A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c10.28

c10.28

If a straight line be drawn on the map of India from Bombay to Madras, about half-way across will be found the River Tungabhadrâ, which, itself a combination of two streams running northwards from Maisûr, flows in a wide circuit north and east to join the Krishnâ not far from Kurnool. In the middle of its course the Tungabhadrâ cuts through a wild rocky country lying about forty miles north-west of Bellary, and north of the railway line which runs from that place to Dhârwâr. At this point, on the north bank of the river, there existed about the year 1330 a fortified town called Ânegundi, the "Nagundym" of our chronicles, which was the residence of a family of chiefs owning a small state in the neighbourhood. They had, in former years, taken advantage of the lofty hills of granite which cover that tract to construct a strong citadel having its base on the stream. Fordable at no point within many miles the river was full of running water at all seasons of the year, and in flood times formed in its confined bed a turbulent rushing torrent with dangerous falls in several places. Of the Ânegundi chiefs we know little, but they were probably feudatories of the Hoysala Ballâlas. Firishtah declares that they had existed as a ruling family for seven hundred years prior to the year 1350 A.D.¹