A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c16.70

c16.70

Muhammad also planned an expedition against the eastern Carnatic ruled over by Sāluva Narasimha, viceroy of Vijayanagar, who had helped Purushottama in the recent war. Malik Hasan offered to go with him, leaving his son Ahmad as his deputy in Rajahmundry. Ahmad, the better soldier, was then holding a fief in the Mahur district in Berar, evidently because it was felt necessary to keep father and son separated. He was now summoned from Mahur and installed in Rajahmundry. The invasion began, and Kondapalli became the headquarters of the Bāhmani army. Here Muhammad left his son Mahmud with Mahmud Gawan, while he personally led a daring raid against Kānchipuram, plundered its rich temples, and slew a number of priests. The Muslim chronicler of this episode wildly exaggerates its results and writes that the Bāhmani troops ‘levelled the city and its temples to the ground and overthrew all the symbols of infidelity’. On his way back to Kondapalli, Muhammad lost much of his booty to Narasimha's troops, but succeeded in capturing Masulipatam.