South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c13.3

c13.3

The year A.D. 1335 which marks the declaration of independence by Sultan Jalalu-d-din Ahsan Shah at Madura marks an epoch in the history of South India, just as it marks, the turning point in the successful career of Sultan Muhammad Tughlak. The declaration of independence by this remote province was the signal at the time for the middle states of the Hindus, either openly to throw off the yoke, or to set in train the movement which culminated in the abolition of Muhammadan rule in the south of India. Adequate knowledge of the history therefore of the Madura Sultanate, and of the newly founded Muhammadan kingdom of Deogir during the first decades of its existence, is a necessary preliminary to the correct understanding of the Hindu movements which culminated in the foundation of the empire of Vijayanagar.