第26章

The Sultan's next war took place in A.H.828,when he advanced against Warangal over the undulating plains of the Dakhan,then rich in crop,and was completely successful.The Hindu kingdom was completely and for ever destroyed.The English date usually given for this event is A.D.1424,but it is quite possible that a mistake has been made owing to the use of imperfect chronological tables by those who have written on the subject,and that Ahmad Shah's capture of Warangal may have taken place in A.D.1425.Briggs,for instance,calls A.H.828"A.D.1424,"but the year only began on November 23,1424.The campaign,however,was very short,and may have been concluded before the end of December of that year.

We hear nothing more from Firishtah regarding the affairs of Vijayanagar till the early part of the reign of Ahmad's son and successor,Ala-ud-din II.,which began on Sunday,February 27,A.D.1435,[110]the day of Sultan Ahmad's death.

Ala-ud-din's first act was to despatch his brother Muhammad Khan with a powerful army against Deva Raya of Vijayanagar --"who had withheld his tribute for five years and refused to pay the arrears.They laid waste the country in such a manner that the Roy in a short time was glad to procure peace by giving twenty elephants,a great sum of money,and two hundred female slaves skilled in music and dancing,besides a valuable present to Mahummud Khan."Flushed with this victory,and in command of a large force,Prince Muhammad rebelled against his brother,and Firishtah states that in doing so he obtained aid from Deva Raya.The prince took Mudkal,Raichur,Sholapur,Bijapur,and Naldirak from the Sultan's governors,but in a pitched battle with the royal forces was completely defeated and fled.Shortly afterwards,however,he was forgiven by his generous sovereign,and the fortress and territories of Raichur were conferred on him.

About the year 1442Deva Raya began to consider more seriously his situation in relation to his powerful neighbour at Kulbarga.

"He called[111]a general council of his nobility and principal bramins,observing to them that as his country of Carnatic in extent,population,and revenue far exceeded the territories of the house of Bahmenee;land in like manner his army was far more numerous,wished therefore to explore the cause of the mussulmauns'successes,and his being reduced to pay them tribute.Some said ...that the superiority of the mussulmauns arose from two circumstances:one,all their horses being strong,and able to bear more fatigue than the weak,lean animals of Carnatic;the other,a great body of excellent archers always kept up by the sultans of the house of Bahmenee,of whom the roy had but few in his army.

"Deo Roy upon this gave orders for the entertainment of mussulmauns in his service,allotted them jaghires,[112]erected a mosque for their use in the city of Beejanuggur,and commanded that no one should molest them in the exercise of their religion.He also ordered a koraun to be placed before his throne,on a rich desk,that the mussulmauns might perform the ceremony of obeisance in his presence,without sinning against their laws.He also made all the Hindoo soldiers learn the discipline of the bow;in which he and his officers used such exertions,that he had at length two thousand mussulmauns and sixty thousand Hindoos,well skilled in archery,besides eighty thousand horse and two hundred thousand foot,armed in the usual manner with pikes and lances."On a day which must have been between November 1442and April 1443a desperate attempt was made on the life of King Deva Raya by one of his closest relatives --a brother,according to Abdur Razzak,a nephew,according to Nuniz.Abdur Razzak's story is without doubt the more reliable of the two,since he is a contemporary witness.The story as told by Nuniz is given in the chronicle at the end of this volume.[113]

Abdur Razzak was ambassador from Persia to Calicut and Vijayanagar,and his account is particularly important as it definitely fixes the date.

"During the time that the author of this narrative was still sojourning at Calicut (November 1442to April 1443)there happened in the city of Bidjanagar an extraordinary and most singular occurrence....