भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

army. Partly owing to this fear, the Muslims retreated from Vijaynagar,
content with whatever they could sack there.
917. Another reason that was responsible for this speedy retreat was the
opening of the ‘old sores’ among the Muslim Sultans! Their belonging to
different sects, like the Shias and Sunnis, had always created bickerings
amongst them. Naturally, as soon as the hostilities with the Hindu state of
Vijaynagar ended, their temporary alliance went to pieces and fresh
warfare ensued. A little later, when their arch-enemies, the Muslims in the
North, the Moghal Emperors, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb, invaded them
with their invincible armies, they could not help looking for support from
the then growing Maratha chieftains and their sturdy followers in
Maharashtra. Being most mercilessly hammered from the North by the
powerful Moghal armies and being internally eaten away by the very
Maratha Sirdars who were called for help, these Muslim powers in the
South perished one after another!
Shahaji, the Valiant!
918. The most prominent of all these Maratha Sirdars, and the one in
whom always blazed the secret ambition to establish a Hindu power was
Shahaji, the valiant of the Bhosale family.
919. It has been already stated that after the collapse of Vijaynagar,
Tirumalrai and other Hindu princes fled to the South and established
another independent Hindu principality at Penukonda in A.D. 1567.
Shreerang, Tirumalrai’s son, removed his capital to Chandragiri after his
father’s death. Other princes, too, founded their small States, but they were
in fact, the fragments of the old Vijaynagar empire, now set adrift after the
deluge of the different ‘Nayaks’ (Subhedars) of the Vijaynagar empire; a
few now consolidated their power and ruled independently. Some called
themselves ‘Palegars’ and founded the states of Jingi, Tanjawar and other
‘small Hindu states. So, even after the collapse of Vijaynagar, the whole
region south of the capital right up to Rameshwaram was under the Hindu
sway. Later still, with the nominal suzerainty of the Sultan of Vijapur,
Shahaji, as a Vijapuri Sirdar, established his “ de facto’ overlordship in the
south and brought them all under his unifying control. Shahaji exerted a
great influence as an able political and military leader, because of his
victories, right from Ahmednagar to Rameshwaram under every Muslim
power, from the Moghals of Delhi to the moribund Sultanate of Vijapur. He
was equally known everywhere as the staunch supporter of the Hindus! His