Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c11.s2.t3.11

v1.c11.s2.t3.11

"And this kingdom marches with all the territory of Bengal, and on the other side with the kingdom of Orya, which is to the east, and on the other side to the north with the kingdom of Dakhan, belonging to which are the lands which the Ydallcāo (Adil Shāh) has, . . . "⁵ With the capture of Koṇḍaviḍu, the largest part of the kingdom of the Gajapati rulers was added to the Vijayanagara Empire.¹ The influence of Vijayanagara, in the days of Achyuta Rāya, seems to have reached the great principalities on the western and southern-most coast of India, Calicut, Cochin and Tranvancore.² Nuniz states that even the rulers of Ceylon, Pegu, and Tenasserim paid tribute to the Hindu Emperor.³ Dark clouds were hovering over the Empire because of its wealth and extent.⁴ It suffered diminution, as we have already remarked, after the battle of Rākshasa-Taṅgaḍi, in the north, where "several petty chiefs and governors of the North of the Empire, either through fear of the Muhammadans, or on account of their own ambition, proclaimed themselves independent in their cities or fortresses".⁵ The only other example of a chieftain withdrawing his allegiance in the south was, according to Heras, the Kalaśa-Kārkaḷa ruler.⁶