A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar) Part 11

Nuniz[241] gives details of the provincial forces of Vijayanagar, compulsorily maintained by eleven out of a total of two hundred n.o.bles amongst whom the empire was divided, and the total of the forces of these eleven amounts to 19,000 horse, 171,700 foot, and 633 elephants.

Castanheda confirms other writers in this matter, stating that the infantry of Vijayanagar were countless, the country being of large extent and thickly populated, so that the king could call upon a million, or even two millions, of men at will.[242] This writer visited India just at the close of the reign of Krishna Deva Raya. He states that the king kept up at his own cost an establishment of 100,000 horses and 4000 elephants.

As to all this, I repeat that every one is at liberty to form his own opinion; but at least it seems certain that all the chroniclers believed that the king of Vijayanagar could, if he so desired, put into the field immense ma.s.ses of armed men. They were probably not all well armed, or well trained, or well disciplined, but as to large numbers there can be little reasonable doubt. A relic of this may be seen every year at modern Haidarabad, the capital city of H.H. the Nizam, where, at the annual festival known as the "Langar,"

armed irregulars in very large numbers file through the princ.i.p.al streets. They are for the most part a mere mob of men with weapons, and are not maintained as State troops, but they are brought up by the various n.o.bles in separate bodies, each chief mustering for the occasion all his hereditary retainers and forming them into rough regiments and brigades.

As to the description given by Nuniz of the offensive armour of the elephants, which are stated to have gone into battle with long swords like scythes attached to their trunks, the story is confirmed by many other writers.

Firishtah's Narrative.

Firishtah's account of the battle of Raichur is interesting, as it gives a description of the affair from the enemy's point of view. Ismail Adil Shah marched

"to recover Mudkul and Roijore from the roy of Beejanugger, who, gaining early intelligence of his designs, moved with a great force, and stationed his camp on the bank of the Kistnah, where he was joined by many of his tributaries; so that the army amounted at least to 50,000 horse, besides a vast host of foot. The sultan would now have delayed his expedition, as the enemy possessed all the ferries of the Kistnah, but that his tents were pitched, and it would have been disgraceful to retract from his declarations He therefore marched with 7000 horse, all foreign, and encamped on the bank of the river opposite to the enemy, waiting to prepare floats to cross and attack them.

"Some days after his arrival, as he was reposing in his tent, he heard one of the courtiers without the skreens reciting this verse: -- 'Rise and fill the golden goblet with the wine of mirth before the cup itself shall be laid in dust.' The sultan, inspired by the verse, called his favourites before him, and spreading the carpet of pleasure, amused himself with music and wine. When the banquet had lasted longer than was reasonable, and the fumes of the wine had exercised their power, a fancy seized the sultan to pa.s.s the river and attack the enemy.... Warm with wine he resolved to cross immediately, and mounting his elephant, without making his intentions known, proceeded to the river, as if to reconnoitre, but suddenly gave orders for as many of his troops as could to go upon the rafts, and others to follow him on elephants through the river. The officers represented the folly and danger of precipitation; but the sultan, without reply, plunged his own elephant into the stream, and was followed involuntarily by the amras and their followers; on about 250 elephants.

"By great good fortune, all reached the opposite sh.o.r.e in safety, and as many troops as could cross on the floats at two embarkations had time to arrive, when the enemy advanced to battle in so great force as excluded every probable hope of escape to the sultan, who had not more than 2000 men ready to oppose 30,000. The heroes of Islaam, animated with one soul, made so gallant a resistance that about a thousand of the infidels fell, among whom was Sunjeet Roy, the chief general of Beejanuggur; but at last, hara.s.sed beyond all power of opposition by cannon-shot, musquetry, and rockets, which destroyed near half their numbers, the survivors threw themselves into the river in hopes of escaping, and Nurs...o...b..hadur and Ibrahim Bey, who rode on the same elephant with Ismaeel Adil Shaw, drove the animal across the stream, but so great was the current, that except the royal elephant and seven soldiers, all the rest were drowned. The sultan's rashness was heavily punished by so great a loss. He took a solemn vow never to indulge in wine till he had revenged his defeat; and then, throwing away despair, busied his mind in repairing this unfortunate miscarriage.

"As Mirza Jehangeer had fallen in the action, the sultan consulted with a.s.sud Khan on what measures would be best to take in the present crisis of his affairs. a.s.sud Khan replied, that as his loss was great and the troops dispirited, it would be better for the present to retreat to Beej.a.pore. The sultan approving the advice, marched from the Kistnah to Beej.a.pore, and conferring the dignity of Sippeh Sallar[243] on a.s.sud Khan, added several districts to his jaghire, and made him his princ.i.p.al adviser in all important affairs."

Comparison of Accounts.

Comparing this account with that given by Nuniz, there can, I think, be little doubt that both stories refer to the same event, though there are of course several discrepancies. The origin of the war is related differently. Firishtah states that on the arrival of the Sultan at the river-bank he found the Hindu army encamped on the opposite side; he crossed, after a few days' delay, with a small force, and was driven into the river. Nuniz says that Krishna Deva Raya heard of Ismail Adil's arrival on the river-bank while he himself was in camp at Raichur, fifteen miles away; and that he advanced and gave battle nine miles from the river, in the end driving the enemy across. But taking the two narratives as a whole, there are too many points of coincidence to leave any doubt in the mind that each chronicler is writing of the same event.

As to which of the two is more accurate it is impossible now to decide. But considering that Nuniz wrote only fifteen years afterwards, and that there were Portuguese present at the battle, some of whom Nuniz may have personally consulted as to what took place, it would seem more reasonable to trust in him rather than in a Muhammadan historian who did not compile his work till after an interval of sixty years. Moreover, there are some inherent improbabilities in Firishtah's narrative.

It is worthy of notice, too, that throughout the story of Nuniz at this part of his chronicle there is much that impels the belief that either himself or his informant was present at the Hindu camp while these events were taking place. The narrative of the campaign, in complete contrast to that of the remainder of the history, reads like the account of an eye-witness; especially in the pa.s.sages describing the fortress of Raichur[244] and the camp -- where the supplies were so great that "you could find everything that you wanted,"[245] where "you saw"[246] the goldsmiths and artisans at work as if in a city, where "you will find"[247] all kinds of precious stones offered for sale, and where "no one who did not understand the meaning of what he saw would ever dream that a war was going on, but would think that he was in a prosperous city." Note also the description given of the extraordinary noise made by the drums, trumpets, and shouts of the men; so that even the birds fell down into the soldiers' hands stricken with terror and "it seemed as if the sky would fall to the earth," and "if you asked anything, you could not hear yourself speak, and you had to ask by signs." Many such instances might be given, but not to be tedious I will invite attention to only three more, viz., the account given by Nuniz of how; when receiving the men of the city after its surrender, the king, "casting his eye on Christovao de Figueiredo, nodded his head, and turned to the people telling them to observe what great things could be effected by one good man;"[248]

his description of the behaviour of the defeated citizens when Krishna Deva made his triumphant entry into the city; and his narrative of the amba.s.sador's reception at Vijayanagar by the king after the conclusion of the campaign.[249] It may be remembered that our other chronicler Domingo Paes, was at Vijayanagar with Christovao de Figueiredo some months after the battle, even if he were not personally present in the fighting at Raichur.

The great interest of Nuniz's narrative lies in the fact that it is the only detailed account extant. Barros related the events in historical fashion, taking his facts from this very chronicle; but he was never in India, and his brief summary is altogether wanting in the power and force contained in the graphic story of Nuniz. The other Portuguese writers pa.s.s over the war very lightly. It appears as if it hardly concerned then;, further than that at its close Ruy de Mello seized the mainlands near Goa.

Political Effects of the Battle.

And yet it had far-reaching effects. The Hindu victory so weakened the power and prestige of the Adil Shah that he ceased altogether to dream of any present conquest in the south, and turned his attention to cementing alliances with the other Muhammadan sovereigns, his neighbours. The victory also caused all the other Muhammadan Powers in the Dakhan seriously to consider the political condition of the country; and this eventually led to a combination without which nothing was possible, but by the aid of which the Vijayanagar Empire was finally overthrown and the way to the south opened. It furthermore greatly affected the Hindus by raising in them a spirit of pride and arrogance, which added fuel to the fire, caused them to become positively intolerable to their neighbours, and accelerated their own downfall.

It equally affected the fortunes of the Portuguese on the coast. Goa rose and fell simultaneously with the rise and fall of the second Vijayanagar dynasty; and necessarily so, considering that its entire trade depended on Hindu support; for the king of Portugal was never well disposed towards his hereditary enemies, the "Moors." This is a point frequently left unnoticed by writers, on Portuguese colonial history. The two most recent authors of works on the subject, Mr. Danvers ("The Portuguese in India") and Mr. Whiteway ("The Rise of Portuguese Power in India"), pay very little attention to the internal politics of the great country on the fringe alone of which the Portuguese settled, and on the coast of which their vessels came and went. Mr. Danvers devotes one short paragraph to the battle of Raichur,[250] and another[251] to the destruction of Vijayanagar. Mr. Whiteway does not even allude to the former event, and concludes his history before arriving at the date of the latter. Yet surely it is easy to see that the success or failure of maritime trade on any given coast must depend on the conditions prevailing in the empire for the supply of which that trade was established. When Vijayanagar, with its grandeur, luxury, and love of display, its great wealth and its enormous armies, was at the height of its power, the foreign traders were eminently successful: when Vijayanagar fell, and the city became desolate and depopulated, the foreign traders had no market for their goods, and trade decayed. So that this great Hindu victory at Raichur deserved a better fate than to be pa.s.sed over by the historians as if it had been an event of small importance.

The Events that followed the Battle.

Nuniz gives us in detail an account of the events that followed the victory of Krishna Deva Raya, and considering that he wrote only about fifteen years after their occurrence, we should do well to receive his account as probably true in the main. Firishtah, perhaps naturally, preserves a complete silence on the subject.

Nuniz tells us that when the city of Raichur surrendered, the Hindu king made a triumphal entry into it, and treated the garrison with kindness and consideration; while the other Muhammadan kings sent envoys to Krishna Deva Raya on hearing of his success, and received a haughty and irritating reply. Krishna Deva then returned to Vijayanagar and held high festival. Shortly afterwards an amba.s.sador arrived from the defeated Shah, and was treated with scant courtesy for more than a month, after which he was received in audience; when the king sent answer by him to his enemy, that if the Adil Shah would come to him, do obeisance, and kiss his foot, his lands and fortresses should be restored to him. No attention being paid to this, the Raya set out to search for the Shah, hoping, that he would be induced to do homage in the manner demanded and appearing to ignore altogether the effect which would necessarily be produced on the minds of the other kings of the Dakhan by this contemplated supreme humiliation of one of their number. The submission never took place. Krishna led his army as far north as Bij.a.pur, the Adil Shah's capital, which for a time he occupied and left sadly injured. Then Asada Khan, the Shah's wily courtier, successfully brought about the death of his personal enemy, Salabat Khan, by inducing the Raya to order his execution; an act to, which the king was led by the machinations of the arch-intriguer, who subordinated his chief's interests to his own selfish ends.

King Krishna had, in the city of Bij.a.pur, taken prisoner three sons of a former king of the Bahmani dynasty, who had been held captive by the Adil Shahs, and he proclaimed the eldest as king of the Dakhan.[252]

This abortive attempt to subvert the rule of the five kings who had established themselves on the ruins of the single Dakhan sovereignty naturally fell flat, and only resulted in stiffening the hostility which these sovereigns felt towards their common foe.

A little later Krishna Raya's son, a young prince on whom he desired to confer his crown, and in whose favour he had even gone so far as openly to abdicate, died suddenly of poison, and the king, then himself in a dying condition, arrested and imprisoned his own minister, Saluva Timma, and his family. In this he was aided by some Portuguese who happened to be present at the Durbar. On Saluva Timma's son escaping to a "mountain range" -- perhaps Sandur, on the south of the capital, where there are still to be seen the remains of a strong fortress built of cyclopean masonry on the summit of the highest hill, now known as Ramandrug -- the king summoned Timma and his brother and son, and had their eyes put out.

About this time the Adil Shah advanced again to retrieve his broken fortunes, but fled incontinently on hearing the news that Krishna Deva was advancing in person to meet him. That the king, though sorely ill, did indeed move in the manner stated, seems to be confirmed by the statement of Nuniz that on the way he bought six hundred horses from the Portuguese. Krishna began to make preparations for an attack on Belgaum, then in the Adil Shah's possession, and sent an envoy to invite the a.s.sistance in this enterprise of the Portuguese at Goa; but he fell too seriously ill to carry out his project, and died shortly afterwards at the age of from forty-two to forty-five years. It was then the year 1530 A.D.

He was succeeded by Achyuta.

So far Nuniz. We learn something more from other writers. Barros states that about the year 1523 Saluva Timma, the king's minister, invaded the mainlands near Goa, which had been recently acquired by the Portuguese under Ruy de Mello; that he advanced towards Ponda with a small force, but that he was attacked and driven back.[253]

Shortly after this, viz., in April 1524, the Muhammadans of Bij.a.pur attacked these same mainlands with success, during the viceroyalty of Dom Duarte de Menezes. On October 31 of that year the Chamber of Goa wrote a report to the king of Portugal in which occurs the following pa.s.sage: --

"The mainland which Ruy de Mello, who was captain of this city, conquered, was entered by the Moors, who used to possess it, in the month of April of five hundred and twenty-four, and they hold it as theirs, and the first Thanadar's district which they took was that of Perna, which is by the seaside. There they captured two Portuguese, and one of them was the Thanadar; these are prisoners in the fortress of Bylgan (Belgaum), of which the Suffilarim is captain."[254]

It is evident, therefore, that "the Moors" were successful, and yet it is curious that very little mention is made of this circ.u.mstance by other historians. Firishtah does not mention it; and it may therefore be reasonably inferred that the "Moors" in question were not the royal troops acting under the orders of the Sultan, but belonged to the local levies of Asada Khan, then chief of Belgaum.

According to Firishtah, the defeat at Raichur was followed by Ismail Adil Shah's marrying his sister to Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar; quarrelling and fighting with him (A.D. 1523); again fighting with him (1528); marrying another sister to Ala-ud-Din Ummad of Birar; and fighting with and entirely defeating Sultan Amir Barid of Bidar, then an old man, whom he captured. On the death of Krishna Deva, Ismail took advantage of the confusion of the Hindus to retake possession of Mudkal and Raichur.

Firishtah gives no dates for the two last of the event above noted, but the submission of Amir Barid to the Adil Shah apparently did not take place till 1529, for Barros[255] implies that it occurred after an event which cannot have happened earlier than 1529 -- namely, an attack on Ponda by three Hindu chiefs, which led to the inhabitants appealing for help to the then governor of Goa, Nuno da Cunha. Da Cunha was not governor till 1529. "AT THIS TIME," writes the historian, "Melique Verido[256] submitted to the Hidalchan, by advice of Madre Maluco and Cota Maluco, and came to his camp in poor clothes, and flung himself at his feet." This evidently refers to what occurred after the Barid's capture by the Adil Shah, if Firishtah's story is true.[257]

Let it be remembered, though the fact has no bearing on the history of Vijayanagar at this date, that in 1526 the Emperor Babar captured Delhi, and established himself as the first monarch of the great Moghul dynasty. He was succeeded in 1530 by Humayun, and on the latter's death in 1556 the great Akbar attained the throne.

CHAPTER 12

The Buildings, Works, and Inscriptions of Krishna Deva

Temples -- Irrigation works -- Statue of Narasimha -- Kamalapuram -- Inscriptions.

Were it not that the description given us by Nuniz and Paes of the condition of the great city of Vijayanagar at this period is so graphic, so picturesque, and so detailed as positively to require no addition, I should have deemed it my duty to attempt to supply the want; but with their narrative before us in all its original freshness, it would be useless to attempt anything further. Both of these writers were on the spot at the time of the city's greatest grandeur and prosperity, though in the time of Nuniz the period of its political decay had set in. With their descriptions I shall not venture to interfere.

I cannot, however, pa.s.s on to the reign of Achyuta without calling attention to some of the works carried out at the capital by Krishna Deva, and to a few of the inscribed records of his reign.

At the beginning of his reign Krishna built a GOPURA or tower, and repaired another, at the Hampe temple, which had been built by the first kings in honour of Madhavacharya, the founder of the fortunes of Vijayanagar. The great KRISHNASVAMI temple was built by him in 1513, after his return from the successful campaign in the east. In the same year he commenced the temple of HAZARA RAMASVAMI at the palace, the architecture of which leads Mr. Rea[258] to think that it was not finished till a later period.

Later in his reign the king busied himself in improving the irrigation of the dry lands about Vijayanagar. He constructed in 1521 the great dam and channel at Korragal, and the Basavanna channel, both of which are still in use and of great value to the country.[259]

Another great work of his was the construction of an enormous tank or dammed-up lake at the capital, which he carried out with the aid of Joao de la Ponte, a Portuguese engineer, whose services were lent to him by the governor-general of Goa. Both Paes and Nuniz mention this lake, and as the former actually saw it under construction it may have been begun in A.D. 1520. I think that this is the large lake, now dry, to be seen at the north-western mouth of the valley entering into the Sandur hills south-west of Hospett, the huge bank of which has been utilised for the conveyance of the highroad from Hospett to the southern taluqs. If so, the fact of its original failure is interesting to us, because for many years past this vast work has been entirely useless. The description given by Nuniz accords with the position of this tank, which was doubtless intended partly for irrigation purposes, and partly for the supply of water to the "new city," Nagalapura, the king's favourite residence, now known as Hospett. The chronicler mentions the existence of lofty ridges on each side, strong gates and towers guarding the entrance, and states that this was the princ.i.p.al approach to the capital from the south; all which data coincide with the position of the tank and road in question. It is through these gates that the Portuguese travellers entered Vijayanagar. This view is supported by the account given by Paes. Writing of the approach to Vijayanagar from the western coast, and describing the "first range," I.E. the first that is seen on pa.s.sing upwards from the plains, he states that in these hills was the princ.i.p.al entrance from that side. He alludes to the gates and wall, and the city, Nagalapur, constructed by King Krishna. Then he writes, "the king made a tank THERE," I.E. close to Hospett, at the mouth of two hills, and in order to this end "broke down a hill." He saw innumerable people at work on the tank. He confirms the story of Nuniz as to the sixty human beings offered in sacrifice to ensure the security of the dam. Both writers are therefore describing the same tank, and, taking the chronicles together, I can have no doubt as to the soundness of my identification.

Prior to 1520, Krishna Deva built the outlying town of Nagalapur, to which allusion has just been made. It was constructed in honour of his favourite wife, the quondam courtesan, Nagala Devi, and the king made it his favourite residence.

He also appears to have begun the construction of the temple of Vitthalasvami on the river-bank, the most ornate of an the religious edifices of the kingdom. "It shows," writes Mr. Rea in the article already referred to, "the extreme limit in florid magnificence to which the style advanced." The work was continued during the reign of Krishna Deva's successors, Achyuta and Sadasiva, and was probably stopped only by the destruction of the city in 1565. An inscription records a grant to the temple in 1561.

In 1528 was constructed one of the most curious and interesting monuments to be seen in the city. This is an enormous statue of the G.o.d Vishnu in his AVATARA as Narasimha, the man-lion. It was hewn out of a single boulder of granite, which lay near the south-western angle of the Krishnasvami temple, and the king bestowed a grant of lands for its maintenance. Though it has been grievously injured, probably by the iconoclastic Muhammadans in or after the year 1565, it is still a most striking object.

I have already alluded to the grants made by Krishna Deva to the great Virupaksha temple at Hampe, on the occasion of the festival of his coronation. There is an inscription of his reign on the base of the inner side of the front tower (GOPURA) of the temple at Virinchipuram, dated in the year A.D. 1513 -- 14; and one dated Tuesday, September 20, 1513, at Sankalapura, close to the capital, recording a grant of the lands of that village to the temple of Ganapati in the palace enclosure.[260] Mr. Fleet[261] mentions others of his reign in A.D. 1509 -- 10, 1512 -- 13, 1514 -- 15, 1522 -- 23, and 1527 -- 28.

The last inscription of the reign at present known is one which bears a date corresponding to Friday, April 23, A.D. 1529.[262] It stands in front of the great statue of Ugra Narasimha, described above.