The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.180

v3.c29.180

Devarāya II had lost in the course of his lifetime one or two of his grown up sons in the wars against the Muslims. It is also said that in the massacre which ended in the attempt upon his life, one of his grown up sons was killed. It seems probable therefore that Mallikārjuna succeeded to the throne comparatively young. The accession of this new ruler was taken advantage of by the two northern powers, the Bahmanī kingdom and the Hindu state of Orissa. They made a combined attack and laid siege to the capital. Young Mallikārjuna succeeded in repulsing them about the year 1450¹, and ruled for nearly ten years in peace. About the end of this period we hear of him in residence in Penugonda with his minister Timma 'on business connected with the administration of the kingdom of Narasimha.' This could only mean that he moved eastward from the capital and was for some time on the frontiers of the territory of the rising chieftain Sāluva Narasimha either to protect his own dominions, or, as is more likely, to be prepared to support Narasimha against the ruler of Orissa and his Muslim allies. Neither inscriptions nor other sources of information available to us so far tell us any more about him than that he continued to rule till 1467 or 1468. The kingdom appears to have continued intact during the whole of his reign.