Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c15.s7.29

v1.c15.s7.29

The absence of such preventive measures in the Hindu camp notwithstanding the vast numbers of camp followers, in the accounts of the foreign eye-witnesses, suggests that it was more efficiently organized according to the standards of the age. But we may remark at the same time that the Hindus could be as indifferent to the needs of the hour as the Muhammadans were inefficient to guard their camp. The following sad plight which befell Dēva Rāya is related by Firishtah. "Lody Khan, Adam Khan, and Dilawar Khan (A.D. 1422) marched during the night, and fording the river at a distance, reached the environs of the enemy's camp at day-light. The Ray was then sleeping, attended only by a few persons, in a garden, close to which was a thick plantation of sugar-cane. A body of the Mahomedans entered the garden for plunder, and Dew Ray, being alarmed, fled, almost naked as he was, into the sugar-cane plantation. Here he was found by the soldiers, who taking him for a villager, loaded him with a bundle of canes, and obliged him to run with it before them. Dew Ray, perceiving he was undiscovered, took up the burden readily, hoping that he should be released when he reached the enemy's camp, or be able to effect his escape.