19.

The Establishment of the Glorious new

Hindu Empire of Vijaynagar

858. For the better convenience of the reader, it is advisable to recall at the
     very outset, the chronology of certain events. The first foreign—especially
     non-Hindu—large-scale aggression on the Deccan was the one by
     Allauddin on Devgiri in A.D. 1294. It was followed with precipitate haste
     by three or four such tremendous military expeditions up to A.D. 1318
     under the intrepid yet cruel Muslim commanders like Maliq Kafur and
     Khushrukhan, who ruthlessly forced conversion upon thousands of Hindus.
     During these twenty-five years or so, the Muslims overran practically the
     whole of the Deccan and wiped out of existence, five or six ancient, famous
     and strong Hindu Kingdoms from Devgiri to Malabar.
     858A. Howsoever shameful and stigmatic this historical fact might be to
     the prestige and self-respect of the Hindu Nation, the Deccanese Hindu
     heroes, too, swallowed up, as it were, in one draught, as their ancient
     ancestor, Agasti Rishi, did of yore, the doomsday flood of the Muslim
     warriors and hardly within a decade or so, shattered the Sultanate of Delhi
     to pieces! They raised in its place, at least in the Deccan, a grand victorious
     Hindu Empire of Vijaynagar. The lightning-like speed, with which they
     achieved all this, is also so creditable to the Hindu Nation, that we should
     for ever, be proud of them and grateful to them.
859. For, even before the whole of the Deccan was subjugated in A.D.
     1318, some of the indefatigable Hindu leaders, highly ambitious of re-
     establishing Hindu sway over the Deccan without delay, had already begun
     establishing secret contacts with Khushrukhan himself. The Khan cherished
     in his mind daring plans of dispatching Sultan Mubarik after reaching Delhi
     and crowning himself as Sultan in his stead. But he knew full well that in
     this courageous bid for power, even the bitterest of the Muslim enemies of
     the ruling Sultan would not have helped him in the least. But he could
     expect passive, even active, support from the Hindu chiefs or sirdars. For,
     Khushrukhan himself had become most impatient to tear off his tawdry
     guise of Mohammadanism, which was forced upon him, very much against
     his will, and to appear in his original Hindu form. Naturally, secret reports
     and slanderous complaints constantly reached the court of Sultan Mubarik