry into it on March 1,
A.D. 1510. Immediately afterwards he despatched Gaspar Chanoca on
a mission to Vijayanagar, renewing Almeida's request for a fort at
Bhatkal for the protection of Portuguese trade. Barros[193] states
that Chanoca reported that, though he was received "solemnly," Krishna
Deva Raya only made a general answer in courteous terms, and did not
specifically grant the governor's request; the reason being that the
king had then made peace with the Adil Shah. Presumably this peace
was made in order to enable the Adil Shah to retake Goa.[194]

Upon this a message was sent from Vijayanagar to Albuquerque
congratulating the Portuguese on their conquest of Goa, and promising
to aid them against the Adil Shah. This aid, however, does not appear
to have been given. The Muhammadan troops attacked Goa in May and after
a severe struggle were successful, Albuquerque evacuating the place
after decapitating a hundred and fifty of the principal Muhammadans
there, and slaughtering their wives and children.[195]

In November of the same year, Ismail Adil's attention being called off
by internal dissension at Bijapur, Albuquerque attacked Rasul Khan,
Ismail's deputy at Goa, and the eight thousand men under his command,
defeated them, retook the place on December 1, and slew six thousand
men, women, and children of the Muhammadans. Firishtah states that
the young Adil Shah's minister, Kummal Khan, after this made peace
with the Europeans, and left them securely established at Goa. This,
however, is not quite correct, for Rasul Khan made a desperate attempt
in 1512 to retake the place, but failed after severe fighting.[196]

As soon as the news reached Vijayanagar of Albuquerque's success
in December 1510, Krishna Deva Raya sent ambassadors to Goa, and
by them Fr. Luis sent letters to Albuquerque detailing the result
of his mission. He "had been well received by all except the king,"
but the king had nevertheless granted permission for the Portuguese
to build a fort at Bhatkal. Poor Fr. Luis never returned from his
embassy. History is silent as to what happened or what led to the
tragedy, but he was one day murdered in the city of Vijayanagar.[197]

His despatch is interesting as containing information regarding
Vijayanagar and the Sultan of Bijapur, part of which is certainly
accurate, while part tells us of Krishna Deva Raya's proceedings
at this period, regarding which we know nothing from any other
source. Fr. Luis wrote to Albuquerque that the Adil Shah had attacked
Bijapur, and had taken it after a siege of two months, while four lords
had risen against him "since the latter had carried off the king of
Decan as a prisoner." This king was the Bahmani king, while the Adil
Shah and the "four lords" were the revolting Muhammadan princes. He
added that the people of Belgaum had revolted from the Adil Shah and
submitted to the Hindu sovereign. As to Vijayanagar, he said that the
king was getting ready a small expedition of seven thousand men to send
against one of his vassals, who had risen up in rebellion and seized
the city of Pergunda (? Pennakonda), saying that it belonged to himself
by right; and that after he had taken the rebel the king would proceed
to certain places on the sea-coast. Fr. Luis professed himself unable
to understand the drift of this latter design, but warned Albuquerque
to be careful. He advised him to keep up friendly communications with
the king, and by no means to place any reliance on the man on whom, of
all others, the Portuguese had pinned their faith -- one Timoja,[198]
a Hindu who had befriended the new-comers. The priest declared that
Timoja was a traitor to them, and had, in conjunction with the king
of Garsopa, promised Krishna Deva Raya that he would deliver Goa to
him before the Portuguese could fortify their possessions therein,
if he should send a fully equipped army to seize the place.

After Albuquerque's second capture of Goa the chief of Bankapur
also sent messages of congratulation to the Portuguese, and asked
for permission to import three hundred horses a year. The request
was granted, as the place was on the road to Vijayanagar, and
it was important that its chief should be on friendly terms with
the Europeans. Moreover, Bankapur contained a number of superior
saddlers.[199]

Krishna Deva's anxiety was to secure horses. He must have thought
little of this foreign settlement on the coast as a political power,
but what he wanted was horses, and again horses, for his perpetual
wars against the Adil Shah; and Albuquerque, after toying a little
with the Muhammadan, gratified the Hindu by sending him a message in
which he declared that he would prefer to send cavalry mounts to him
rather than to supply them to the Sultan of Bijapur.

About the year 1512 Krishna Deva Raya, who had, taken advantage of
the times to invade the Sultan's dominions, attacked the fortress of
Raichur, which at last was given up to him by the garrison; Ismail
Adil being too much employed in attending to the internal affairs of
his government to afford it timely relief. So says Firishtah.[200]
This event is not noticed by Nuniz, who writes as if the Raya's first
campaign against the Adil Shah took place in 1520, when he advanced
to attack Raichur, it being then in the Shah's possession; and here we
see a difference between the story of Nuniz and the story of Firishtah,
for the latter, writing of the same event, viz., the campaign of 1520,
states that "Ismail Adil Shaw made preparations for marching to recover
Mudkal and Roijore from the Roy of Beejanuggar," he having taken these
cities about 1512, as narrated. Which account is correct I cannot say.

It appears[201] that in 1514 A.D. Krishna Deva offered Albuquerque
[pound sterling] 20,000 for the exclusive right to trade in horses, but
the Portuguese governor, with a keen eye to business, refused. A little
later the Hindu king renewed his proposal, declaring his intention of
making war against the Adil Shah; and the Adil Shah, hearing of this
message, himself sent an embassy to Goa. Albuquerque was now placed
in a position of some political importance, and he wrote first to
Vijayanagar saying that he would give the Raya the refusal of all his
horses if he would pay him 30,000 cruzados per annum for the supply,
and send his own servants to Goa to fetch away the animals, and also
that he would aid the king in his war if he was paid the expense of
the troops; and he wrote afterwards to Bijapur promising the Sultan
the refusal of all horses that came to Goa if he would surrender to
the king of Portugal a certain portion of the mainland opposite the
island. Before this matter was settled, however, Albuquerque died.

We learn from this narrative the Krishna Deva Raya was meditating a
grand attack on the Muhammadans at least five years before his advance
to Raichur -- a year even before his expedition against Udayagiri and
the fortresses on the east, the story of which campaign is given in
our chronicle.

We have an account of what Vijayanagar was like in A.D. 1504 --
14 in the narrative of Duarte Barbosa, a cousin of Magellan, who
visited the city during that period.

Speaking of the "kingdom of Narsinga," by which name the Vijayanagar
territories were always known to the Portuguese, Barbosa writes:[202]
"It is very rich, and well supplied with provisions, and is very full
of cities and large townships."

He describes the large trade of the seaport of Bhatkal on its western
coast, the exports from which consisted of iron, spices, drugs,
myrabolans, and the imports of horses and pearls; but as regards
he last two items he says, "They now go to Goa, on account of the
Portuguese." The governor of Bhatkal was a nephew of King Krishna
Deva. "He lives in great state and calls himself king, but is in
obedience to the king, his uncle."

Leaving the sea-coast and going inland, Barbosa passed upwards through
the ghats.

"Forty-five leagues from these mountains there is a very large city
which is called BIJANAGUER, very populous, and surrounded on one side
by a very good wall, and on another by a river, and on the other
by a mountain. This city is on level ground; the king of Narsinga
always resides in it. He is a gentile, and is called Raheni.[203]
He has in this place very large and handsome palaces, with numerous
courts.... There are also in this city many other palaces of great
lords, who live there. And all the other houses of the place are
covered with thatch, and the streets and squares are very wide. They
are constantly filled with an innumerable crowd of all nations and
creeds.... There is an infinite trade in this city.... In this city
there are many jewels which are brought from Pegu and Celani (Ceylon),
and in the country itself many diamonds are found, because there is
a mine of them in the kingdom of Narsinga and another in the kingdom
of Decani. There are also many pearls and seed-pearls to be found
there, which are brought from Ormuz and Cael ... also silk-brocades,
scarlet cloth, and coral....

"The king constantly resides in the before-mentioned palaces, and
very seldom goes out of them....

"All the attendance on the king is done by women, who wait upon him
within doors; and amongst them are all the employments of the king's
household; and all these women live and find room within these palaces,
which contain apartments for all....

"This king has a house[204] in which he meets with the governors and
his officers in council upon the affairs of the realm.... They come in
very rich litters on men's shoulders.... Many litters and many horsemen
always stand at the door of this palace, and the king keeps at all
times nine hundred elephants and more than twenty thousand horses,
all which elephants and horses are bought with his own money.... This
king has more than a hundred thousand men, both horse and foot,
to whom he gives pay....

"When the king dies four or five hundred women burn themselves with
him.... The king of Narsinga is frequently at war with the king of


 


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