Shivaji and His Times c13.s2.1

c13.s2.1

With the fall of the Vijaynagar empire at the beginning of the 17th century, its various provinces covering the Mysore plateau and the Karnatak plains ceased to obey any common head such as might have held together and protected them. The numberless local chieftains stood up, each for himself, and engaged in incessant fighting with their neighbours out of a vain and ruinous passion for the extension of dominion. The defenceless and chaotic condition of these rich countries had drawn more powerful spoilers into the field. As the Jesuit missionary Proenza wrote from Trichinopoly in 1659, "The ancient kings of the country seem to invite the conquest of entire India by the Muslims....by their jealousies and imprudent acts."