Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c14.s2.56

v1.c14.s2.56

The Hindus and the Muhammadans were brought into closer touch with each other in the days of Rāma Rāja, when the political situation in the Deccan drove the followers of Islām to the Hindu court. That remarkable administrator gave further proof of his honest intentions to adjust the difference between the two peoples, by ordering the Koran to be placed by his side out of consideration for the faith of his Muhammadan followers. Firishtah narrates that Ibrāhīm 'Ādil Shāh, on his accession to the throne of Bijapur, "having rejected the names of the Imams from the Khootba, restored the exercise of the Soony rites, and commanded that no person should in future wear the scarlet cap of twelve points, which had been adopted by all the troops of his father in imitation of the Persians. Instead of foreign troops he enlisted Deccanis in his service and permitted only four hundred foreigners to remain in his body-guard. . . ." And degrading the senior officers, he promoted the Deccanis and the Abyssinians in their stead. "All the foreign troops which were thus dismissed entered into the service of different princes. Ramraj, the Hindoo Prince of Beejanuggur, entertained three thousand of them; and in order to reconcile them to the act of making obeisance to him, caused a Koran to be placed before him when they came to pay their respects; which enabled them to do so without a breach of the ordinances of their religion".¹