It will be remembered that the first king of Vijayanagar, Harihara I., was an old man (Nuniz says "very old"), and reigned seven years. His successor, Bukka, his brother, reigned thirty-seven years according to Nuniz, and perhaps, therefore, it would be best not to assume too great an age for Harihara I. However this may be, it would appear that when the peaceful monarch Harihara II., son of Bukka I., came to the throne, his father must have died at a very advanced age, and he himself must have been by no means young. He reigned at least twenty years, as before stated, and we are therefore justified in assuming that at the close of his reign (in A.D. 1399) he was quite an old man. With this in our minds, let us turn to Firishtah's narrative of the reign of Firuz Shah Bahmani, beginning with his accession in November A.D. 1397. He tells us that in the Hijra year 801 (13th September 1398 to 3rd September 1399), month not given -- "Dewal Roy of Beejanuggur, with thirty thousand horse and a vast army of foot, invaded the royal territories between the rivers, with a design to reduce the forts of Mudkul and Roijore" (Raichur). And in a later passage we are told that the campaign was at an end a few months before the end of Hijra 801; I.E. a few months before the end of August A.D. 1399. The first movement of the Hindu army must therefore have taken place at the beginning of the cold season of A.D. 1398, probably not earlier than December in that year, when the great cotton plains across which the troops had to march were passable. It can hardly be supposed that King Harihara II., then quite old and always a lover of peace, would without motive have waged this sudden war and himself led his armies into the field, and it seems more likely that the invasion was a bold dash made by his son with the king's permission. The Muhammadan historians admit an unbroken peace of twenty years previous to this date. It seems, therefore, that the chronicles of Nuniz, the writings of Firishtah, and the extant inscriptions all agree together, and that we must place the death of Harihara II. at the close of the year A.D. 1399. Little more can be said about the events of his reign. The new king, his eldest son, Bukka II., must have been a man of middle age, as he had a son old enough to take the field with him before he himself came to the throne. "This king ('Pureoyre')," says Nuniz, "had a son, who by his death inherited the kingdom, who was called Ajarao; and he reigned forty-three years, in which time he was always at war with the Moors." I can give no explanation as to why Nuniz calls the successor of Harihara II "Ajarao," nor as to his estimate of forty-three years for his reign. The names and lengths of reigns given to "Ajarao's" successors by our chronicler prove that by "Ajarao" he means two kings, Bukka II. and his successor, Deva Raya I.; and the period covered by their combined reigns was only fourteen years, not forty-three.