The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c27.62

v3.c27.62

In 1398 the long peace between the Deccan and Vijayanagar was broken, the aggressor being Harihara II, who invaded the Rāichūr Doāb with an army of 30,000 horse and 900,000 foot, while the Hindu chieftain on the north bank of the Krishna headed a rebellion of the Kolīs. Fīrūz first dealt with the latter, and after defeating them in the field put to death large numbers of them and crushed the rising, but was compelled to send back the armies of Berar and Daulatābād, which he had summoned to his assistance against Harihara, in order that they might deal with Narsingh, the Gond raja of Kherla, who had invaded Berar and ravaged the eastern districts of that province as far south as Māhūr, on the Penganga. No more than 12,000 horse remained to him, but he ventured to advance to the Krishna. The rainy season of 1399 had now set in, and Harihara's vast army held the southern bank of the river. The tactics and discipline of the Hindus were contemptible. They were scattered over an area which extended for some seventeen miles along the bank of the river and the same distance in depth to the south of it, and this dispersion, necessary for purposes of supply, was sufficient to destroy their cohesion, but their mere numbers precluded any attempt to force the passage of the river, and Fīrūz chafed at his enforced inaction until his health suffered. At this juncture Qāzī Sirāj-ud-dīn, an inferior officer of his court, whose enterprise and hardihood became rather his military than his judicial office, suggested a bold adventure, which Fīrūz at first forbade, but afterwards sanctioned¹.