A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c14.57

c14.57

To form some idea of the date of this cessation of hostilities we must see what follows in Firishtah’s narrative. The historian states that during the year of the Sultan’s return to Kulbarga there was a grievous famine in the Dakhan, and "the next year also, no rain appearing, the people became seditious." These two years were probably A.H. 826, 827, extending from 15th December A.D. 1422 to 23rd November 1424. He continues, "In the year 828" the Sultan marched against Warangal. The last campaign began about December A.D. 1422; and since we must allow some months for Ahmad’s blockade of Vijayanagar, which resulted in his reducing the inhabitants to a state of starvation so that the Râya was compelled to capitulate, the date for the end of the war cannot be safely placed earlier than the winter of the year A.D. 1423. During these twelve months, however, there was a famine and failure of rain, so that the Sultan may have been able to traverse the cotton plains lying between Vijayanagar and Kulbarga, plains quite impassable for troops in wet weather, somewhat earlier than would otherwise have been the case.