another Rajput Prince, who, however, because of many maladies, lost his
balance of mind and voluntarily became a Muslim.
851. BENGAL: When ultimately in A.D. 1192, Mohammad Ghori
subjugated the Sultanate of Delhi for ever, he sent many valorous chieftains
under him to subdue the Hindu states round about. One of them, Bakhtyar
Khilji, overcame the Hindu rule in Bihar and Bengal in A.D. 1195 and
founded the Muslim rule there for the first time. Of his persecution of the
Hindus and especially of the Buddhists and their wholesale conversion to
Islam, we have already said enough in Paragraph Nos. 342 to 356. On this
very occasion, this wild fiendish commander of the Muslim forces razed to
the ground the world famous University of Nalanda, which had a glorious
tradition of over five centuries to its credit. The Muslims set fire to the vast
and invaluable collection of innumerable books, which had kept burning, it
is said, for six months. But the Muslims never allowed anybody to put the
fire down before it quenched of itself, and every written record was reduced
to ashes!
Want of armed might renders the power of Science as also the power
of Religion Miserably Helpless—one more illustration!
852. In that vast burning library, there were innumerable valuable books
of the Vedic, Buddha, Jain and other religions. But to protect them from fire
came neither the Vedic Gods, nor Lord Buddha, no, not even Lord Jain! The
actual armed might of the devotees is the only armed strength the Gods
seem to have!
853. In the end, Bakhtyar Khilji conquered the last of the Sen Kings and
after annexing Bengal, started his campaign of the wholesale conversion of
the Hindus to Islam.
854. The Muslim Subedars themselves rebelled from time-to-time against
the paramount power of Delhi and calling themselves the Sultans of Bengal,
ruled the province independently. Fakruddin was the first of them to
announce his independent sway over Bengal in A.D. 1347. Since then, these
Afghan Sultans had ruled the province till A.D. 1576. Once in the meantime
in A.D. 1386, a Hindu Jamindar named Kans overthrew this Afghan rule
and established Hindu power in Bengal. When this King Kans died in A.D.
1392, his son Jitmalla came to the throne of Bengal. But to the greater
discredit of the Hindus there, this Hindu King Jitmalla once had the wanton
caprice to court Islam, and he changed his name to Jalaluddin! And to the
greater shame of the Hindus, be it said that not a single Hindu throughout

the whole of Bengal came forward to chastise Jalaluddin for this national
crime. They acquiesced in the Muslim domination without a murmur!
855. One more capable Hindu Jamindar, who was a proud adherent of
Hinduism, had nearly managed to do as much. But his efforts too ended in
disaster. Of the few brave Hindu warriors who rose in rebellion against the
Muslims and fought tooth and nail, the only one who can be ranked along
with Rana Pratap and Baba Banda was Maharaja Pratapaditya of Jashodhar.
Although his sphere of activity was not very large and although for want of
active and potent support from the Hindu community, he was in the end
defeated, his name will ever be remembered in the history of Hindu
independence movement!
856. KASHMIR: For want of space, it is enough to say here that while the
Muslims were wantonly subjugating Gujarat, Malwa and other provinces of
north India, Kashmir was completely immune from the Muslim influence
till the fourteenth century of the Christian era, being governed by the Hindu
Kings, sometimes vigorously and potently enough, at others mildly but
always independently! The last of its Hindu Kings was Sendev. The history
of Kashmir is written by Pandit Kalhan under the name ‘Rajtarangini’. This
Sendev had appointed one Muslim, named Shahmir or Mirza, to be some
official of the state and later on raised him from post-to-post, until he was
made the Chief Minister of the State. What happened elsewhere in the
history of many Hindu States also happened here, and after the death of
Sendev, this very Muslim Minister treacherously destroyed this Hindu State
on the strength of a very cleverly preconceived plan, and usurped the throne
of Kashmir under the title ‘Shamsuddin’.
857. Of course, just as the Hindus ultimately liberated the whole of India
from the Muslim hands, similarly our Hindu Sikhs and Dogras not only
freed Kashmir from the Muslim bondage, but they also marched
victoriously to Laddakh, on one side, and to Gilgit, on the other, and
proudly planted the Hindu standard there—but after fighting many grim
battles and in course of time—some centuries afterwards!
❑

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

at Delhi, that Khushrukhan was in collusion with the recently overpowered
Hindu chiefs and leaders of Hindu Society, and that some deep-laid
mysterious plan was afoot. The reader should refer to a connected and
plausible account of this whole affair, so far as it can he deduced from these
various scattered bits of information, that are so far available to us
(Paragraphs 754 to 782).
860. The founders of the Empire of Vijaynagar, Harihar and Bukka, were
the two sons of Sangam of the ancient Yadav family. They were employed
at the court of Anagondi. During the turbulent times following the Muslim
conquests of Devgiri and Warangal in the reign of Allauddin, the Kingdom
of Anagondi, too, was overpowered by the Muslims. Anagondi itself or
some place nearby was the former city of Kishkindha of Wali, as the
folklore goes. After the downfall of Anagondi, Harihar and Bukka were
taken as captives to Delhi in A.D. 1327 and were converted there to Islam.
Later on, being pleased with their behaviour and exceptional ability, the
Sultan sent them both with a new expedition to fight with the Hindus in
A.D. 1331, with higher authority and responsible posts. But as soon as they
came to the Deccan—
Most probably as per a pre-conceived plan
861. They paid a visit to the then chief preceptor of Sankeshwar Math,
Shree Shankaracharya Vidyaranyaswami, who was a skilled politician too.
Immediately, the Shankaracharya himself re-converted these two converted
Hindus who promptly raised a Hindu army and defeated the Muslim host,
which they themselves had led a short time ago. Soon in consultation with
Shankaracharya, Vidyaranyaswami and many other brave Hindu leaders, it
was decided to found an independent sovereign state on the banks of the
river Tungbhadra. The Capital was established at the newly-founded city of
Vijyanagar, which bespoke of Hindu victory. The reins of this kingdom
were placed in the hands of Shree Harihar in A.D. 1336, while Shri
Vidyaranya himself became his chief minister.
862. At this very stage, it is advisable to explain one enigmatic episode,
which is not yet so explained by historians. The event in question is the
transfer of the capital from Delhi to Devgiri by Mohammad Tughlak, who
is considered ‘crazy’, but who was, in fact, a learned fool, without any
practical sense. His decision to shift the Capital of his Empire from Delhi to
Devgiri is considered to be his wayward caprice. But it was not a pure
whim of his. It was to consolidate his victories in the Deccan that were

gained by his generals and to rule that region effectively, that he thought of
having his capital in its very midst. Again, his precipitate decision to shift
his Capital back to Delhi, which resulted in untold sufferings for the people
was also not his pure caprice. In fact, it was for the last ten years or so that
the Muslim rule seemed to have stabilized itself in the Deccan, but it was
most humiliating and so most hateful and unbearable to the Hindus. So, all
the Hindu kings, all the Hindu religious preachers and lawgivers and Hindu
people at large, were preparing feverishly though secretly to overthrow that
alien rule, and the Muslim army had also grown panicky about such an
armed rising. The Sultan realized the grave danger of his being involved in
the meshes of this Hindu revolt and the possibility of his being destroyed
completely. That is why he hurriedly shifted his Capital back to Delhi, far to
the north—not simply because his caprice dictated it! As a matter of fact, it
was the panic about this growing armed strength of the Hindus that caused
all these crazy and contradictory moves of his!
863. One more important event of this time has equally baffled the
historians, but it is far too strange to be set aside. It is this Sangam, whose
young sons, Harihar and Bukka, were taken captives by the Muslims, was
in fact, closely related to the Kings of Anagondi and Warangal. Naturally,
these two sons were also fairly well connected with these royal families. It
was for this particular reason that Mohammad Tughlak took them to Delhi
and converted them to Islam. On many Hindu kings and princes had fallen
this calamity of being forcibly converted to Islam, but even if they escaped
afterwards from such a calamity, they had, unfortunately, no hope of being
absorbed in the Hindu Society. The stumbling block was that of the ban on
reconversion to Hinduism (Paras 379 to 403). How then and from what
source, did this inspiration arise, which actuated the two young warriors,
Harihar and Bukka, to seek reconversion to Hinduism, which again
emboldened Shankaracharya Vidyaranyaswami to preside over and effect
this reconversion, totally disregarding the staunch public opposition and all
the rules and regulations laid down in the interpolated chapter on Kalivarjya
Prakarna, and which finally made many other Hindu men of action to
follow up this new movement?
864. The answer to this riddling question is to be found in the
unprecedented politico-religious revolution brought about some ten or
twelve years ago by the Hindu Samrat Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) at
Delhi. For, Sultan Nasir-ud-din himself was originally a Hindu, who was

forcibly converted to Islam. But because of the fondness and infatuation of
Alauddin and his son, he was given the title of Khushrukhan and was
gradually raised to be the commander of a huge Muslim army to invade the
South. Till the moment he became sufficiently powerful, Khushrukhan
outwardly maintained his Muslim garb; but as soon as he returned from his
southern campaign, he cut off the Muslim Sultan, Mubarik, and crowned
himself as Hindu Emperor, proudly proclaiming that he was originally a
Hindu and that he was re-embracing that religion once again. Not content
with this, he reconverted hundreds of such unhappy converts to Hinduism,
and changed the Muslim masjids into Hindu temples! The exciting news of
this unheard of but successful attack of Hindutwa (हिंदुत्व) upon the
Muslim empire and Muslim religion had already reached the farthest
corners of India. Naturally, when Harihar and Bukka were stationed at
Delhi as captive Muslim converts at the orders of the Muslim Sultan, they
must have heard the excited discussions about this very recent happening,
which must have egged them on to attempt some such seemingly
impossible feat of escaping to the Deccan with a large army. So, they must
have simulated to Mohammed Tughlak that they were staunch Muslims and
as such deserved his fullest confidence, and that is why Mohammed
Tughlak appointed Harihar and Bukka at the head of Muslim army in that
region. When Mohammed Tughlak shifted his capital from Devgiri to
Delhi, he could not keep sufficient army in the South to protect the imperial
territory in the Deccan. So, when the news of the probable rising of the
Hindus came to his ears, he decided to send these two warriors to strengthen
the imperial position in the south, because in the first place, they were
closely connected with the royal Hindu families of the Deccan and
secondly, because they were now trustworthy Muslims. Harihar and Bukka,
too, got the wishes for opportunity and showed all the eagerness to execute
the tasks set to them. It was an established practice of the Sultans of Delhi
to send the converted Hindus to extend the imperial boundaries and such
attempts bore rich fruit, as can be seen in the case of Maliq Kafur and
others. With the apparent determination to destroy the Hindu revolts in the
Deccan, Harihar and Bukka took leave of the Sultan and with the Muslim
army, went straight to their own States of Anagondi and Warangal.
865. In all probability, they must have passed on to Shree Swami
Vidyaranya and the rest of the Hindu kings in unmistakable terms, the
information as to their secret plans and their real intention, long before they

reached the Deccan. They had given Sultan Mohammed Tughlak the slip
and were now to embrace Hinduism openly. Hindu Samrat Nasir-ud-din's
successful military coup in Delhi had already given the impetus to the
Deccanese Princes and the priests like Shankaracharya. Naturally, with the
approval of Harihar and Bukka, Vidyaranyaswami and other Hindu leaders
decided to reconvert them to Hinduism with the ceremonial rites.
866. Our observation at the end of the Seventeenth Chapter that the
political revolution, which Shree Dharmarakshak (Nasir-ud-din) effected at
Delhi, had far-reaching consequences can also be proved by the influence
that great event exerted on the establishment of the Empire of Vijaynagar.
Even then, that great event has been so far referred to with contempt and in
insulting terms! It only shows that modern historical textbooks lack the
Hindu point of view, and hence they are merely blind to some such events!
867. The proud achievement of the Hindu generation which established
the new Hindu Empire of Vijaynagar has not been sufficiently glorified in
Hindu histories. The case of Madhavacharya, the Shankaracharya of
Sankeshwar, Vidyaranyaswami is the one in point. It has already been
pointed out how great a political revolutionary this exceptional personality
was! But the fact that he was an equally great revolutionary in matters of
religion, can be proved by his repudiation of the old traditions by re-
converting the two princes, Harihar and Bukka. In a similar way, he was the
synacure of the then learned-world. He wrote several treatises on several
subjects, of which ‘Sarwadarshan Sangrah’ and ‘Panchadashi’ are the most
renowned. No other abler Shankaracharya seems to have ascended the seat
of Shringeri or any other monastery after the First Shankaracharya!
Especially, his arch diplomacy and political wisdom seen in the rapid
growth of the Hindu Empire of Vijaynagar in the teeth of Muslim
opposition, bears no comparison!
867A. Indeed, the names of Vidyaranyaswami, of the warrior kings,
Harihar and Bukka, Harihar the second, who took the proud title of
Maharajadhiraj, and his Chief Minister Sayanacharya—the brother of
Vidayaranyaswami, whose critique of the Vedas is still accepted as an
authority, Maharajadhiraj Krishnadevray and the last but not the least,
Maharajadhiraja Ramrai also, who had inflicted crushing defeats in rapid
succession on all the five Muslim States in Maharashtra viz., Adilshahi,
Nizamshahi and others, but who was in the end, killed in the forefront of
the bloody battle against the combined Muslim forces, should really be

honoured in every home and be remembered by everybody as are those of
Rana Pratap, Raja Chhatrasal, Govind Singh, Chaitanya, Banda Bairagi and
other great men of those times. But today, North-Indian Hindus seem to
have never heard of them, while in the South, hardly one in a thousand
seems to know them but faintly. This is most shameful for the Hindus and
this state of things must be changed forthwith.
The establishment of the Bahamani Kingdom
868. Seeing the disintegration of the sovereign power of the Sultan of
Delhi, set afoot by the Hindu State of Vijaynagar in the South, Hassan
Gangu, the Muslim Governor of the Southern Muslim possessions, revolted
against the Delhi Sultanate and proclaimed himself Sultan of the so-called
Bahamani Kingdom in A.D. 1346. His domain spread from the Narmada in
the north to the Krishna in the south. The rulers of Delhi completely lost
their hold on the south, which was now to be ruled by two prominent
powers. The Bahamani Kings and the Hindu Princes of Vijaynagar. The
name Bahamani, which Hassan Gangu adopted for his kingdom, is
explained away by the historians in two different ways. It seems that this
Hassan Gangu was a domestic servant with a Hindu Brahmin, named
Gangu, when the former was but a slave. Pleased with his loyal service, the
Brahmin looked into his horoscope and prophesied that the slave Hassan
would, sometime in the future, become a king. Mad with joy to hear this
prophesy, Hassan began to style himself as Hassan Gangu and when he
actually got the sovereign power over the Deccanese sector of the Muslim
empire, he designated it as the Bahamani kingdom, thinking it to be the fruit
of the blessings of his former Brahmin master. Some other historians
suggest another derivation for the name Bahamani Kingdom. They say that
perhaps Hassan Gangu might have felt that he belonged to the Bahamani
stock, a princely lineage from Persia. If it be so, why did Hassan continue
till the end to call himself Hassan Gangu which clearly referred to his
Brahmin master? Moreover, what proofs are there to show his descent from
the Persian Bahamani royal family? There is none forthcoming so far!
869. This Bahamani Kingdom and the Vijaynagar Empire had a common
boundary, the Tungabhadra river. Naturally, intermittent warfare between
these two rival states was the result. Those who want to read a more
detailed account of the Vijaynagar Empire and its wars with the Bahamani
Kingdom should read with profit two books viz.: (i) ‘The Forgotten Empire’
by Robert Swell and (ii) ‘The Never To Be Forgotten Empire’ by Dr. S.

Krishnaswami Aiyangar. The second book, so to say is an answer, at least to
a certain extent, to the first one by an English scholar.
870. As this one, far from being a book of history, is in fact an
interpretation of history (as we have been saying from the beginning), we
shall restrict ourselves to those events only, which are relevant to our
purpose. For, there is no room here for any detailed historical account.
Foundation—the building of the City of Vijaynagar
871. The site selected on the banks of the Tungabhadra for the capital city
of Vijaynagar by the great Hindu leaders of the day, such as
Vidyaranyaswami and others, was from the architectural and military points
of views so beautiful and well fortified, surrounded as it was by hills on the
three sides and a deep river on the fourth, that the architectural and military
acumen in the selection of this site has been highly praised by several
foreign travellers, well-versed in these two sciences. There were as it were a
natural fortification for this vast city, seven strong enclosures, one within
the other, round this city of Vijaynagar. In every one of these enclosures,
there were majestic buildings, beautifully carved temples, and rich palaces
and pleasant lakes. On all these buildings, temples and royal palaces, flew
the saffron-coloured flag masked with a golden cup. For the authorized
standard of Vijaynagar was the same traditional flag of the Hindu Nation,
the saffron-coloured banner!
872. Of all these temples, the grandest, most magnificent and spacious
was that of Shree Nursingh, for he was the presiding deity of the royal
family of Vijaynagar. Inasmuch as very few temples are found to be
dedicated to this God. Nursingh, throughout the length and breadth of India,
represents the genius and practical sense of those kings of Vijaynagar who
chose for their daily worship, this incarnation of Nursingh from amongst
many others of the Hindu pantheon, which is undoubtedly praiseworthy.
873. For, in those days of bitter warfare between the most cruel and
diabolic Muslim invaders on the one hand, and on the other, the tolerant
Hindu Society emasculated to suffer persecution and indignities to the last
limits of endurance from the days of Gautam Buddha himself, it was this
incarnation of Nursingh that could inspire in the spineless Hindus of the
day, instinctive and effective reaction to retaliate every wrong done to them
and also violent valour, which could strike terror in the hearts of the enemy.

874. व्रजन्ति ते मूढधियः पराभवन। भवन्ति मायाविषु वे न
     मायिना॥:।
     साध्वाचारः साधुना प्रत्युपेय। मायाचारो मायया बाधितव्यः॥
     (Those dull-witted, who do not behave knavishly with base and crafty
     rogues invariably court failure! A polite person should be treated politely
     while a crafty scoundrel should be destroyed by super-craft.)
     [THE SELF-SAME STORY OF NURSINGH ITSELF TELLS] that not
     with the perverted virtues of Prahlad but with the cruel, crafty measures
     alone could that demon, Hiranayakashipu, be killed.
875. Shree Shankar had blessed Hiranyakashipu with a boon that he
     would not be killed by any man or beast, with any weapon or missile,
     ordinary or charmed with magic power, on the earth or in the skies, neither
     by day nor by night, neither in nor out! But mysteriously enough, an
     effective expedient was found for every one of these thoughtless terms of
     the equally thoughtless boon and the enemy of the Gods, the invincible
     demon, Hiranyakashipu, was killed by an incarnation, which was neither
     purely human nor purely beastly, but a mixture of both, at twilight, on the
     threshold, taking him on the lap and by cutting open his stomach with his
     sharp talons!
     875A. It is this frightful incarnation of God, whose whole body has been
     besmeared with the spouts of blood emanating from the dying body of the
     wicked demon, rending the whole universe with his horrible war-cries, and
     at whose furious visage, made ten-times more terrible by his beard standing
     erect, even the Gods themselves were alarmed and began to request him to
     calm down, that a Nation wishing to keep itself alive in this diabolic
     warring world, should worship as the emblem of the high peak of national
     valour!
876. This story also implies another noble principle that although the
     outward appearance of this violent incarnation of Nursingh was fierce and
     repellant, its heart was that of a human being made of the ‘milk of human
     kindness’. Its merciless valour also is most essential, even unavoidable, to
     the development of ‘human kindness’! For this violent act of tearing open
     the entrails of Hiranayakashipu, a reckless tyrant, a terror to Gods and
     demons alike, was performed solely to protect a devotee of the Gods,
     Prahlad, and that too as the last remedy! It is for the sake of free

development of human virtues that the principle of अहिंसा (non-violence),
which emasculates human beings with the curse of weakness, should at
times be killed by cruel violence! It itself becomes a truly righteous, a truly
religious act, leading to the development of human culture! At a particular
stage of development of the human society throughout the world, and in the
tumultuous times when it was surrounded by different warring nations, fired
with the inordinate selfish ambition and diabolic violence, the Hindu nation,
too, ought to have chosen Nursingh as its God of worship, if it wanted to
preserve its free existence or even its invincibility!
877. The magnificent temple of this Nursingh, whom the kings of
Vijaynagar had offered their devout hearts, does not stand there today in its
original form. When the Muslim invaders attacked and devastated
Vijaynagar in A.D. 1565, they also demolished and razed to rubble this royal
temple of Nursingh. However, whatever ruins are left over of that old idol of
Nursingh in that temple, are even now sufficiently clear to signify the
originally huge, magnificent, furious figure of that Godhead, and we can
easily imagine how very majestic and awe-inspiring the temple in its original
form and glory might have been, distinguishing itself from the other huge,
magnificent temples all over India by its inimitableness.
Bahamani Sultan defeated by the King of Vijaynagar
878. After the death of the valiant Harihar, the brave Bukkarai ascended
the throne of Vijaynagar. This Bukkarai too was of a daring and aggressive
nature. He not only saved his own kingdom but also waged counter-
offensives on the Muslims round about the year A.D. 1374 and defeated
Majahid Shah, the great Sultan of the Bahamani kingdom. There is proof to
show that this King Bukka had sent a friendly mission to the King of China.
879. In A.D. 1379, this brave monarch of Vijaynagar, Bukkarai, died and
was succeeded to this ancestral throne by his son Harihar II, born
posthumously to his queen Gowri. During his reign, the Hindus inflicted
frequent and crushing defeats on the Muslims and extended the boundaries
of Vijaynagar empire, whereupon Harihar took for himself the title of
Maharajadhiraj with a grand ceremony to grace the occasion with the
brother of Madhavacharya (Vidyaranyaswami) Shree Sayanacharya himself
as the Chief Minister of his and Sudha, Isag and Gund, the well-known
commanders in his army. Maharajadhiraj Harihar ruled prosperously and
extended the boundaries of his Empire to include Goa, as is borne out by a
copper plate inscription dated A.D. 1391.

[गोवाभिदां (भिदानाम्) कोकण राजधानीम्]
880-881. It is impossible and unnecessary to give the lineages of the
Vijaynagar or any other royal families in this volume. It is enough to say
that the kings who succeeded Harihar II also added to the glory of
Vijaynagar. There was only one unhappy exception of a weak and imbecile
king named Devrai, who came to the throne in A.D. 1406. He did hate the
Muslims, but he found a strange expedient for destroying the Muslim
powers, that of employing Muslim warriors in his army, as the Muslim
rulers employed the Hindus! But seeing his weak and vacillating nature,
those Muslim warriors in his employ became so very conceited, that they
refused to bow down to him in his very courtly assembly, as they never
bowed their heads before any mortal! So, for their satisfaction, Devrai had
the Book of the Koran placed on a high pedestal beside him, so that when
they bowed, the Muslims were satisfied that they did so to the Koran and
not to the King, whereas the King was satisfied that the decorum of the
assembly was not violated! He even went to the length of building a masjid
in Vijaynagar in order to please those Muslims. It is needless to say that
these pampered Muslim soldiers did not fail to betray Devrai in the very
thick of the battle, and Devrai was defeated at last by the Bahamani Sultan,
Phiroz Khan, who faithful to the demonic Muslim tradition, asked for the
daughter of Devrai at the signing of the treaty and the latter had to concede
the demand most shamefully and helplessly! Fortunately, during those two
or three hundred years of Muslim ascendancy, hardly five or six kings
followed this tradition of abject surrender of the Rajputs. Of course, it must
be remembered that no Hindu conqueror even laid down this condition for
the vanquished Muslims in the great victories that the Hindus gained in
those days over the Muslims! The reason is plain enough! For, whoever
thought of marrying Muslim girl, would himself have been converted to
Islam! The evil effects of this perverted virtue of the Hindus have been
dealt with in the chapters on the ban on reconversion (Paragraphs: 413 to
473).
Retaliation by the Hindus
882. However, after the death of Devrai, the kings of Vijaynagar began to
avenge this ignoble defeat on various battlefields and once again, the
Muslim powers were overawed. Especially in A.D. 1417, when Phiroz
Khan invaded Telengan, the Hindus routed the Muslim forces killing their
very Vazir.

882A. Round about A.D. 1460, there was a bitter struggle for power in the
royal family of Vijaynagar in the reign of Virupaksha. Availing himself of
this opportunity, a mighty Vijaynagar Chieftain, Shalva Narsingh by name,
dethroned Virupaksha and thus ended the original Sangam dynasty by
assuming sovereignty and establishing order throughout the kingdom.
Advent of Western Nations in India
883. During this very period, the European, Portuguese discovered a sea
route to India and entered the Indian political arena. Their first entry was
not effected in Vijaynagar; it was the coastal Prince Samudrin (Zamorin), to
the southern corner of India who was their first host. This seemingly
insignificant event is recorded here merely for keeping up the time-
sequence. The new locust-like aggression of the western powers that
followed it, will have to be reviewed in a separate chapter.
Maharaja Naresh
884. Following the thread of the history of Vijaynagar, it must be said that
during one or two generations, this second royal dynasty of Shalva
Narsingh was in its turn overthrown when another military commander,
Naresh by name, assassinated the then ruling monarch, and established the
third ruling dynasty of Vijaynagar in A.D. 1507. In all these three political
revolutions, one remarkable thing is noticeable that even when the Muslim
States were waiting most anxiously to destroy this Hindu Empire, and even
when these Hindu-Muslim states were constantly at war, these political
revolutions took place amongst the Hindus themselves. The surrounding
Muslim states got no opportunity to lend a helping hand to one contending
Hindu side against the other and thus force their grip on it, nor had they the
courage to do it.
The Break-up of the Bahamani Kingdom
885. Before the third political revolution in Vijaynagar was effected, the
Bahamani Kingdom of the Muslim was broken up into five. The Bahamani
Sultans first of all extended their boundaries from the Narmada to the
Tungabhadra, but as its boundaries reached those of Vijaynagar, there was
constant warfare between the Hindu-Muslim States. The many victories that
the Vijaynagar kings won over the Muslims effected the annexation of
Gomantak to the Hindu Kingdom and the extension of its boundaries right
up to Orissa. As a natural consequence of these Hindu victories, the
Bahamani power weakened considerably. Moreover, the last of its monarchs
were absolutely worthless. Mohammed Gawan, the last Bahamani Vazir,

however, was able and warlike in spirit. Because of his honest and diligent
service, his valour and prudence, that Muslim state managed to exist
somehow between A.D. 1484 and 1526. But some Muslim noblemen, who
were Mohammed Gawan’s enemies at the court, contrived to have him
killed by royal order. It must be remembered that, however great
Mohammed Gawan might be, like practically every other Muslim ruler, he
never left anything undone to persecute the Hindus in the Bahamani
Kingdom. Yet he met his doom, not at the hands of the Hindus, but at those
of his own Muslim colleagues.
886. Even before the death of Mohammed Gawan, the Sultan’s capital had
been shifted to Bidar, and after his death, that feeble Muslim power was
broken up into the following five parts:

1. Adilshahi of Vijapur.
2. Imadshahi of Berar (Varhad or Vidarbha (1484-1503).
3. Kut-b-Shahi of Gowalkonda.
4. Nizamshahi of Ahmednagar (1489 to 1637).
5. Baridshahi of Bidar.
6. Two remarkable things about this break-up of the Bahamani
   Kingdom should well be remembered, especially by the Hindus. The first is
   that the founder of Imadshahi of Berar (second in the above list) was
   originally a Telangi Brahmin. His father lived in Vijaynagar. In one of the
   battles with Vijaynagar, this son of a Telangi Brahmin was captured by the
   Bahamani Muslims, who, true to their wicked custom, converted him to
   Islam. He was, thereafter, raised to a higher status by the kindness of
   Gawan. At last in A.D. 1484, he divorced himself from the Bahamani
   Kingdom and as a Muslim, took for himself the proud title of Imadshah and
   proclaimed himself an independent ruler of the Province of Berar, relegated
   to his charge.
7. The second remarkable fact is that of the foundation of the
   Nizamshahi of Ahmednagar, the fourth fragment of the Bahamani
   Kingdom. At Vijaynagar, there was a Brahmin named Timmappa Bahiru
   (Bhairao?), whose son was taken captive and converted to Islam, when
   Ahmedshah was at war with Viaynagar. He was renamed Ahmed. When
   this convert Ahmed was posted at the command of a big Muslim army, he
   utilized his authority to break loose from the Bahamani domination and
   established his own Sultanate in A.D. 1489. Because of his title of the
   Nizam, his Sultanate came to be known as Nizamshahi. In his domain was

situated the famous fort of Shivneri. Somewhere between Daulatabad and
Junner, there was a small village called ‘Binkar’. Finding it suitable for his
capital, he named it as Ahmednagar after his own name Ahmed in A.D.
1494.
889. This break-up of the Bahamani Kingdom was mainly due to the
internal dissensions of the Muslims. The original Bahamani Kingdom had
vowed to destroy Vijaynagar. But the latter survived to see the break-up of
the Bahamani Kingdom into five fragments and continued to fight
adamantly with all those five Muslim states, and proved to be more than a
match to all of them for at least seventy-five years to come!
890. The claim that the Muslims never fought amongst themselves is once
again belied by this five-fold fragmentation of the Bahamani kingdom,
which was caused by their internal rivalries. That the Muslim Sultans
looked for help at the mighty Hindu empire of Vijaynagar in order to put
down their Muslim rivals, gives the lie to their second boast that they never
sought help from the Hindus!
Maharajadhiraj Krishnadevrai
891. To the above-mentioned Tuluv dynasty of Naresh of Vijaynagar,
belonged the mighty emperor Krishnadevrai, who ruled from A.D. 1509 to
1530. He was well-educated and his address was clever and pleasing. He
impressed even the greatest of scholars of the time. The learned scholars of
Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil and Kannad literatures were generously patronized
by his court. In his court were eight great poets, whom he called
अष्टदिग्गज (‘Elephants of the Eight Directions’). He himself was a great
writer. His Telugu book named अमुक्ता माल्यदा is very well-known.
Maharaja Krishnadevrai was equally fond of architecture and sculpture. It
was he who got the famous Ram Mandir of Vijaynagar built, besides the
many forts, ramparts, temples, courtyards, monasteries and caravan sarais
throughout his empire. He made munificent grants to the Brahmins and
temples. His career shines with his various virtues such as courteous
behaviour, dexterity in discourse, prudence in politics, his long-range view
in chalking out plans and formulating policies, and last but not least, his
sternness and valour in respect of the enemies. Western and other foreign
historians have unanimously praised him as an unrivalled great ruler!
892. If Maharajadhiraj was most civil with the gentle folks, he was
unrelenting and merciless when he fought bravely with the enemies of his

religion or those of his nation! Victory graced him in his bitter war with
Adilshah, whereupon, the treaty he effected with the Adilshahi Sultan, laid
down such acid terms as completely crushed down the Muslim swaggering
claims of invincibility, established the superiority of the Hindus, and were
accepted by the abject Muslim rulers with great reluctance.
893. His army was vast and powerful. It comprised seven hundred
thousand foot, twenty-two thousand cavalry and five hundred and fifty-one
elephants, ever prepared for war.
894. The glory of Vijaynagar reached its zenith in the times of Maharaja
Krishnadevrai, which can be proved beyond doubt by the various detailed
accounts written by many foreign travellers, who visited his court. Many of
them have even described his appearance. He was very handsome to look
at, a man of action and a very powerful personality to impress at first sight
any visitor.
895. He was a Vaishnav himself, yet he gave the same sympathetic and
tolerant treatment to the Vedic Hindus, who were in a majority, and to the
other minorities like the Jains, Lingayats, Mahanubhavas and other Hindu,
sects, avoiding every sort of clash of dissentient opinions and thus tried to
cultivate amongst the Hindus the feeling of oneness by means of his
compromising attitude. From the inception of the Empire of Vijaynagar, the
great Hindu leaders like the Shankaracharya Vidyaranyaswami and
Sayanacharya and others had adopted a wise policy of assimilation, equality
and tolerance that precluded every sort of clash between any two religious
sects, while their religious preaching fostered high respect for their Hindu
religion and their Hindu national sentiment. Foreign travellers refer most
admiringly to this religious tolerance and the sense of equality that the
Vijaynagar kings always showed.
Prosperity and Glory of Hindu Empire of Vijaynagar
896. Foreign travellers have very highly praised not only the civic and
religious liberties that the people of Vijaynagar enjoyed, but also its overall
prosperity and glory and the powerful influence that it wielded far and
wide. For instance, when the Portuguese traveller, Duarte Barbose, visited
Vijaynagar and stayed there for a while, he was very much astonished to
see its exceptional wealth and glory.
897. The ambassador from the Shah of Persia has clearly said, “The like
of this city is nowhere to be found on the face of this earth.” Adjoining the
royal palace, there were four-fold extensive market places for jewellery and

pearls. Foreign travellers have written that thousands of citizens were to be
seen adorned with ornaments of gold, jewels and pearls, Portuguese
traveller Paes asserts that the area of Vijaynagar was as extensive as that of
Rome.
898. Even before the reign of Maharajadhiraj Krishnadevrai, the Hindu
Empire of Vijaynagar had been renowned as the most powerful in the
whole of Deccan. The five fragments of the former Bahamani Kingdom
were beset with internal dissensions and fratricidal wars, to the immense
advantage of Vijaynagar Empire, and the then Hindu political leaders did
have the sense to utilize this opportunity for the extension of its boundaries
and for teaching a lesson to the Muslims. The Muslim Sultans could do
nothing independently without the help or consent of the ‘Rais’ of
Vijaynagar! Every one of the Muslim cliques laboured hard to secure the
support of the Hindu rulers of Vijaynagar. As has already been said above,
the absurd patronization by the Hindus and their indulgence of the Muslim
soldiers, as in the times of the weak and imbecile King Devrai, had been
abandoned. Those of the Hindu Kings, who built masjids for the Muslims
in their own capital, did so in order to win them over and to parade their
religious tolerance. But now that ‘cowardly’ religious tolerance had given
place to valiant aggression on the Muslim States and the retaliatory
demolition of the Muslim mosques and masjids. Forbearance, due to the
perverted sense of virtues, began to give the palm of honour of the real
virtue of retaliation!
899. Maharaja Krishnadevrai died in A.D. 1530; just four years before it,
Babar had captured Delhi. Rana Sang was his contemporary. He was
succeeded by his brother, Achyutdev with Salur Timma as his Chief
Minister, who for all practical purposes ran the administration. Achyutdev
died in A.D. 1542 and then after an insignificant King Sadashivrai, the
nephew of Achyutdev, ascended the throne. But Ramrai, the son of the
Chief Minister, Timma had done so much in helping Sadashivrai become
the king that within a very short time, all the real power passed into his
hands. This Ramrai himself is called Ramrajah.
Ramrai, the valiant defender of Religion!
900. All the five Muslim States in Maharashtra tried to obtain help from
the powerful army of Ramrai to fight their fratricidal wars. Although these
five Muslim rulers knew well enough that Shree Ramrai was a strict
adherent of Hinduism and hated all Muslims alike as equally treacherous

enemies of the Hindus and looked down upon them with scorn, they had
fully realized that without the powerful support of this valiant Hindu hero,
they could hold no ground before their adversaries.
901. In A.D. 1543, the Nizamshah of Ahmednagar and Kut-b-Shah of
Gowalkonda jointly thought of teaching a lesson to Adilshah, the Sultan of
Vijapur. They implored Ramraja himself to take the lead. Accordingly, the
three together marched on Vijapur and went on slaughtering the Vijapur
forces. The most noteworthy was the fact that even the Muslims came to
know that the Hindus had been cured of the one hateful vice of the
‘perverted virtues’, which we have so far condemned in this volume
(Paragraphs 401 to 473). For, on the religious front, too, the Hindus
overcame the Muslims and in order to avenge the demolition and
molestation of the Hindu temples, they razed numerous masjids at various
places to the ground. The houses of Muslims, the localities and townships,
where the Hindus were persecuted and Hindu women were treated most
insultingly as slaves, were burnt and destroyed completely. This religious
retaliation by the Hindus struck new terror in the hearts of the Muslims,
and quite contrary to their age-old practice, the Muslim community no
more dared to tread upon the Hindu populations, as they would have upon
ants. It dreaded the resurgent Hindu society as it would have dreaded a
poisonous snake. Naturally, the Adilshah of Vijapur had to sue for peace
and to please every one of the three.
902. This temporary compromise did not end the Muslim feuds for ever.
The Adilshah of Vijapur felt sore about the two forts of Kalyani and
Solapur appropriated by the Nizamshah of Ahmadnagar. As such, he
decided to invade the Nizamshah in 1557 and entreated Ramrai to help
him. So now along with the Vijapur army, the Hindu forces of Vijaynagar,
which had gone out to help the Nizamshah, marched on the Nizamshahi
lands. Needless to say, that the very idea that all the five Muslim states
should seek help from the Hindu State of Vijaynagar thrilled the hearts of
the brave, while the common people came to lose their former fear-
complex about the Muslim might. In this war with the Nizamshah too, the
Hindu forces punished the Muslims in the Nizamshahi lands and avenged
the atrocities on the Hindus in earlier times on a larger scale and even more
sternly and mercilessly than before. Not only on the battlefield, but even
during their marches, the heretofore arrogant attitude of the Muslims to the
Hindus was also punished by way of reprisals in the form of plundering of

their houses and property. The Muslim masjids were destroyed in the very
same way as the Hindu temples had been demolished. On the battlefields,
the Hindus simply routed the Muslim forces.
903. This fierce retaliation by the Hindus to the Muslim fanaticism and
devilish treatment of the non-Muslims, which had gathered momentum
during the last forty years or so, struck terror in the hearts of the Muslims,
and they, in their turn, formed a new fear-complex about the Hindus. They
began to complain most piteously that the Hindus perpetrated insults and
atrocities on them and even exposed their religion to ridicule and shame.
The Destruction of Vijaynagar
904. All the five Muslim States in the Deccan and the Muslim society in
general took a great fright at the defeat of Nizamshahi at the hands of
Ramrai, and especially, the fierce reprisals that the Hindus had newly
begun, and were excited with extreme fear and anger. They came to realize
that if they wanted their kingdoms to last and if at all they wished to live as
Muslims, it was absolutely necessary for them to forget their mutual
grievances, and launch a united and determined attack against the proud
kings of Vijaynagar. For, they knew that none of them by itself was a match
for the Vijaynagar Empire. So, Adilshah of Vijapur and his Vazir
Kishwarkhan decided to take the lead in this daring project. Kishwarkhan
personally went and interviewed the Nizamshah and Kut-b-Shah at their
respective capitals, while all prominent Muslim Sardars and Manasabdars,
and army chiefs and Mullah-maulvis preached jihad (crusade) everywhere.
In order to cement their mutual trust and newly-formed friendship, these
Muslim Sultans intermarried their daughters and formed family-ties, and,
thus, after a thorough preparation the joint forces of all Muslim States
marched on Vijaynagar.
905. Ramrai himself was not quite idle. Every now and then, he got
details about this secret plot of the Muslim States. He was, in fact, an old
man of seventy at that time, but his passion to fight with the Muslims had
not grown a bit less in intensity than what it was in his youth. Undaunted,
he, too, equipped his army in every respect and made ready to meet the
Muslim attack. He posted two big divisions of his forces under the
command of his two brothers—Tirumalrai and Vyankatadri—on two sides
of the city, and he himself took the centre.
906. The Hindu-Muslim armies met for a savage struggle at
Rakshasbhuvan (Rakkasgi-Tangadgi) near Talikot on Friday, the 2nd of

January, 1565. Both the sides had many good cannons and they were
arranged before the armies, tied fast with strong chains. The fact that for
some time after the first shots were fired, there was fierce fighting and that
the Muslims had a very hard knock, which caused confusion amongst their
ranks, is admitted even by the Muslim historians. Enraged at this
unpleasant turn of event, and thinking that the slightest slackness might
bring upon them all total ruin, Sultan Husen Nizamshah dashed right on the
centre and forcing a breach amongst the Hindu ranks, he made straight for
Raja Ramrai. The historians have no consensus of opinion about what
exactly happened at the moment. Some say that a Muslim soldier in the pay
of Ramrai himself treacherously killed him. Others declare that Raja
Ramrai got down from his palanquin, sat on a jewelled throne in the centre
of his army rewarding the feats of valour of his soldiers with gold and
jewels, and encouraged them incessantly. Some others avow that when the
battle reached its high pitch of ferocity, the Muslims, drove an intoxicated
elephant against the royal palanquin and slew him. Whatever that is, one
thing is accepted on all hands that as soon as Raja Ramrai was encircled by
the Muslims, they slew him and on the orders of Nizamshah, his bloody
head was exhibited on the sharp end of a long spear through the entire
army. The sight of that gory head unnerved the Hindus and the Muslims
closed in upon them with triumphant war-cries.
907. In spite of all this confusion wrought amongst the Hindu ranks,
Tirumalrai, the brother and Commander of Raja Ramrai, made haste to
reach the capital city of Vijaynagar with many of the royal family, and
before the Muslim forces arrived there, he left for the south with whatever
royal treasure he could load upon five hundred and fifty elephants, and the
remnant of his army, foot and horse. Mad with triumph, the Muslim armies
soon came in hot pursuit of the defeated Hindu ones and not only did they
capture the city but destroyed it completely with their traditional cruelty
and animosity. They razed to the ground grand palaces, temples, town-
halls, beautifully laid-out gardens, market places and colossal statues.
Libraries of books were burnt to ashes; crores of rupees worth of treasures
were pillaged. The Muslim writers themselves state with evident pride that
the infernal fires started in Vijaynagar by the Muslims kept burning for five
or six months together. Thus perished the grand city of Vijaynagar at the
hands of the Muslim demons in human form.