The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c15.85

v1.c15.85

Arjuna in the battlefield' according to the *Ramarajiyamu* 1. This great general was the first to attack the Mussulman force. "The infidels," Ferishta remarks, "began the attack with vast flights of rockets and rapid discharges of artillery" 2. Venkatadri had under his command two hundred thousand infantry, twenty five thousand cavalry and five hundred elephants 3; and with this force he fought valiantly, inflicting great loss on his enemies. The *Ramarajiyamu* records that Venkatadri "in a pitched battle dealt destruction to the combined troops of the Nizam, Adil Khan and Qutb Shah, and drove away all the three chiefs from the field" 4. The second part of the sentence sounds like a poetical exaggeration, but points, nevertheless, to the success of Venkatadri's army over that of Adil Shah 5. The *Burhan-i-Ma'asir* agrees with this when affirming that Ali Adil Shah 'left the position allotted to him' 6.