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
"The Sultan ... put his army in motion, attended by Ummad Shaw and
Ameer Bereed with their forces; and the affairs of Beejanuggur being in
confusion owing to the death of Heemraaje, who was newly succeeded by
his son Ramraaje,[266] against whom rebellions had arisen by several
roles, met with no interruptions to his arms. Roijore and Mudkul
were taken, after a siege of three months, by capitulation, after
they had been in possession of the infidels for seventeen years."[267]
The relief and delight of the Adil Shah at these successes, and at
the death of his mortal enemy Krishna, must have been great; and
Firishtah relates that the Sultan, "who had vowed to refrain from
wine till the reduction of these fortresses, at the request of his
nobility now made a splendid festival, at which he drank wine and
gave a full loose to mirth and pleasure." Raichur and Mudkal were
never again subject to Hindu princes.
Those who desire to obtain an insight into the character of the new
king of Vijayanagar should turn to the chronicle of Nuniz. It will
suffice here to say that he alienated his best friends by his violent
despotism, and at the same time proved to the whole empire that he
was a coward. His conduct and mode of government ruined the Hindu
cause in Southern India and opened the whole country to the invader,
though he himself did not live to see the end.
After the fall of Raichur and the Doab, Ismail Adil had another
fight (1531) with his rival at Ahmadnagar and defeated him; after
which the two brothers-in-law consolidated a strong alliance. Three
years later Ismail died, having contracted a fever while besieging a
fortress belonging to the Qutb Shah of Golkonda. His death occurred
on Thursday, August 13, 1534,[268] and he was succeeded by his son
Malu. Asada Khan was appointed regent of Bijapur, but immediately
on his accession the new sovereign so offended his powerful subject
that he retired to Belgaum, and Sultan Malu, giving himself up to all
kinds of excesses, was deposed after a reign of only six months. Malu
was blinded by the orders of his own grandmother, and Ibrahim Adil,
his younger brother, was raised to the throne. It was now 1535.
Da Cunha, the Portuguese governor of Goa, took advantage of these
events to erect a fortress at Diu, and early in 1536 to seize again
the mainlands of Goa, which had been for ten years in the possession
of Asada Khan. The Khan sent a force to recapture these lands, and
in February an engagement took place in which the Portuguese were
victorious. A second attack by the Moslems was similarly repulsed. A
third fight took place in July, and again the Muhammadans were beaten;
but Asada Khan then assembled a larger army, and the foreigners were
compelled to retire after blowing up their fortress.
About this time[269] Quli Qutb Shah is said to have attacked Kondavid
on account of its withholding payment of tribute, to have taken it,
and built a tower in the middle of the fort in commemoration of
its reduction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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