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
About this time the Adil Shah advanced again to retrieve his broken
fortunes, but fled incontinently on hearing the news that Krishna Deva
was advancing in person to meet him. That the king, though sorely
ill, did indeed move in the manner stated, seems to be confirmed by
the statement of Nuniz that on the way he bought six hundred horses
from the Portuguese. Krishna began to make preparations for an attack
on Belgaum, then in the Adil Shah's possession, and sent an envoy to
invite the assistance in this enterprise of the Portuguese at Goa; but
he fell too seriously ill to carry out his project, and died shortly
afterwards at the age of from forty-two to forty-five years. It was
then the year 1530 A.D.
He was succeeded by Achyuta.
So far Nuniz. We learn something more from other writers. Barros
states that about the year 1523 Saluva Timma, the king's minister,
invaded the mainlands near Goa, which had been recently acquired by
the Portuguese under Ruy de Mello; that he advanced towards Ponda
with a small force, but that he was attacked and driven back.[253]
Shortly after this, viz., in April 1524, the Muhammadans of Bijapur
attacked these same mainlands with success, during the viceroyalty of
Dom Duarte de Menezes. On October 31 of that year the Chamber of Goa
wrote a report to the king of Portugal in which occurs the following
passage: --
"The mainland which Ruy de Mello, who was captain of this city,
conquered, was entered by the Moors, who used to possess it, in the
month of April of five hundred and twenty-four, and they hold it as
theirs, and the first Thanadar's district which they took was that of
Perna, which is by the seaside. There they captured two Portuguese,
and one of them was the Thanadar; these are prisoners in the fortress
of Bylgan (Belgaum), of which the Suffilarim is captain."[254]
It is evident, therefore, that "the Moors" were successful, and yet
it is curious that very little mention is made of this circumstance by
other historians. Firishtah does not mention it; and it may therefore
be reasonably inferred that the "Moors" in question were not the
royal troops acting under the orders of the Sultan, but belonged to
the local levies of Asada Khan, then chief of Belgaum.
According to Firishtah, the defeat at Raichur was followed by Ismail
Adil Shah's marrying his sister to Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar;
quarrelling and fighting with him (A.D. 1523); again fighting with
him (1528); marrying another sister to Ala-ud-Din Ummad of Birar;
and fighting with and entirely defeating Sultan Amir Barid of Bidar,
then an old man, whom he captured. On the death of Krishna Deva,
Ismail took advantage of the confusion of the Hindus to retake
possession of Mudkal and Raichur.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account