A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c16.45

c16.45

At this period there was a complete change in the *personnel* of the chief actors on our Indian stage. Ahmad Nizâm Shâh, who had declared himself independent at Ahmadnagar in A.D. 1490, died in 1508, and was succeeded by his son, a boy of seven years of age named Burhân, with whom the traveller Garcia da Orta² afterwards became very friendly. Da Orta calls him “my friend.”³ Yusuf Âdil Shâh died in A.D. 1510, and his successor on the throne of Bîjapûr was his son Ismâil. Krishna Deva Râya became Râya of Vijayanagar in 1509. The two last-mentioned monarchs were frequently in contact with one another, and in the end, according to our chronicles, the Hindu king was completely victorious. Even Firishtah admits that he dealt Ismâil a crushing blow at the great battle of Raichûr, a full description of which is given by Nuniz.