A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c19.24

c19.24

Nuniz is silent as to the cause, though he admits the fact. It is quite possible that Firishtah is correct, that the public were not taken into confidence by their despotic rulers, and that the troops of Bījapūr marched to the Hindu capital at the request of King Achyuta. That they actually came there seems quite certain, and it is probable that Nuniz was in Vijayanagar at the time; but there is a *lacuna* in his story which can only be filled up by reference to Firishtah. Accepting Firishtah, we can readily understand why King Achyuta received the Sultan and his army without open opposition, as Nuniz declares that he did, and why the Muhammadan king received splendid presents before he retired. To Nuniz, however, this conduct was inexplicable except on the basis of Achyuta’s craven spirit and utter unworthiness.¹ As to the assertion of Nuniz that the Sultan entered Nāgalāpur or Hospett and "razed it to the ground," we may remember the treatment of the city of Bījapūr by Krishna Deva Rāya,² and surmise that the houses of the Vijayanagar suburbs may have been pulled to pieces by the Mussalman soldiery in search for firewood. However all this may be, my readers have before them the story as given by Nuniz in Chapter XX. of his chronicle, and the following is Firishtah’s account of the event.³