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.