A History of Agriculture in India v2.c65.s25: Ruin of Vijayanagar
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c65.s25
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Ruin of Vijayanagar
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Sadasiva was the nominal ruler of Vijayanagar in A.D. 1542, while Ramaraja, the minister wielded all the power. Ramaraja played off the Sultans, one against the other. In A.D. 1564 the Sultans of Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, and Bidar combined against Vijayanagar. Ramaraja was defeated at Talikota in 23 January 1565. The royal family and their followers fled towards the fortress of Penukonda. Later on the capital was shifted to Chandragiri and finally to Vellore. The fate of Vijayanagar is thus described by Sewell. ‘Then a panic seized the city. The truth became at last apparent. This was not a defeat merely, it was a cataclysm. All hope was gone. The myriad dwellers in the city were left defenceless. No retreat, no flight was possible except to few for the pack-oxen and carts had almost all followed the forces to the war, and they had not returned. Nothing could be done but to bury all treasures, to arm the younger men, and to wait. Next day the place became a prey to the robber tribes and jungle people of the neighbourhood. Hordes of Brinjaris, Lambadis, Kurubas, and the like, pounced down on the hapless city and looted the stores and shops, carrying off great quantities of riches. Couto states that there were six concerted attacks by these people during the day.
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‘The third day saw the beginning of the end. The victorious Mussulmans had halted on the field of battle for rest and refreshment, but now they had reached the capital, and from that time forward for a space of five months Vijayanagar knew no rest. The enemy had come to destroy, and they carried out their object relentlessly. They slaughtered the people without mercy; broke down the temples and palaces; and wreaked such savage vengeance on the abode of the kings that, with the exception of a few great stone-built temples and walls, nothing now remains but a heap of ruins to mark the spot where once the stately buildings stood. They demolished the statues, and even succeeded in breaking the limbs of the huge Narasimha monolith. Nothing seemed to escape them. They broke up the pavilions standing on the huge platform from which the kings used to watch the festivals, and overthrew all the carved work. They lit huge fires in the magnificently decorated buildings forming the temple of Vitthalasvami near the river, and smashed its exquisite stone sculptures. With fire and sword, with crowbars and axes, they carried on day after day their work of destruction. Never perhaps in the history of the world has such havoc been wrought, and wrought so suddenly, on so splendid a city; teeming with a wealthy and industrious population in the full plentitude of prosperity one day, and on the next seized, pillaged, and reduced to ruins, amid scenes of savage massacre and horrors beggaring description.’
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Vijayanagar became the haunt of tigers and other wild beasts. It never recovered, and remained for ever a scene of desolation and ruin.
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Allan, J., Haig, T. W. and Dodwell, H. H. *The Cambridge Shorter History of India*, Cambridge, 1943
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*Development of Irrigation in India*, C.W.P.C., New Delhi, 1965
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Elliot, Sir H. M. and Dowson, J. *The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians*, Vol. IV (Indian reprint), Allahabad, 1964
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Gode, P. K. *Studies in Indian Cultural History*, Vol. III, Poona, 1969
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Joshi, N. R. and Phillips, R. W. *Zebu Cattle of India and Pakistan*, F. A. O., Rome, 1953
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Longhurst, A. H. *Hampi Ruins*, Madras, 1917
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Majumdar, R. C. *The History and Culture of the Indian People—the Delhi Sultanate*, Bombay, 1967
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Sastri, K.A.N. and Srinivasachari, G. *Advanced History of India*, New Delhi, 1970
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Sastri, K. Ann. *Rep. A.S. India*, 1908-1909, New Delhi
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Sewell, R. *A Forgotten Empire, Vijayanagar* (Indian Reprint), New Delhi, 1962
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Smith, V. A. *The Oxford History of India*, Delhi, 1976
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Srinivasan, K.R. *Temples of South India*, New Delhi, 1971