A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India — John Shaqi
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of IndiaSewell, Robert
History
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India
Sewell, Robert
Vijayanagar (Empire) -- History
"In the year twelve hundred and thirty these parts of India were
ruled by a greater monarch than had ever reigned. This was the king
of Dili,[10] who by force of arms and soldiers made war on Cambaya for
many years, taking and destroying in that period the land of Guzarate
which belongs to Cambaya,[11] and in the end he became its lord."
After this the king of Delhi advanced against Vijayanagar by way of
the Balaghat.
This date is a century too early, as already pointed out. The sovereign
referred to is stated in the following note (entered by Nuniz at
the end of Chapter xx., which closes the historical portion of his
narrative) to have been called "Togao Mamede."
"This king of Delhi they say was a Moor, who was called Togao
Mamede. He is held among the Hindus as a saint. They relate that once
while he was offering prayer to God, there came to him four arms with
four hands; and that every time he prayed roses fell to him from out
of heaven. He was a great conqueror, he held a large part of this
earth under his dominion, he subdued ... (blank in original) kings,
and slew them, and flayed them, and brought their skins with him; so
that besides his own name, he received the nickname ... which means
'lord of ... skins of kings;' he was chief of many people.
"There is a story telling how he fell into a passion on account of
(BEING GIVEN?) eighteen letters (OF THE ALPHABET TO HIS NAME?), when
according to his own reckoning he was entitled to twenty-four.[12]
There are tales of him which do indeed seem most marvellous of the
things that he did; as, for instance, how he made ready an army because
one day in the morning, while standing dressing at a window which was
closed, a ray of the sun came into his eyes, and he cried out that he
would not rest until he had killed or vanquished whomsoever had dared
to enter his apartments while he was dressing. All his nobles could
not dissuade him from his purpose, even though they told him it was
the sun that had done it, a thing without which they could not live,
that it was a celestial thing and was located in the sky, and that he
could never do any harm to it. With all this he made his forces ready,
saying that he must go in search of his enemy, and as he was going
along with large forces raised in the country through which he began
his march so much dust arose that it obscured the sun. When he lost
sight of it he made fresh inquiries as to what the thing was, and
the captains told him that there was now no reason for him to wait,
and that he might return home since he had put to flight him whom he
had come to seek. Content with this, the king returned by the road
that he had taken in his search for the sun, saying that since his
enemy had fled he was satisfied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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