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A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c16.s1: The Portuguese Arrive in India

A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c16.s1

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The Portuguese Arrive in India

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King John of Portugal had acquired some knowledge of India in A.D. 1484, and after causing inquiries to be made as to the possibility of discovering the rich and interesting country in the Far East, had begun to fit out three ships, but he died before they were ready. His successor, Dom Manuel, took up the matter warmly, and sent these ships out under Vasco da Gama and his brother Paulo, with orders to try and double the Cape of Good Hope. The full account of the extraordinary voyage made by them is given in the “Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama,” translated and published in the Hakluyt edition; being a translation of certain portions of Correa’s *Lendas da India*. Da Gama sailed on July 8, A.D. 1497, and arrived close to Calicut on August 26, 1498.¹ The Samuri, or king, of Calicut was at first friendly, but there were misunderstandings on the part of the Portuguese, and they made little or no progress either in trade or in establishing amicable relations with the Hindus. Da Gama returned shortly after to Portugal. Early in 1500 A.D. Cabral took out another and larger fleet, and arrived at Calicut on September 13th. He at once quarrelled with the Samuri, and instead of peaceful commerce we read of attacks and counter-attacks conducted in such sort by the Portuguese as irretrievably to alienate the natives of the country. A few Europeans, however, settled in that tract, and amongst them Duarte Barbosa, the celebrated chronicler of the time.

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¹ May 20th, according to Barros.

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Da Gama returned to India in 1504, proclaiming the king of Portugal lord of the seas, and wantonly destroying with all hands a large vessel having several hundred people on board near the Indian coast. He reached Calicut on October 29th, and immediately bombarded the city, seizing the inoffensive native fishermen in the port, eight hundred of whom he massacred in cold blood under circumstances of brutal atrocity. In 1503 he again left for Europe, after establishing a factory at Cochin. In consequence of his violence a war ensued between Cochin and Calicut. In 1504 Lopo Soares came out with a fleet of fourteen caravels, and proclaimed a blockade of the port of Cochin, in spite of the fact that the Râjah of that place had always shown great kindness and hospitality to the Portuguese.

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The next year, 1505, Almeida was appointed viceroy of the king of Portugal on the Indian coast, and took out with him a large fleet and 1500 soldiers. After some preliminary fighting at Honawar, Almeida began for the first time to perceive that the true interests of the Portuguese lay in peaceful commerce, and not in sanguinary and costly attacks on the natives; and he also learned from an influential native of the existence of the great kingdom of Vijayanagar and the power of its king, Narasimha (or Narasa). At Cannanore the viceroy's son, Lourenço, in 1506, received further information as to the state of the country from the Italian traveller Varthema, and in consequence of this Almeida asked King Narasa to allow him to erect a fortress at Bhatkal, but no answer was returned.

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Varthema has left behind him a valuable account of his experiences¹ at this period. He speaks of Goa as being then under the "Savain," which is this writer's form of expressing the ruler known to the Portuguese as the “Sabayo,”¹ who was the governor of the place under the Âdil Shâh of Bîjapûr. The Sabayo was then at war with Narasimha of Vijayanagar.

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¹ Published by the Hakluyt Society in English.

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¹ The origin of the name “Sabayo” has often been discussed, and never, I think, quite satisfactorily explained. Several of the old writers have exercised their ingenuity on the question. Barros (Dec. II. l. v. cap. 1) writes: “Ao tempo que nos entramos na India, era Senhor desta Cidade Goa hum mouro per nome Soai, capitao d’el Rey do Decan, a que communamente chamamos Sabayo”—“When we arrived in India, the lord of this city of Goa was a Moor, by name Soai, captain of the king of the Dakhan, whom we commonly call Sabayo.” But Barros must not always be depended upon for Indian names. He explains “Sabayo” as derived from Saba or Sava—“Persian,” and says that the Sabayo’s son was Âdil Shâh. Garcia da Orta derives it from Sahib. Burton (Lusiads, iii. p. 290) thinks it was a corruption of Sipahdar or “military governor.”

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He describes Vijayanagar as a great city, “very large and strongly walled. It is situated on the side of a mountain,² and is seven miles in circumference. It has a triple circlet of walls.” It was very wealthy and well supplied, situated on a beautiful site, and enjoying an excellent climate. The king “keeps up constantly 40,000 horsemen” and 400 elephants. The elephants each carry six men, and have long swords fastened to their trunks in battle—a description which agrees with that of Nikitin and Paes. “The common people go quite naked, with the exception of a piece of cloth about their middle. The king wears a cap of gold brocade two spans long. . . . His horse is worth more than some of our cities on account of the ornaments which it wears.”³ Calicut, he says, was ruined in consequence of its wars with the Portuguese.

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² I have not seen the original, and suspect an error of translation here.

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³ Compare the account given by Paes as to this horse, which he saw at the Mahânavamî festival, and at the review which followed (pp. 272, 278 below).

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Varthema saw forty-eight Portuguese traders massacred at Calicut by the “Moors,” and in consequence of the dangerous state of things existing there he left the city and pursued his journey southwards round the coast. Here we may leave him.

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In March 1506 a Portuguese fleet destroyed, with immense loss of life, a large flotilla of small boats belonging to the Râjah of Calicut. In the next year an outrage committed by the Portuguese led to a siege of their factory at Cannanore, but the timely arrival of Tristan da Cunha with a new fleet from home relieved the beleaguered garrison. At the end of 1507 Almeida and Da Cunha joined forces and again attacked Calicut, with some measure of success.

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Afonso d'Albuquerque was now in the Persian seas fighting with all the "Moors" he could meet. At the end of 1509 he became "Governor of India," *i.e.* of Portuguese India, in succession to Almeida; Diogo Lopes de Sequeira receiving the governorship under the king of Portugal of the seas east of Cape Comorin.

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From the accession of Krishna Deva Râya to the throne of Vijayanagar in A.D. 1509 we once more enter a period when the history of the country becomes less confused, and we are able to trace the sequence of events without serious difficulty. This was the period of Vijayanagar's greatest successes, when its armies were everywhere victorious, and the city was most prosperous.

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[Figure: INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE AT VITTHALASVĀMI COMMENCED BY KRISHNA DEVA RĀYA (From a Photograph by Col. W. HOOPER)]

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consider that the new king succeeded to the throne in A.D. 1509.¹

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¹ Henry VIII. of England succeeded to the throne on April 22nd of the same year. It is interesting, when reading the description of the splendours of Krishna Râya’s court in the narrative of Nuniz, to remember that in Western Europe magnificence of display and personal adornment seems to have reached its highest pitch at the same period.

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Krishna Râya seems to have possessed a very striking personality, to judge from the glowing description given us by Paes, who saw him about the year 1520. The account given by him is all the more interesting and valuable because without it the world would have remained justly in doubt as to whether this king really reigned at all, in the usual acceptation of the word—whether he was not a mere puppet, entirely in the hands of his minister, perhaps even an actual prisoner. For Firishtah never mentions him by name, and the inscriptions which relate his conquests prove nothing beyond the fact that they took place during a reign which, for all we know, might have been a reign only in name, the real power being in the hands of the nobles. But with the description of Paes in our hands there can be no longer a shadow of doubt. Krishna Deva was not only monarch *de jure*, but was in very practical fact an absolute sovereign, of extensive power and strong personal influence. He was the real ruler. He was physically strong in his best days, and kept his strength up to the highest pitch by hard bodily exercise. He rose early, and developed all his muscles by the use of Indian clubs and the use of the sword; he was a fine rider, and was blessed with a noble presence which favourably impressed all who came in contact with him. He commanded his immense armies in person, was able, brave, and statesmanlike, and was withal a man of much gentleness and generosity of character. He was beloved by all and respected by all. Paes writes of him that he was "gallant and perfect in all things." The only blot on his scutcheon is, that after his great success over the Muhammadan king he grew to be haughty and insolent in his demands. No monarch such as the Âdil Shâh could brook for a moment such a humiliation as was implied by a peace the condition of which was that he should kiss his triumphant enemy’s foot; and it was beyond all doubt this and similar contemptuous arrogance on the part of successive Hindu rulers that finally led, forty years later, to the downfall of the Hindu empire.

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All Southern India was under Krishna Deva’s sway, and several quasi-independent chiefs were his vassals. These were, according to Nuniz, the chief of Seringapatam, and those of Bankâpur,¹ Garsopa, Calicut, Bhatkal, and Barkûr. The Portuguese treated these lesser chiefs as if they were kings, called them so and sent embassies to them, no doubt much to their satisfaction.

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¹ The chief of Bankâpur seems to have been a Mahratta. Nuniz calls him the “Guym de Bengapor.” Albuquerque styles him “King Vengapor” about A.D. 1512 (Hakluyt edit., iii. 187). Osorio writes :—“*Est autem Vengapor Regio mediterranea, cum Zabaimi regione continens*” (p. 263). Castanheda states that Albuquerque, then Governor-General of Goa, sent two embassies, one to Vijayanagar and one to “Vengapor,” as if the latter were independent; and adds of the chief of Vengapor, “His kingdom is a veritable and safe road to Narsinga, and well supplied with provisions.” Barros speaks of the same event, calling the place “Bengapor” and stating explicitly that its king was “vassal of Narsinga” (or Vijayanagar) (Dec. II. l. v. cap. 3). Subsequently, writing of the chiefs in the same neighbourhood, Barros speaks of two brothers, “Comogij” and “Appagij” (Dec. III. l. iv. cap. 5), and describing Krishna Deva Râya’s march towards Raichûr—recapitulating the story and details given by Nuniz—he speaks of “the Gim of the city of Bengapor.” In l. v. cap. 3 of the same Decade Barros says that “Bengapor” was “on the road” to Vijayanagar. “Gim,” “Guym” and other names appear to be renderings of the Mahratta honorific “Jî.” Bankâpur was one of the most important fortresses in the Karnâtaka country, situated forty miles south of Dhârwâr on the direct road from Honawar to Vijayanagar. The road from Bhatkal, a favourite landing-place, first went northwards to Honawar, then inland to Bankâpur, and thence to Banavâsi, Rânibennûr, and over the plains to Hospett and Vijayanagar. It was known as early as A.D. 848, and remained in possession of Hindu rulers down to 1573, when it was captured by Ali Âdil Shâh and its beautiful temple was destroyed. Firishtah calls the place “Beekapore” and “Binkapor” (Scott’s edit., i. 47, 69, 85, 86, 119, 301, &c.).

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The present head of the Brahmanical establishment at the Hampe temple informed me that Krishna Deva Râya celebrated his accession by erecting the great tower at the entrance of the temple, and the next largest tower shortly afterwards. Nuniz tells us that immediately on attaining power, the king, making Sâluva Timma his minister, sent his nephew, the son of the last sovereign, and his own three brothers, to the fortress of Chandragiri, 250 miles to the south-east, for his greater security, and himself remained for some time at the capital. This accords well with the writings of the other Portuguese, who relate that at least on two occasions, when missions were sent from Calicut and Goa, viz., those of Fr. Luis and Chanoca, the envoys saw the king in person at Vijayanagar.

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At the beginning of Krishna's reign, Almeida, as stated above, was viceroy of the Portuguese settlements on the coast, but at the end of the year 1509 Albuquerque succeeded him under the title of governor. The latter suffered a severe reverse at Calicut, and from thence despatched Fr. Luis, of the Order of St. Francis, as ambassador to Vijayanagar, begging the Râya to come by land and reduce the Samuri of Calicut, promising himself to assault simultaneously by sea.¹ The governor declared that he had orders from his master, the king of Portugal, to war against the Moors, but not against the Hindus; that Calicut had been destroyed by the governor, and its king had fled into the interior; that he (the governor) offered his fleet to assist the king of Vijayanagar in his conquest of the place; that as soon as Calicut was captured the Moors would be driven therefrom, and that afterwards the Portuguese would assist the king of Vijayanagar against his enemies, the "Moors" of the Dakhan. He promised in future to supply Vijayanagar alone with Arab and Persian horses, and not to send any to Bījapûr. No answer was returned.

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¹ “Commentaries of Afonso Dalboquerque” (Hakluyt edit., ii. p. 73). Fr. Luis left Cochin, travelled to Bhatkal, and thence to Vijayanagar.

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Albuquerque next attacked Goa, then under the Âdil Shâh, and captured the place, making his triumphal entry into it on March 1, A.D. 1510. Immediately afterwards he despatched Gaspar Chanoca on a mission to Vijayanagar, renewing Almeida’s request for a fort at Bhatkal for the protection of Portuguese trade. Barros¹ states that Chanoca reported that, though he was received "solemnly," Krishna Deva Râya only made a general answer in courteous terms, and did not specifically grant the governor’s request; the reason being that the king had then made peace with the Âdil Shâh. Presumably this peace was made in order to enable the Âdil Shâh to retake Goa.²

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¹ Dec. II. l. v. cap. 3.

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² See also Castanheda, who was in India in 1529 (Lib. iii. cap. 12).

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Upon this a message was sent from Vijayanagar to Albuquerque congratulating the Portuguese on their conquest of Goa, and promising to aid them against the Âdil Shâh. This aid, however, does not appear to have been given. The Muhammadan troops attacked Goa in May and after a severe struggle were successful, Albuquerque evacuating the place after decapitating a hundred and fifty of the principal Muhammadans there, and slaughtering their wives and children.³

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³ As before stated, Firishtah mentions this event (Scott, i. 225).

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In November of the same year, Ismâîl Âdil’s attention being called off by internal dissension at Bījapûr, Albuquerque attacked Rasul Khân, Ismâîl’s deputy at Goa, and the eight thousand men under his command, defeated them, retook the place on December 1, and slew six thousand men, women, and children of the Muhammadans. Firishtah states that the young Âdil Shâh’s minister, Kummal Khân, after this made peace with the Europeans, and left them securely established at Goa. This, however, is not quite correct, for Rasul Khân made a desperate attempt in 1512 to retake the place, but failed after severe fighting.¹

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¹ Purchas’s summary of the Portuguese conquest of Goa runs as follows: “*Sabaius* (i.e. the “Sabayo”) when he died, left his sonne *Idalcan* (Âdil Khân) very young; whereupon his Subjects rebelled, and the King of Narsinga warred upon him, to dispossesse him of his Dominion. Albuquerque, taking his opportunitie, besieged and . . . took Goa with the Iland. Which was soon after recovered by Idalcan, comming with a strong Armie thither, the Portugals flying away by night. But when the King of Narsinga again invaded Idalcan, He was forced to resist the more dangerous Enemy, leaving a strong Garrison at Goa, which yet *Albuquerk* overcame, and sacked the Citie.” Purchas’s work was published (folio) in 1626. He merely follows Barros (Dec. I. l. viii. cap. 10).

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As soon as the news reached Vijayanagar of Albuquerque’s success in December 1510, Krishna Deva Râya sent ambassadors to Goa, and by them Fr. Luis sent letters to Albuquerque detailing the result of his mission. He “had been well received by all except the king,” but the king had nevertheless granted permission for the Portuguese to build a fort at Bhatkal. Poor Fr. Luis never returned from his embassy. History is silent as to what happened or what led to the tragedy, but he was one day murdered in the city of Vijayanagar.²

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² “Commentaries of Afonso Dalboquerque” (Hakluyt edit., iii. 35).

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His despatch is interesting as containing information regarding Vijayanagar and the Sultan of Bîjapûr, part of which is certainly accurate, while part tells us of Krishna Deva Râya’s proceedings at this period, regarding which we know nothing from any other source. Fr. Luis wrote to Albuquerque that the Âdil Shâh had attacked Bîjapûr, and had taken it after a siege of two months, while four lords had risen against him “since the latter had carried off the king of Decan as a prisoner.” This king was the Bâhmanî king, while the Âdil Shâh and the “four lords”

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were the revolting Muhammadan princes. He added that the people of Belgaum had revolted from the Âdil Shâh and submitted to the Hindu sovereign. As to Vijayanagar, he said that the king was getting ready a small expedition of seven thousand men to send against one of his vassals, who had risen up in rebellion and seized the city of Pergunda (? Pennakonda), saying that it belonged to himself by right; and that after he had taken the rebel the king would proceed to certain places on the sea-coast. Fr. Luis professed himself unable to understand the drift of this latter design, but warned Albuquerque to be careful. He advised him to keep up friendly communications with the king, and by no means to place any reliance on the man on whom, of all others, the Portuguese had pinned their faith—one Timoja,¹ a Hindu who had befriended the new-comers. The priest declared that Timoja was a traitor to them, and had, in conjunction with the king of Garsopa, promised Krishna Deva Râya that he would deliver Goa to him before the Portuguese could fortify their possessions therein, if he should send a fully equipped army to seize the place.

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¹ The name may represent "Timma Râja."

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After Albuquerque's second capture of Goa the chief of Bankâpur also sent messages of congratulation to the Portuguese, and asked for permission to import three hundred horses a year. The request was granted, as the place was on the road to Vijayanagar, and it was important that its chief should be on friendly terms with the Europeans. Moreover, Bankâpur contained a number of superior saddlers.²

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² "Commentaries of Dalboquerque," iii. pp. 246-247.

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Krishna Deva's anxiety was to secure horses. He must have thought little of this foreign settlement on the coast as a political power, but what he wanted was horses, and again horses, for his perpetual wars against the Âdil Shâh; and Albuquerque, after toying a little with the Muhammadan, gratified the Hindu by sending him a message in which he declared that he would prefer to send cavalry mounts to him rather than to supply them to the Sultan of Bîjapûr.

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About the year 1512 Krishna Deva Râya, who had taken advantage of the times to invade the Sultan's dominions, attacked the fortress of Raichûr, which at last was given up to him by the garrison; Ismâtl Âdil being too much employed in attending to the internal affairs of his government to afford it timely relief. So says Firishtah.¹ This event is not noticed by Nuniz, who writes as if the Râya's first campaign against the Âdil Shâh took place in 1520, when he advanced to attack Raichûr, it being then in the Shâh's possession; and here we see a difference between the story of Nuniz and the story of Firishtah, for the latter, writing of the same event, viz., the campaign of 1520, states that "Ismail Adil Shaw made preparations for marching to recover Mudkal and Roijore from the Roy of Beejanuggar," he having taken these cities about 1512, as narrated. Which account is correct I cannot say.

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¹ Firishtah (Scott), i. p. 236.

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It appears² that in 1514 A.D. Krishna Deva offered Albuquerque £20,000 for the exclusive right to trade in horses, but the Portuguese governor, with a keen eye to business, refused. A little later the Hindu king renewed his proposal, declaring his intention of making war against the Âdil Shâh; and the Âdil Shâh, hearing of this message, himself sent an embassy to Goa. Albuquerque was now placed in a position of some political importance, and he wrote first to Vijayanagar saying that he would give the Râya the refusal of all his horses if he would pay him 30,000 cruzados per annum for the supply, and send his own servants to Goa to fetch away the animals, and also that he would aid the king in his war if he was paid the expense of the troops; and he wrote afterwards to Bījapûr promising the Sultan the refusal of all horses that came to Goa if he would surrender to the king of Portugal a certain portion of the mainland opposite the island. Before this matter was settled, however, Albuquerque died.

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² "Commentaries of Dalboquerque," iv. 121.

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We learn from this narrative that Krishna Deva Râya was meditating a grand attack on the Muham-madans at least five years before his advance to Raichûr—a year even before his expedition against Udayagiri and the fortresses on the east, the story of which campaign is given in our chronicle.

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We have an account of what Vijayanagar was like in A.D. 1504-14 in the narrative of Duarte Barbosa, a cousin of Magellan, who visited the city during that period.

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Speaking of the “kingdom of Narsinga,” by which name the Vijayanagar territories were always known to the Portuguese, Barbosa writes:¹ “It is very rich, and well supplied with provisions, and is very full of cities and large townships.”

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¹ “East Africa and Malabar” (Hakluyt edit., pp. 78, &c.). Barbosa was son of Diego Barbosa, who sailed in the first fleet sent out under João de Nova in 1501. He gives no dates in his own writings except that he finished his work in 1516 (Preface), after “having navigated for a great part of his youth in the East Indies.” It was probably begun about 1514. He was certainly in the Indian Ocean in 1508-9. The heading of the work is “Description of the East Indies and Countries on the sea-board of the Indian Ocean in 1514.” It was published in Spanish (translated from the Portuguese) in 1524. The copy in the Library at Barcelona is said to be the oldest extant.

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He describes the large trade of the seaport of Bhatkal on its western coast, the exports from which consisted of iron, spices, drugs, myrabolans, and the imports of horses and pearls; but as regards the last two items he says, “They now go to Goa, on account of the Portuguese." The governor of Bhatkal was a nephew of King Krishna Deva. "He lives in great state and calls himself king, but is in obedience to the king, his uncle."

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Leaving the sea-coast and going inland, Barbosa passed upwards through the ghâts.

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"Forty-five leagues from these mountains there is a very large city which is called *Bijanaguer*, very populous, and surrounded on one side by a very good wall, and on another by a river, and on the other by a mountain. This city is on level ground; the king of Narsinga always resides in it. He is a gentile, and is called Raheni.¹ He has in this place very large and handsome palaces, with numerous courts. . . . There are also in this city many other palaces of great lords, who live there. And all the other houses of the place are covered with thatch, and the streets and squares are very wide. They are constantly filled with an innumerable crowd of all nations and creeds. . . . There is an infinite trade in this city. . . . In this city there are many jewels which are brought from Pegu and Celani (Ceylon), and in the country itself many diamonds are found, because there is a mine of them in the kingdom of Narsinga and another in the kingdom of Decani. There are also many pearls and seed-pearls to be found there, which are brought from Ormuz and Cael . . . also silk-brocades, scarlet cloth, and coral. . .

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¹ This name awaits explanation.

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"The king constantly resides in the before-mentioned palaces, and very seldom goes out of them. . .

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"All the attendance on the king is done by women, who wait upon him within doors; and amongst them are all the employments of the king's household; and all these women live and find room within these palaces, which contain apartments for all. . .

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"This king has a house² in which he meets with the governors and his officers in council upon the affairs of the realm. . . . They come in very rich litters on men’s shoulders. . . . Many litters and many horsemen always stand at the door of this palace, and the king keeps at all times nine hundred elephants and more than twenty thousand horses, all which elephants and horses are bought with his own money. . . . This king has more than a hundred thousand men, both horse and foot, to whom he gives pay. . . .

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² This probably refers to the highly decorated building in the interior of what I believe to have been the Government offices, surrounded by a lofty wall with watch-towers, and often called "The Zenana." The elephant stables lie to the east of it. The building in question is "No. 29 Council Room" on the Government plan.

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“When the king dies four or five hundred women burn themselves with him. . . . The king of Narsinga is frequently at war with the king of Dacani, who has taken from him much of his land; and with another gentile king of the country of Otira (apparently Orissa), which is the country in the interior.”

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Barbosa mentions that the lord of Goa, before the Portuguese attack on the place, was “Sabaym Delcani,” meaning the king of the Dakhan, and he alludes to its first capture by Albuquerque on 25th February 1510, and the second on 25th November of the same year.

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We learn from other sources that about this time Krishna Deva Râya was engaged with a refractory vassal in the Maisûr country, the Ganga Râjah of Ummatûr, and was completely successful. He captured the strong fortress of Sivasamudra and the fortress of Srirangapattana, or Seringapatam, reducing the whole country to obedience.

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In 1513 A.D. he marched against Udayigiri, in the present district of Nellore, an exceedingly strong hill-fortress then under the king of Orissa,¹ and after the successful termination of the war he brought with him from a temple on the hill a statue of the god Krishna, which he set up at Vijayanagar and endowed with a grant of lands. This is commemorated by a long inscription still in existence at the capital. It was then that the great temple of Krishnasvâmi was built, which, though now in ruins, is still one of the most interesting objects in the city. This is also attested by a long inscription on stone, still in its place. The king further built the temple of Hazâra Râmasvâmi near, or in, his palace enclosure, at the same time.

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¹ Barbosa in A.D. 1514 mentions this expedition.

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Nuniz relates that at Udayagiri Krishna Râya captured an aunt of the king of Orissa and took her prisoner to Vijayanagar. He next proceeded against Kondavîd, another very strong hill-fortress also in possession of the king of Orissa, where he met and defeated the king in person in a pitched battle, and captured the citadel after a two months' siege. He left Sâluva Timma here as a governor of the conquered provinces, and went in pursuit of his enemy northwards. Nuniz says that Sâluva Timma appointed his own brother captain of Kondavîd, but an inscription at that place gives us the name of this man as Nâdendla Gopamantri, and calls him a nephew of Timma. Kondavîd seems to have been under the kings of Orissa since A.D. 1454; its capture by Krishna Deva took place in 1515.¹ To confirm our chronicler's account of the king's northward journey, I find that there is at the town of Mêdûru, twenty-two miles south-east of Bezvâda on the Krishnâ, an inscription which states that in 1516 a battle took place there between Krishna Deva and some enemy whose name is obliterated, in which the former was victorious.

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¹ An inscription at Kondavîd glorifying Sâluva Timma states that he took the fortress on Saturday, June 23, A.D. 1515 (Âshâdha Sukla Harivâsara Saurau, Saka 1437). This information was kindly supplied to me by Dr. Lüders.

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The king advanced to Kondapalle, took the place after a three months' siege, and captured therein a wife and son of the king of Orissa. The unhappy fate of the latter is told in the chronicle. Thence he marched to Râjahmundry and halted six months. Peace was made shortly after, and Krishna Deva married a daughter of the Orissan king.² After this marriage King Krishna made an expedition against a place in the east which Nuniz calls "Catuir," on the Coromandel side, and took it. I have been unable to locate this place.

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² There is a long inscription in the temple of Varadarâjasvâmi at Conjeeveram exactly confirming this whole story. It relates that the king

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By these conquests the whole of his eastern dominions were brought into entire subjection to the sovereign.

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Nuniz writes as though the attack on Raichûr immediately followed the campaign against Udayagiri, Kondavîd, and "Catuir," but, according to the evidence afforded by inscriptions, these expeditions were at an end in 1515, and the battle of Raichûr did not take place for at least five years later.

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A long account of wars in the south-eastern Dakhan country between Sultan Qulî Qutb Shâh of Golkonda and his neighbours, both Mussulman and Hindu, is given in the third volume of Colonel Briggs' "Firishtah,"¹ translated from a Muhammadan historian—not Firishtah himself; and as this certainly covers the period of at least a portion of Krishna Deva's reign, it is well to give a summary of it. I cannot, however, as yet determine the exact dates referred to, and the story differs from that acquired from Hindu and Portuguese accounts, the dates of which are confirmed by epigraphical records.

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¹ Pp. 354 to 371.

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Sultan Qulî proclaimed himself an independent sovereign in 1512. The historian referred to states that shortly after this Qulî attacked and took Râzukonda and Devarakonda, fortresses respectively south-east and south-south-east of Hyderabad in Telingana. After the second of these places had fallen Krishna Râya of Vijayanagar marched against the Sultan with an immense army and invaded his dominions. This

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first captured Udayagiri, Bellamkonda, Vinukonda, Kondavîd, and other places; then Bezvâda and Kondapalle, and finally Rajahmundry.

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must, I think, refer to about the year 1513. The Hindu army encamped at Pangul, in the angle of the Krishnâ river almost due east of Raichûr, and here a battle took place in which the Qutb Shâh was victorious. The place was then besieged; it capitulated, and the Muhammadans proceeded to Ghânpura, twenty miles to the north. This fort was captured after heavy loss, and the Sultan led his army to Kovilkonda, twenty miles to the north-west, on the borders of the country of Bîdar, the territory of Alâ-ud-dîn Imâd Shâh. This place also fell.

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A war with the Imâd Shâh followed, in which Sultan Qulî was again victorious. Shortly afterwards there were disturbances on the east of the Golkonda territories. Sîtapati, Râjah of Kambampêta, on the Muniyêr river, who possessed extensive territories—including Warangal and Bellamkonda, a fortress south of the Krishnâ—rose against the Muhammadans, and the Sultan marched against Bellamkonda, which, after a long siege, he captured. Sîtapati then fought a pitched battle, was defeated, and fled, Qulî returning to Golkonda. The Râjah then stirred up a number of neighbouring chiefs and assembled large forces at Kambampêta. Hearing of this, the Golkonda forces marched to attack them, and met with complete success, Sîtapati flying to the protection of “Ramchunder Dew, the son of Gujputty, who held his court at Condapilly,” and was king of Orissa. The Sultan advanced and attacked Kambampêta, where, after his capture of the place, he slew every man, woman, and child in the city, seizing the females of Sîtapati’s household for his own seraglio. Meanwhile an immense Hindu host from all the countries about, under command of the king of Orissa, prepared to do battle for their country, and a decisive action took place near the river at Palinchinûr, in which the Hindus were completely defeated. Quli then seized Kondapalle, Ellore, and Rajahmundry, and a treaty was made between him and Orissa fixing the Godâvarî river as the eastern boundary of Golkonda. By this the Sultan added the districts of Ellore and Bezvâda to his own dominions.

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Krishna Râya then advanced to the rescue and the Sultan marched to Kondavîd. He invested the place, but was forced to retreat owing to attacks made on him from Bellamkonda and Vinukonda, the first of which fortresses he succeeded in reducing after heavy loss. After this he retired towards Kondapalle. Krishna Râya now arrived and attacked the Muhammadan garrison in Bellamkonda, upon which the Sultan countermarched, and suddenly appeared in rear of the Hindu army. In the battle which ensued he was victorious and the siege was raised, after which he returned to Kondavîd and took it. On learning of the fall of Kondavîd, Krishna Râya detached "his general and son-in-law Seeva Ray"¹ with 100,000 foot and 8000 horse to march against the Muhammadans. The Sultan retreated and encamped on the banks of the Krishnâ, leaving Kondavîd to the Hindus.² After settling the place the Vijayanagar forces proceeded in pursuit of the Sultan, were attacked by him, defeated, and retired to Kondavîd, which was a second time invested by the army of Golkonda. The Hindus then submitted and agreed to become tributary.

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¹ Krishna Râya in 1515 was only about twenty-nine years old, but we must not forget the Hindu custom of the marriages of girls while infants.

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² If this refers to Krishna Râya’s capture of that place in 1515, it is to be noted here that Nuniz asserts that it was taken, not from the Muhammadans, but from the king of Orissa.

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On his return towards his capital the Sultan learned that Ismâîl Âdil Shâh of Bîjapûr was besieging Kovilkonda, "at the instance of the Raja of Beejanuggur."³

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³ Firishtah’s account of this is that Ismâîl Âdil joined with Amîr Barîd in an attack on Telingana and laid siege to Kovilkonda. Vijayanagar had no part in the causes of the campaign.

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He marched against him, and a series of actions ensued, the campaign lasting eleven months, at the end of which Ismâîl died of a fever, and was succeeded by his son Malu. In one of the fights Sultan Qulî was wounded severely by a sabre in the face, and disfigured for life.¹

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¹ Firishtah tells this story of Jamshîd Qutb Shâh, Qulî’s successor (1543-50).

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I have given the whole of this story in this place because it runs as a consecutive series of events in the original Muhammadan account. But it really covers a period of at least twenty-one years; for the narrative begins shortly after the beginning of Qulî’s reign (1512), and ends with Ismâîl’s death (1534). We are left, therefore, entirely in the dark as to the exact years referred to. But there are some points of agreement between our authorities. It is certain that Krishna Deva took Kondavîd in A.D. 1515, and fought battles in the neighbourhood in the following year; and though Nuniz asserts that he took Kondavîd from the king of Orissa, he also alludes to the presence of armed bodies of Muhammadans in that tract opposed to the Hindus.

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With these remarks we return to Vijayanagar history.

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From 1516 to 1520 we have no records from Hindu sources to guide us as to events at the capital.

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The Portuguese traded on the coast, and there were some fights with the neighbouring Hindu chiefs, but they seem to have affected the capital but little; the foreigners were generally on friendly terms with the suzerain at Vijayanagar, and so far as he was concerned were welcome to consolidate their commerce, since he benefited largely by the import of horses and other requisites. The rest of his dominions were tranquil and the inhabitants obedient to his rule.

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The whole country was divided out—so Nuniz tells us, and his account is confirmed by other evidence—into governorships. Each chief was allowed entire independence in the territory allotted to him so long as he maintained the quota of horse, foot, and elephants, the maintenance of which was the price of his possession, in perfect readiness for immediate action, and paid his annual tribute to the sovereign. Failing these he was liable to instant ejection, as the king was lord of all and the nobles held only by his goodwill.

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But during this period of peace the king made extensive preparations for a grand attack on the territory between the rivers, the ever-debatable land which for nearly two centuries had been the subject of dispute between his predecessors and their northern neighbours. His objective was the city of Raichûr, then under the Muhammadans,¹ and when all was ready he marched to the attack with an immense force.

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¹ So says Nuniz, but, as before stated, Firishtah differs. In my opinion we must accept the former as correct, for his account is so graphic and detailed that it is impossible to believe that he could have been mistaken. Firishtah did not write for many years later and was much more liable to error. Several Portuguese were present at the siege, and, if I am not mistaken, either Nuniz was there himself, or obtained his information from those who were so. The story bears all the marks of a personal narrative.

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This event requires a chapter to itself.

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