A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.23

c17.23

The duration of Vīra Vijaya Rāya's reign has been variously estimated; tentatively it may be said to have lasted for about five years (1422-6). Nuniz says he ‘did nothing worth recording’. His son, who in due course succeeded him as Devarāya II, was associated with him in the administration almost from the beginning. The traditional enmity with the Bāhmanīs continued, so it was not long before Ahmad Shah began a war against Vijaya and inflicted a defeat on his forces and great slaughter and destruction on the civil population of the country. The armies met on the banks of the Tungabhadra; Vijaya's camp was surprised in the early morning and the king hurriedly made his escape to a sugarcane plantation. He was found by the Muslim soldiers; but they mistook him for a common labourer and, when they came to know of the sultan's victory, they left him and hastened to join their friends. Ahmad Shah then overran the open country, and ‘laying aside all humanity, whenever the number of the slain amounted to twenty thousand, he halted three days, and made a festival in celebration of the bloody work. He broke down the idol temples, and destroyed the colleges of Brahmins.’ Before peace could be had, Vijaya had to pay a vast sum as arrears of tribute, and to acquiesce in the conqueror carrying many of his subjects, including several learned Brahmins, into captivity.