History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c30.9

v1.c30.9

that Pratāparudra had descended to the level of employing Musalman mercenaries in his campaign against Kṛṣṇadevarāya. Among the notables captured by the Vijayanagara army were two Hindus named Kumāra Hammīra Mahāpātra and Keśava-Pātra and two Musalman generals named Mallū Khān and Uddaṇḍa Khān of Raichur. Mallū Khān can be recognised as a Musalman name, but it is difficult to reduce the term Uddaṇḍa to its Perso-Arabic equivalent. The late Mr. H. Krishna Sastri argued from the connection of Raichur with these two names that they were officers or nobles of the Ādil-Shāhi Sulṭāns of Bijapur. The acquisition of help from a Musalman neighbour to fight with a Hindu adversary involved a moral and political degradation in the Hindu world which can be easily understood by those who are familiar with Rajput history, but this was not the only occasion when Pratāparudra employed Musalman mercenaries against Hindus.