A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.95

c17.95

Venkata's first act was an effort to get back the territory lost to Golconda by his predecessor. In that kingdom, Ibrahim had been succeeded at his death in 1580 by his son Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah. Venkata stirred up trouble against him in the Kondavidu territory, and Quli retaliated effectively by seizing the whole of Kurnool and parts of the Cuddapah and Anantapur districts, and by marching on and laying siege to Penugonda itself. Venkata thereupon sued for a truce, and the sultan, satisfied with the results attained, retired from the vicinity of Penugonda. Venkata made good use of the respite thus gained, and in a few days equipped the city to stand a long siege, and once more began to defy the Muslims. Sultan Quli discovered his mistake when he renewed the siege; he was defeated; and the approach of the rains, with the prospect of floods in the Krishna cutting off his retreat, forced him to raise the siege and go back, after making some hasty arrangements for the administration of the territory newly taken by him. But Venkata soon recaptured Gutti and then laid siege to Gandikota; he intercepted and scattered the forces sent to its relief from Kondavidu, while another Golconda army, led by Rustam Khan, was defeated and cut to pieces on the banks of the Penner, and Gandikota fell. This was followed by the seizure of other forts, and the Golconda garrisons were chased across the Krishna which later came to be recognized officially by Quli as the boundary of Vijayanagar. Farther east, Udayagiri became part of Venkata's dominions before 1589, but the Kondavidu territory was still the sultan's. Internal troubles prevented the completion of Venkata's designs against Golconda.