History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c30.22

v1.c30.22

The Musalman peril was getting stronger in another direction. After the dismemberment of the Bahmani empire, the Quṭb-shāhī kingdom of Golkonda was growing stronger on the eastern coast and Sulṭān Qūlī was striving his utmost to regain the lost domination of the Musalmans over that area. He had declared his independence in 1512 and begun to consolidate his power in Telingana. So long as Kṛṣṇadevarāya was in the field, Sulṭān Qūlī remained quiet. There is no mention of his taking any side in the war with Orissa. Inspite of the statements of *Firishta*, it is perfectly clear that Sulṭān Qūlī did not effect any conquest in any Hindu kingdom in Telingana so long as Kṛṣṇadevarāya was in the field. As soon as war broke out between Kṛṣṇadevarāya and Sulṭān Ismail 'Adil Shāh I of Bijāpur, Sulṭān Qūlī found it easier to despoil the monarch of Orissa. This is the only possible time for Sulṭān Qūlī Quṭb Shah to have invaded and conquered any part of Hindu Telingana. Briggs thought that the invasion of Orissa by the Musalmans of Golkonda took place in 1511 (See his Comparative Chronology of Deccan kingdoms, principally during the 16th century, at the end of Volume III, Cambray's edition of 1910, of his "Rise of the Muhammadan Power in India"). He actually put the capture of Ballamkanda and Koṇḍapalle against this date. But in the text he says: "After having repaired the fort of Golkonda Sulṭān Koolly Kootb Shah turned his thought towards the reduction of the fortress of Roykonda."¹ The long rambling narrative of *Firishta* bears on its face the stamp of untruth and confusion. In the first place there was no king in Orissa named Rāmchandra Gajapati between 1512 and 1543 or during the entire reign of Sulṭān Qūlī Quṭb Shāh. In the second place Kṛṣṇadevarāya of Vijayanagara ascended the throne in December 1509 or January 1510. His campaign against Orissa began early in 1512, as Udayagiri fell in 1513, Koṇḍaviḍu in 1515 and Koṇḍapalle in 1517. The series of records of Kṛṣṇadevarāya at Koṇḍaviḍu, Kaza, Maṅgalagiri and finally at Siṃhāchalam-Poṭnuru prove that during this period, 1512-17, no Muhammadan king could have captured the area between Koṇḍaviḍu and Waltair-Siṃhāchalam, thus proving *Firishta*'s statement about the conquest of Ballamkonda, Koṇḍaviḍu and Koṇḍpalle by Sultān Qulī Quṭb Shāh to be entirely untrue. If Sultān Qūli had really conquered these places, then he must have done so after 1519. Therefore, the late Mr. Monmohan Chakravarti was perfectly correct in dating the Musalman invasion from Golkonda in 1522.¹ There is no mention of the capture of Koṇḍaviḍu by the Musalmans in the local chronicle of Koṇḍaviḍu.² Sewell mentions an inscription of Sultān Qulī Quṭb Shāh at Koṇḍapalle,³ but there is no inscription from that place recorded in Horovitz list of published Muhammadan inscriptions in India in the Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica.