The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t5.57

v2.c15.s2.t5.57

Ulugh Khān did not allow Pratāparudra to remain long in Telingāna after his submission. Considering that it was not safe to keep him in the country, where his presence might lead to popular revolts and other political complications, he sent him immediately to Delhi with all the members of his family, escorted by a contingent of his army under Qādir Khān and Khwāja Hājī, two officers in whom he had great confidence. They were not, however, destined to bring the fallen monarch into the metropolis, for before they could reach Delhi he died. Shams-i-Sirāj ‘Afīf, who dispatches him to hell with a single sentence, does not disclose the circumstances in which he died.¹ More information is furnished by the inscriptions. In the Vilasa grant of Musunūri Prōlaya Nāyaka (c. A.D. 1330) it is stated that Pratāparudra, while being carried away as a captive to Delhi, died on the banks of the river Sōmōdbhavā, i.e. the Narmadā.² His death does not seem to have been the result of natural causes, for according to the Kaluvachēru grant of the Reḍḍi queen Anitalli, dated A.D. 1423, he departed to the world of Gods by his own desire.³ This seems to suggest that he either committed suicide or was slain by one of his followers at his own instance. Pratāparudra was a proud monarch, and it would seem that he could not reconcile himself to the changed conditions of his life in captivity. Considering perhaps that death was preferable to dishonour he seems to have voluntarily embraced it. With the defeat and death of Pratāparudra ended the rule of the Kākatīya line of kings; and the country passed into the hands of rulers belonging to an alien race and religion.