The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t5.8

v2.c15.s2.t5.8

The strengthening of the defences of the realm, in fact, called for immediate attention in the face of the Muslim incursions into the Deccan which at that time constituted a standing menace to the security of the southern Hindu kingdoms. Epigraphic evidence makes it quite clear that the Muslim armies first made their appearance in the Deccan about the middle of the thirteenth century. In an inscription at Pānugal in the Nalgonda district of the old Hyderabad State, dated A.D. 1267, the Sēuṇa prince Śārṅgapāṇidēva, a subordinate of Rudrāmbā, is said to have rescued ‘the earth which was submerged under the Turushka deluge’.³ A similar feat is attributed, in another inscription found at Haluvāgalu in the Bellary district, dated A.D. 1282, to the Sēuṇa king Rāmachandrarāya, that is, Rāmadēva, who is described as the ‘rescuer of the earth from the depredations of the Turushkas’.⁴ Although the Deccan Hindus had been conscious of the Muslim danger from the North for several decades before his accession, what actually prompted Pratāparudra to reorganize the military resources of his kingdom was the attack by Garshāsp Malik on Dēvagiri in A.D. 1295, an event which occurred at the same time as his accession to the throne. It demonstrated, as nothing else had done before, how utterly inadequate and inefficient the Hindu military organization was to cope with the new danger. Pratāparudra therefore provided himself, by remodelling the *nāyankara* system, which appears to have come into vogue during the reigns of his predecessors, with a well-equipped army of 900,000 archers besides cavalry and elephants.¹ An opportunity to test the strength of his ‘new-model’ army soon offered itself. Garshāsp Malik, soon after his return to Hindustan from his expedition against Dēvagiri, treacherously murdered his uncle and sovereign, Sulṭān Jalāl-ud-Dīn Khaljī, ascended the throne of Delhi, and having assumed the title of ‘Alā-ud-Dīn Khaljī, began to rule the kingdom. He was the ablest and the most ambitious of the rulers of Turkish descent who ever sat on the throne of Delhi. Having resolved very early in his reign to make himself the master not only of Hindustan but also of the Deccan and the South, he initiated a policy of conquest which, under his successors, resulted in the subjugation of the entire peninsula as far as Sētubandha-Rāmēśvaram in the extreme South. According to contemporary Hindu sources, there were no less than eight Muslim expeditions against Telingāṇa alone during the reign of Pratāparudra, in all of which, excepting the last, he withstood the invaders successfully, though in the final expedition he suffered defeat and was taken prisoner.² The Muslim historians, however, speak of only five expeditions, of which three were victorious and two disastrous. It is just possible that the Muslim historians omitted to mention some campaigns which they considered unimportant; but the claim to an unbroken series of victories except in the case of the last expedition which is attributed to Pratāparudra must be rejected as untenable, since the available evidence on the subject definitely points to its inaccuracy.