A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c14.47

c14.47

“They had not gone far when the alarm of Sultan Ahmed Shaw’s having crossed the river, and the loss of the roy, filled the camp, and the Hindoos began to disperse. The sultan entered the camp, and Dewul Roy’s masters, hoping now for more valuable plunder than sugar-cane, hastened to join their own friends, leaving him to shift for himself. Dewul Roy ran with his own troops, and about noon came up with some of his nobles, by whom he was recognised and received with great joy. His safety being made known, his army rallied into some order; but, as he regarded the late accident as an ill omen, he laid aside all thoughts of engaging in the field, and fled to Beejanuggur.² “Ahmad Shaw not stopping to besiege the city, overran the open country, and wherever he came, put to death men, women, and children, without mercy, contrary to the compact made by his ancestor Mahummud Shaw with the roies of Beejanuggur. 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 the Bramins. During these operations a body of five thousand Hindoos, enraged to desperation at the destruction of their country and the insults of their gods, united in taking an oath to sacrifice their lives in attempting to kill the sultan, as the grand author of all their sufferings. For this purpose they employed spies to observe his motions, that they might seize the first opportunity of action.