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
Two inscriptions at Conjeeveram, dated respectively in 1532 and
1533,[270] imply that at that period King Achyuta reduced the country
about Tinnevelly; but apparently he was not present in person, and
nothing further is known regarding this expedition.
We now enter upon a period very difficult to deal with satisfactorily,
owing to the conflict of evidence in the works of the various writers.
"A year after his accession," writes Firishtah,[271] "Ibrahim, Adil
led his army to Beejanuggur on the requisition of the roy." This
would be the year 1536 A.D. But what led to such an extraordinary
complication of affairs? Can it be true that King Achyuta was so
humiliated and hard pressed as to be compelled to summon to his aid
the hereditary enemies of his country?
Nuniz is silent as to the cause, though he admits the fact. It is quite
possible that Firishtah is correct, that the public were not taken into
confidence by their despotic rulers, and that the troops of Bijapur
marched to the Hindu capital at the request of King Achyuta. That they
actually came there seems quite certain, and it is probable that Nuniz
was in Vijayanagar at the time; but there is a LACUNA in his story
which can only be filled up by reference to Firishtah. Accepting
Firishtah, we can readily understand why King Achyuta received the
Sultan and his army without open opposition, as Nuniz declares that
he did, and why the Muhammadan king received splendid presents before
he retired. To Nuniz, however, this conduct was inexplicable except on
the basis of Achyuta's craven spirit and utter unworthiness.[272] As to
the assertion of Nuniz that the Sultan entered Nagalapur or Hospett and
"razed it to the ground," we may remember the treatment of the city of
Bijapur by Krishna Deva Raya,[273] and surmise that the houses of the
Vijayanagar suburbs may have been pulled to pieces by the Mussalman
soldiery in search for firewood. However all this may be, my readers
have before them the story as given by Nuniz in Chapter XX. of his
chronicle, and the following is Firishtah's account of the event.[274]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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