A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar by Robert Sewell (read a book TXT) 📖

The last date of Achyuta known to epigraphists at present is found in an inscription289 bearing a date corresponding to January 25, A.D. 1541; and the earliest date similarly available of his successor, Sadasiva, is July 27, A.D. 1542.

CHAPTER 14

The Beginning of the End

Reign of Sadasiva — The king a prisoner but acknowledged — Rama Raya — The Adil Shah again at Vijayanagar — Bijapur in danger — Saved by Asada Khan — Rebellion of Prince Abdullah — Royal gratitude — Death of Asada at Belgaum — The Portuguese support Abdullah — Treaties — Ain-ul-Mulkh — Fights near Goa — Rama Raya’s threatened expedition to Mailapur — He joins the Adil Shah and wastes the territories of Ahmadnagar — Portuguese violence on the Malabar coast — The Inquisition at Goa.

Sadasiva, then, began to reign in 1541 or 1542 A.D., but was only nominally king, the whole power of the state being in the hands of Rama Raya and his two brothers, Tirumala and Venkatadri. That Sadasiva was recognised by every one as the real sovereign is shown by a large number of inscriptions, ranging from 1542 to 1568;[290] most of which, however, have not yet been properly examined. A careful study has been made by Dr. Hultzsch291 of one of these, dated in A.D. 1566 — 67, a year or so after the great defeat of the Hindus at Talikota and the destruction of the capital; and this is especially interesting as it bears out my assertion that even the three brothers themselves recognised Sadasiva as king, though he had no power and was kept under constraint. In this document Rama Rajah’s brother, Tirumala, is the important personage, but he submits to the minor title, MAHAMANDALESVARA, while Sadasiva is mentioned as sovereign. The inscription states that a certain person presented a petition to the “Mahamandalesvara Rama Raja Tirumala Raja,” who, AFTER OBTAINING SANCTION AT THE FEET OF SADASIVA-DEVA MAHARAYA, granted a village to the great temple at Vellore. Rama Rajah and Venkatadri were both at that time dead, and Tirumala was king DE FACTO. Couto292 even goes so far as to say that the three brothers “went on one day every year and prostrated themselves before their lawful sovereign in token of his rights over them.” But as to the read relationship of Achyuta to Krishna, and Sadasiva to both, we are still completely in doubt.

We saw that, according to Nuniz, Krishna Deva, immediately on his accession to the throne, imprisoned his three brothers and a nephew, then eight years old, son of the late king, “Busbalrao.” This was in the year 1509 A.D., and Krishna was then over twenty years old. We hear of no king of the name of “Busbalrao,” or anything like it, from other sources; nor are the names of Krishna’s three brothers as given by Nuniz293 at all like those of the two half-brothers mentioned in some of the inscriptions.

More than one epigraphical record contains the following genealogy: —

Here we have two half-brothers of Krishna Deva named Ranga and Achyuta, the latter being chosen king; and a nephew, Sadasiva.

Two inscriptions noted in my “Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India”[294] state that Achyuta was the son of Krishna Deva; while a Telugu work, the MANUCHARITRAM, makes him son of the second Narasimha. Couto295 says that he was nephew of Krishna Raya.

As to Sadasiva, some authorities make him, as stated above, nephew of Krishna Deva and son of Ranga, while another says that he was the son of Achyuta.

An inscription at Conjeeveram296 states that Achyuta had a wife named Varada Devi who bore him a son, Venkata. Venkata was actually raised to the throne, but lived only a short time, and then young Sadasiva was crowned king.

If it is necessary to make any choice amid all this confusion, I recommend my readers to accept provisionally the pedigree given in the above table, leaving it for future research to finally settle the question.

As to Rama Raya, several inscriptions state that he and his two brothers were sons of one Ranga Raya, whose pedigree is given; and Professor Kielhorn considers it established that Rama married Krishna Deva’s daughter.[297] She was probably a child at her marriage. She had a brother eighteen months old at the time of Krishna Deva’s death — so Nuniz says — but we hear nothing more about him, or what became of him. Another daughter of Krishna Deva Raya’s is said to have been married to Rama Raya’s brother, Tirumala. Some authorities state that Rama’s wife was Sadasiva’s sister.[298]

That there were disturbances at the capital on the death of Achyuta in 1542 seems clear; and indeed it could hardly be otherwise, for he appears to have dislocated the whole empire, alienated the nobles, upon whom the defence of the country rested, and aroused in them a spirit of rebellion to the crown.

Gaspar Correa has left us an account of what took place at Vijayanagar at that time, and I repeat his story for what it is worth; though it certainly seems as if he had made a mistake and brought down to this year the affairs of 1535 — 36, the story of which has already been told. For he alludes to a visit of the Adil Shah to Vijayanagar, and unless there were two such visits, Correa would seem to be in error, since Firishtah’s date is confirmed by Nuniz, in whose time King Achyuta was alive.

Correa299 states that in 1542 Achyuta, king of Vijayanagar, died, leaving a young son in the power of his uncle, brother of the dead king, who had been king contrary to right.[300] The nobles wished to keep the boy at liberty, nominating two ministers to carry on the government; but the uncle disagreed, since in this way he would lose all power, and he contrived to gain over some partisans to his side. The nobles in disgust separated, returned to their estates, and, in despair of good government, began to assume independence each in his own province. The queen, mother of the boy, begged the Adil Shah to come to her aid and secure the kingdom for her son, promising him, in return for this favour, immense riches. The Sultan set out for this purpose, intending to visit Vijayanagar, but on the road he was met by emissaries from the minister, and bought off with lavish gifts. The king by real right (probably the uncle, Ranga), who had been detained in a fortress, was then liberated, and he also sought aid from the Sultan of Bijapur. The Sultan took advantage of the opportunity to set out afresh, nominally to aid the true king, but really to acquire the kingdom for himself. The Hindus, in fear for their safety, placed on the throne the brother of the dead king, and succeeded in defeating the Adil Shah close to Vijayanagar. The new king, in order to strengthen his position for the future, caused the boy, his rival, to be assassinated, as also two of the latter’s uncles and a nephew of the dead king (Achyuta).[301] Then, in dread of the power of the principal nobles, he summoned them to court, and put out the eyes of those who arrived first; so that the rest returned in great anger to their homes and began to intrigue with the Sultan. They urged him to depose the tyrant, promising their aid, and offering him the kingdom for himself if only the country could be freed from this monster. The Adil Shah therefore advanced, entered the kingdom of Vijayanagar, and was received as sovereign by many; but he also assumed such intolerant and haughty airs that he aroused the hatred of all around him, and in the end was obliged, in fear for his own safety, to retire to Bijapur. “Meanwhile a new king had seized the throne of Vijayanagar, a great lord from Paleacate, married to a sister of the king that preceded the dead king,[302] and in the end he secured the kingdom.”[303]

It seems impossible, as Senhor Lopes justly observes, to get at the truth of all this at present, and I think it best to abandon the subject and pass on to consider the events of the reign of Sadasiva, which lasted from 1542 to 1567. It is pretty evident that each chronicler acquired his knowledge “from stories transmitted from mouth to mouth and disfigured in the process.”[304]

In 1543 Burhan Nizam Shah made an alliance with Rama Rajah and Jamshid Qutb Shah, Sultan of Golkonda, and attacked the Adil Shah, whereupon Rama Rajah, taking advantage of the latter’s troubles, sent Venkatadri to reduce Raichur and the Doab, “so that Beejapore, attacked at the same time by three powerful princes in three separate quarters, was full of danger and disorder.”[305] True to the traditions of his predecessors, the new Sultan of Bijapur “called Assud Khan from Balgoan to his presence and demanded his advice on the alarming state of affairs,” with the result that he patched up a peace with Burhan, making over to him the rich districts surrounding Sholapur, and sent ambassadors to arrange terms with Vijayanagar. This done, and the allies having retired, Asada Khan marched against the Qutb Shah of Golkonda, defeated him under the walls of his capital, and in a personal encounter grievously wounded him in the face with his sabre.[306]

The Portuguese at this period had been very active, and amongst other more or less successful enterprises the Governor, Affonso de Sousa, attacked the territory of the Rani of Bhatkal on the pretext that she had withheld tribute due to the king of Portugal, and wasted her country with fire and sword. Her city was burnt, the Hindus were slain in large numbers, and the Rani reduced to submission.

About the year 1544 — the date is somewhat uncertain — Sultan Burhan again attacked Ibrahim Adil at the instigation of Rama Rajah, but was completely defeated.

“The sultan (Ibrahim) after this victory growing haughty and imperious, treated the ambassadors of Nizam Shah in a contemptuous manner, and behaved tyrannically to his own subjects, putting to death many and severely punishing others of his principal nobility for slight offences, which occasioned disaffection to his government.”

On Burhan again invading Bijapur territories, a party was formed to depose Ibrahim and raise to the throne his brother Abdullah. This prince, finding that the conspiracy had been discovered, fled for safety to Goa, where he was well received. But when Ibrahim promised certain provinces to the Portuguese if they would send Abdullah away to a place where he could no longer disturb the peace of the Bijapur territories, De Sousa accepted the conditions; receiving the gift of Salsette and Bardes for the crown of Portugal, and the whole of the vast treasures accumulated by Asada Khan at Belgaum as a personal present for himself. Having pocketed as much as he could of the bribe, however, he only took Abdullah as far as Cannanore and then brought him back to Goa; and when, at the end of the next year, De Castro succeeded De Sousa as Governor, the former refused to surrender the rebel prince. This duplicity placed the Sultan in great difficulty, and in February 1546 he executed a treaty of peace, one of the terms of which was that no person belonging either to the Dakhan, or to the territories of the Nizam Shah, or to those of the king of Vijayanagar, with certain others specially mentioned, should be permitted to have any communication with Abdullah or his family until the reply of the king of Portugal was received to an embassy which the Adil Shah proposed to send to him. There were other terms also, and these not