A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.80

c17.80

We must now turn to the details of Rāma Rāya's relations with the Muslim states and to the train of events that led to the decisive battle of Rakshasi-Tangadi (Talikota) to which passing reference has already been made. In 1542-3, Bijapur and Ahmadnagar made up their differences and agreed that the former was to have a free hand against Vijayanagar, and the latter against Bidar. Ibrahim Adil Shah then invaded Vijayanagar, but gained nothing as his forces were turned back by the generalship of the Keladi chief Sadāśiva Nāyaka. In 1548 Rāma Rāya aided Burhan Nizam Shah in the capture of the fort of Kalyāni from Bidar, and the fort remained in Burhan's possession till his death in 1553. His son, Husain Nizam Shah, entered into an alliance with Ibrahim Qutb Shah of Golconda, renewed the war with Bijapur and laid siege to Gulbarga in 1557. Ibrahim Adil Shah called on Rāma Rāya for help and he promptly responded by marching in person at the head of his army. Anxious to avoid bloodshed, Rāma Rāya brought about a meeting of all the parties at the junction of the Bhima and Krishna rivers which resulted in a treaty of mutual alliance and protection by which, if any one of the contending parties became the victim of an unjust attack, the others were to join him against the aggressor—a plan of collective security as it would now be called.