Vijaynagar

Chapter 5

Fig.1 Major Kingdoms of South India 1320 CE.

The map above shows the rough extent of the Delhi Sultanate and the extent of the major
South Indian kingdoms.
In Delhi tectonic changes were taking place. In 1320 CE, Khusrau Khan assassinated Sultan
Mubarak Khilji and proclaimed himself Sultan Nasir-ud-din. From the venom heaped upon
him by Muslim historians like Barni, it is clear that Khusrau Khan

had converted back to

Hinduism. Khusrau Khan is an enigmatic character who deserves an article on his own; I will
touch very briefly on him.
Assisting Khusrau Khan in reasserting Hindu might in Delhi were fifty thousand Gujarati
Hindus who had been enslaved by Ala-ud-din Khilji during his conquest of Gujarat. These are
the Parwrs referred to by Muslim historians.
That the occasion of Sultan Nasir-ud-dins accession to the throne of Delhi was a moment of
joy for the despairing Hindus in the North is given by the following passage of Barani, In
those dreadful days the infidel rites of the Hindus were highly exalted, the dignity and the
importance of the Parwrs were increased, and through all the territory of Islm the Hindus
rejoiced greatly, boasting that Dehl had once more come under Hindu rule, and that the
Musulmns had been driven away and dispersed. (Baran)
But this joy was short lived.Khusrau Khan was defeated in battle by Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq
and excecuted .Devala Devi who had married Khusrau Khan committed suicide by taking
poison.
After killing Khusrau, Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq

took over the reins of the Delhi Sultanate in

1320 CE. Once the Gangetic plains were subdued, he was able to direct his attentions to the
south which had shaken off even nominal allegiance to the sultanate. Taking advantage of
the chaos in Delhi, Prataparudra had thrown off the Muslim yoke. It is apparent that all the
previous Muslim expeditions had not dented Warangals power much.
Third Invasion of Warangal

Once the gangetic plains were subdued, Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq

turned his attention onto

Deccan and further down south. Mubarak Khilji had completely wiped out the Yadava ruling
family in Devagiri, which was now completely subdued. As mentioned previously Devagiri had
become a stronghold of Muslims, who were

encouraged to come and settle.

Keeping in line with the genocidal policies of the sultans, Hindus were pushed to

bare

subsistence levels wherever the Muslims gained a strong foothold. A detailed explanation of
the economic and social catastrophe that befell Hindu society can be found on Dikgajs blog
(http://dikgaj.wordpress.com/).

Fig 2

Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq

First Tughlaq invasion of Warangal in 1321 CE

sensed that Warangal would not be easy to subdue. For this purpose

a large army was assembled from the Muslim strongholds of Baduan, Oudh, Kara, Dabmu,
Bangarmu, Chanderi etc. This sea of Muslim armies marched towards Warangal in 1321 CE
led by Ulugh Khan (later on known as Mohammed Tughlaq).
This expedition was clearly with a view of conquering the Kakatiya kingdom, not just looting
it. Ulugh Khan was accompanied by a host of other nobles and their retinues. After two
months they reached Deogiri, where they were reinforced by other Muslim amirs and the
invasion force rolled on towards Warangal.
At this point it needs to be appreciated that this was the third full scale invasion of Warangal
in a short time of eleven

years. Muslims could generate and sustain massive armies on the

back of relentless exploitation of the Hindus of the north and the looting of existing Hindu
kingdoms. The enslavement of Hindu men and women was big business for the Delhi sultans.
Northern India (Punjab and Gangetic plains) was stripped bare of resources after being raped
for over three centuries by the Muslims.
It was official policy of the Delhi sultans to reduce the Hindus to bare subsistence levels. This
is illustrated by a quote by Barani about Ala-ud-din Khiljis policy towards Hindus, The Hind
was to be so reduced as to be left unable to keep a horse to ride on, to carry arms, to wear
fine clothes, or to enjoy any of the luxuries of life. (Baran)
On the other hand the Kakatiya kingdom was hard pressed to generate the same level of
military resource without adversely affecting other sections of society i.e. agriculture, trades
etc. Despite their obvious resource handicap the hardy Kakatiya warriors put up a fierce fight
to the advancing Muslim host.
As on previous occasions Prataparudra along with his nobles took shelter in the formidable
Warangal fort. Prataparudra was well prepared to withstand a long siege. In any event the
siege dragged on for eight months. Roving bands of Kakatiya warriors disrupted the Muslim
postal system and harassed the invaders from the rear.

I will deviate to give a brief description of the Delhi sultanates postal system. It is necessary
to get an idea of how the Sultans were able to take rapid

military action on the basis of

speedy communications. Ibn Battuta says the sultans postal service was of two types:
1. Mounted Couriers: The first type was mounted couriers on horses. There were relays
every 4 miles.
2. Runners on foot: - Every third of a mile there was a village outside which three pavilions
in which runners sat ready to move off. Each runner had a staff (yard and half long) with
bells at the top. When a runner ran he had the message in the fingers of the free hand and
the rod in the other. The bells alerted the men sitting in the next village of the runners
approach and someone in the next pavilion took over the message. As per Ibn Battuta this
was faster than mounted couriers. Fruits and criminals were also transported in this way to
the sultan. This seems to have been only used for the sultans personal needs/military
communications/government communications.
While the siege of Warangal was in progress, dissensions and intrigues broke out in the
Muslim camp. Distrustful of Ulugh Khans motives, a group of rebels led by Tighin and Timur
conducted secret negotiations with Prataparudra. As per their pact with Prataparudra, the
rebels would abandon the camp and lift the siege of Warangal, provided Prataparudra allowed
them to leave unmolested through his territory. Once assured of their safety the rebel faction
rolled up their camp, destroyed the wooden stockades and left Ulugh Khan to face the wrath
of the Kakatiya forces.
As soon as Prataparudra was sure that the rebels had left the Muslim camp for good, a
ferocious sally issued forth from Warangal fort. This caused great slaughter in Ulugh Khans
camp. Ulugh Khan had to depart in haste, all the while being pursued by the avenging
Hindus.
Thus ended the fifth invasion of Warangal in total ignominy for the ever victorious armies of
Islam.
Final invasion of Warangal: End of the Kakatiya Kingdom

When the news of the ignominious defeat reached Delhi, Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq made sure
that the rebels

who were responsible for the debacle were executed in the most painful way

possible.Barani says, The Sultn held a public darbr in the plain of Sr, when Ubaid, the
poet, and Kfr, the seal-keeper, and other rebels, were impaled alive;* some of the others,
with their wives and children, were thrown under the feet of elephants. (Baran)

Fig 3

First Tughlaq invasion of Warangal in 1322 CE

Within six months a more formidable invasion force was raised and Ulugh Khan swept into
the Deccan. This time Prataparudra was taken unawares and was completely unprepared for
the attack!
It is difficult to explain this failure in the light of the fact that on every previous occasion he
had been well prepared to meet the Muslim attack. The

Kakatiya soldiers had been sent

back to their villages and the granaries emptied, even Warangal fort was not properly
provisioned. This can be only described in that oft repeated phrase of modern India as an
intelligence failure!!
The Muslim force stormed Badrakot (Bidar) and besieged Warangal. The siege went on for
five long months, but the breaking point for the brave Hindus came due to lack of food within
the fort. Prataparudra surrendered on condition of amnesty.
While being taken as a prisoner to Delhi, Prataparudra committed suicide. Rather death than
a life of dishonour!! This is a message strangely lost on modern

India wherein compromise

and adjustment are the buzz phrases of the secular mob.

Thus fell the great Kakatiya kingdom which was a focal point of Hindu resistance against
Islamic imperialism for nearly a quarter of a century. Ulugh Khan promptly renamed
Warangal as Sultanpur. A typical act of Islamic vandalism wherein anything created by other
cultures is appropriated as their own!! Ishwa from India forum has written a nice series of
articles analysing Islamic vandalism (http://www.indiaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2468-scheme-of-muslim-rule-inindia/page__pid__108412__st__0&#entry108412). Myths like the golden age of Islamic
science etc which are being bandied about these days are a pretty good example of

gross

distortion of history.
Resistance in Andhra
Although Prataparudras death brought the curtains down on the Kakatiya kingdom it did not
extinguish Hindu resistance. In south western Andhra, Jagatapi Gangayadeva resisted the
Muslims from his capital at Gutti. But in due course he was forced to submit to Ulugh Khan.

Fighting continued in the coastal Andhra region. Ulugh Khan established his authority and
extracted tribute from the Hindu populace with the help of Muslim governors and the usual
Hindu collaborators. Ulugh Khan also retained the key decision makers of the old Kakatiya
kingdom to help govern the newly captured province. What limited freedom of movement the
old Hindu officials had, would be closely watched by strong Muslim garrisons posted in key
cities.
After the fall of Andhra, Ulugh Khan captured Madurai. In 1323 CE, Parakaramdeva the
Pandya king of Madurai was defeated and his family taken prisoner. A strong Muslim garrison
was posted at Madurai

and the administration passed into the hands of Muslim amirs.

Change at Delhi
In 1325 CE, Sultan Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq

was killed when a wooden structure erected to

welcome him from his Bengal expedition collapsed on his head. The hand of Ulugh Khan in
his fathers death has been strongly suspected by historians. With this Ulugh Khan ascended
the throne of Delhi and proclaimed himself Sultan Mohammed Tughlaq.

Fig 4

South India in

1325 CE

At the time of Mohammed Tughlaqs ascension to the throne of Delhi

the major Hindu

kingdoms still in existence were (see map above):

North: Rajputana (

I am clubbing all the existing Rajput states together, as I have not read

enough of the situation in the North to give a clear picture)

South: Kampili (Karnataka), Dvarasamudram (major portion of Karnataka, parts of Andhra &
parts of Tamil Nadu), Kandhyana (present day Pune region, not shown on map), Calicut.
East: Jajnagar (Orissa), Kamarupa (Assam, not shown on map).
The map above gives a rough idea of the size and location of the remaining Hindu kingdoms
in the south of India. I make no claims to the accuracy of the map; hence take it as a rough
guide.
Mohammed Tughlaqs behaviour towards the Hindus was no less cruel and atrocious than the
other Muslim sultans. Then why is so much opprobrium heaped on him? The Muslim historian
Barani statement clearly illustrates the reason for his infamy:
The punishment of Musulmns, and the execution of true believers, with him became a
practice and a passion. Numbers of doctors, and elders, and saiyids, and sfs, and
kalandars, and clerks, and soldiers, received punishment by his order. Not a day or week
passed without the spilling of much Musulmn blood, and the running of streams of gore
before the entrance of his palace (Baran)
Its one thing if kafir Hindus are cut down like animals, but a different thing if a true believer
i.e. a Muslim is killed!!
In recent times the secular lobby has tried to rehabilitate Mohammed Tughlaq by portraying
him as a misunderstood visionary who was ahead of his time! The same eminent historians
are responsible for this reprehensible whitewash. On a side note many of these pseudo
historians testified from the Muslim side in the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi court case which was
decided recently upon by Allahabad High court. The way the Honourable judges tore apart

their lies can be found in the extracts of the judgement posted in this thread in Bharat
Rakshak (http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5697).
What the secular historians neglect to mention is gems like these: At this time the country of
the Dob was brought to ruin by the heavy taxation and the numerous cesses. The Hindus
burnt their corn stacks and turned their cattle out to roam at large. Under the orders of the
Sultn, the collectors and magistrates laid waste the country, and they killed some
landholders and village chiefs and blinded others. Such of these unhappy inhabitants as
escaped formed themselves into bands and took refuge in the jungles. So the country was
ruined. The Sultn then proceeded on a hunting excursion to Baran, where, under his
directions, the whole of that country was plundered and laid waste, and the heads of the
Hindus were brought in and hung upon the ramparts of the fort of Baran. (Baran)
In the above poassage, Barani is talking about the atrocious taxes levied by Mohammed
Tughlaq and their effect on the Hindus of Uttar Pradesh.
So the enlightened Sultan first taxes Hindus till they have virtually no incentive to till their
fields (It must be kept in mind that even in this day, land is everything to the Indian
farmer.He will only abandon it in the most extreme circumstances: either when it does not
provide even subsistence level food or under extreme force by external factors).Next when
the Hindus flee inhuman persecution,the Sultan promptly organizes shikaars and hunts
them down like wild animals!!
The Kampili wars
Kampili was a small but powerful kingdom founded by Mummadi Singeya from the fragments
of the disintegrating Devagiri kingdom. Kampilideva succeeded Mummadi Singeya in 1313
CE. Please see the map for a rough idea of the kingdom of Kampili. It was tiny compared to
the Delhi sultanate, but it punched well above its weight. It took three well equipped
invasions before Kampili

faded into the night.

Kampilideva is one of those unacknowledged heroes

of our history who fought tooth and nail

against the Muslim invaders. A staunch defender of dharma, he fought with even those Hindu
chiefs who paid tribute to the Delhi sultans. Kampilideva fought many battles with bigger
kingdoms such as Dvarasamudram and Warangal.

Mohammed Tughlaq decided to put an end to Kampili before it became the focal point of
resurgent Hindu power in the Deccan. An ideal pretext for invasion was found in Baha-ud-din
Garhasps rebellion. Baha-ud-din was a cousin of Mohammed Tughlaq and had been made
governor of the Sagar town (Karnataka)

by Ghiyath-al-din Tughlaq .A brave warrior; he had

fought with distinction against the Mongols in 1324 CE.

Baha-ud-din was disaffected with his treatment by Mohammed Tughlaq and rebelled in order
to carve a separate kingdom for himself. All this while, he had been careful to cultivate
excellent relations with Kampilideva. In 1327 CE, a pitched battle between the Delhi
sultanates army and Baha-ud-din took place on the banks of the Godavari River in Karnataka.
Garhasp was defeated and fled with his family to Kampilideva for protection.
Like on previous occasions in our history, the flight of a fugitive to the protection of a Hindu
state was enough excuse for the Muslim sultans to attack the Hindu kingdoms. In Kampilis
case the excuse came in the form of Baha-ud-din Garhasp.
The outstanding moral character of Kampilideva is clearly demonstrated in the assurance of
safety which he gave to Garhasp, Now so long as the pulse moves in my body, I wont take
in a breath except in friendship to you. I swear by the sun, the sacred thread (I wear) and
the idols (I worship) that you shall find me faithful. If all (the people of the world) were to
join together to take your life, they cannot cause you as much injury as a grain of barley.
I have taken the descriptions of the three invasions straight from N Venkataramanayyas
book. Apologies if it sounds ad verbatim, as for most part it is.
First Invasion of Kampili
The first invasion of Kampili took place shortly after Garhasps rebellion in 1327 CE. Malik
Zada aided by Malik Rukn- ud- din crossed the Krishna and mounted an attack on Kummata,
which was the chief fortress of Kampilideva. At this time, Kampilideva was in his capital
Hosdurg (Anegondi). Kampilideva sent a strong force headed by his minister Baicappa, his
sons Ramanatha and Katanna, and Garhasp to reinforce Kummata.
On arrival Rukn- ud- din pitched his tents around the fort. Katanna conducted a surprise sally
from the fort on the first day of the siege, inflicting heavy losses on the Muslims and
capturing two thousand horses in the process. The next day the Muslims tried to storm the

fort but were decisively beaten back by Ramanatha and Katanna. The Muslim army was
completely routed and Rukn-ud- din forced to retreat back to Devagiri.
Thus ended the first invasion of Kampili; a complete failure for the world conquering armies
of Islam.
Second invasion of Kampili
Incensed by the failure of the mighty armies of Islam to subdue the small kingdom of
Kampili, Mohammed Tughlaq

promptly despatched another well equipped invasion force

under Malik Qutb-ul-Mulk. The Muslims moved as before

to attack Kummata.

Kampilideva was well prepared to meet the second invasion as well. Both the forts of
Kummata and Hosdurg were strengthened. This time Kampilideva himself led the defence of
Kummata against the Muslims.
On the night of first day of the siege a surprise night attack by a band of Kampili warriors
threw the Muslim camp into confusion. On the second day Qutb-ul-Mulk attacked

the fort

with all his forces from three sides. They managed to take the outer wall, but were pushed
out by the vigorous defenders led by Kampilideva.
On the third day of the siege Kampilideva arranged his troops in battle order outside the fort
gates. Facing him was the Muslim army with their Turkish horse archers in the centre, cavalry
to the right and elephants to the left. Ramanatha attacked the Turkish centre first throwing
them into disarray. As they desperately tried to flee from the attack, they caused confusion in
the cavalry and elephants stationed on their sides. Ramanatha charged the Muslim forces
cutting most of them down and killing their top commanders. Qutb-ul-Mulk saved himself by
escaping from the battlefield.
Final Invasion of Kampili
Within a short time Mohammed Tughlaq despatched an even larger force under his minister
Malik Zada. There seems to have been a drought during this time in Kampili, as the
Portuguese historian Nunes says that the Muslims had to wait for the rainy season before
they could proceed further. This would perhaps explain why the two strong forts: Kummata
and Hosdurg ran out of provisions relatively quickly.

The Muslims laid siege to Kummata first. Although Kampilideva and Garhasp sallied forth and
assaulted the Muslims, they were defeated and forced to pull back inside the fort. Conditions
inside Kummata got dire as the Hindus began to run out of provisions.
The Muslims stormed the fort in an all out assault forcing Kampilideva to abandon Kummata
and seek shelter in his capital Hosdurg. Kampilideva relocated the fifty thousand citizens of
Hosdurg to other places in Kampila, only keeping five thousand soldiers for the defence of
Hosdurg.
Hot on Kampilidevas trail, Malik Zada laid siege to Hosdurg. After one month the situation
inside the fort got dire. The situation got even more precarious when the Muslims

stormed

their way into the fort.

Kampilideva realised all was lost, but this great man first made sure his friend Garhasp
escaped with his family to the Hoysala kingdom of Dvarasamudra, which was ruled by Veera
Ballala III. Garhasp escaped with his family to Dvarasamudra.(Garhasp seems to have been
quite an accomplished warrior, as he is described tying three-four horses together, putting
his family on them and riding out of Kummata, only turning back to cut down his pursuers).
I am quoting this passage written by Ibn Battuta about the last hours of this great sovereign.
It is extremely stirring to read, Then he (Kampilideva) commanded a great fire to be
prepared and lighted. Then he burned his furniture, and said to his wives and daughters, I
am going to die, and such of you as prefer it, do the same. Then it was seen that each one
of these women washed herself, rubbed her body with sandal-wood, kissed the ground before
the r(Raya) of Kambla (Kampila), and threw herself upon the pile. All perished. The wives
of his nobles, ministers, and chief men imitated them, and other women also did the same.
The r, in his turn, washed, rubbed himself with sandal, and took his arms, but did not put
on his breastplate. Those of his men who resolved to die with him followed his example. They
sallied forth to meet the troops of the Sultn, and fought till every one of them fell dead.
(Batuta).
As can be seen from the above passage the ladies of Kampila performed jauhar to save
their honour. Ibn Batuta heard about this incident from a trusted source, but he was an

eye

witness to another incident wherein the Hindu ladies burnt themselves on their husbands
pyre. Ibn Batuta clearly describes their fearlessness and devotion to their husbands in the
face of the raging flames.

Kampilideva fought extremely bravely in battle before falling dead of his many wounds. Malik
Zada had his head stuffed

and sent to Mohammed Tughlaq as a gift. The Muslims conducted

a general massacre of the remaining residents of Hosdurg. Those who survived like the
eleven sons of Kampilideva; were converted to Islam.
Thus was the end of the kingdom of Kampili, but the lowest ebb for the Southern Hindus was
yet to come.
What of Baha-ud-din Garhasp? Veera Ballala III was unwilling to take the risk of inviting a full
scale Muslim invasion by sheltering a fugitive. He promptly handed over Garhasp to Malik
Zada.
As is illustrated by this passage Garhasp met a terrible end, He (Mohammed Tughlaq)
ordered the prisoner (Garhasp) to be taken to the women, his relations, and these insulted
him and spat upon him. Then he ordered him to be skinned alive, and as his skin was torn
off, his flesh was cooked with rice. Some was sent to his children and his wife, and the remainder was put into a great dish and given to the elephants to eat, but they would not touch
it. The Sultn ordered his skin to be stuffed with straw, and to be placed along with the
remains of Bahdur Bra,* and to be exhibited throughout the country. (Batuta)

References:
i.

The Early Muslim Expansion in South India, N. Venkataramanayya, edited by

Prof. K A N Sastri, Madras University Historical Series, 1942. Available at

http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
ii.

Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354; HAR Gibb; George

Routledge & Sons, 1929.

Works Cited
Baran, . a.-D. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2010, from
http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main
Batuta, I. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2010, from http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main

Map References:

1.

Schwartzberg, Joseph E. A Historical Atlas of South Asia

,http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/
2.

The Early Muslim Expansion in South India, N. Venkataramanayya, edited by Prof. K A

N Sastri, Madras University Historical Series, 1942. Available at

http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
Comments (4)
September 12, 2010

Kabul Shahi-The Hindu Kings of Kabul & Zabul

Filed under: History Yogeshwar Shastri @ 5:36 pm
Tags: Afghanistan, Ancient India, Kabul, Kabul Shahi, Kapisa, Sindh, Taxila, Zabul

I have updated the map with more cities in Kashmir and the major rivers of Punjab.
The above map shows the extent of the Hindu kingdoms of Kabul and Zabul in the period of
600-700 CE.I was spurred to create the map as I wanted to a graphical representation of
what area came under these two ruling houses.it is a different matter reading on paper that

Kabul ruled this area and that,and a completely different aspect seeing it highlighted on a
map.
I will keep updating the map with more cities in Sindh,Punjab and Kashmir.Plus will do more
maps for the later periods of the Shahi rule where there kingdom shrunk considerably,till this
glorious dynasty was extinguished while fighting against Mohammed Ghazni in 1026 CE.
I first came to know of the Hindu Shahi kings of Kapisa (later on their capital moved to
Kabul) an article in India Today more than a decade back.
My curiosity was aroused as I never knew that there ever existed a Hindu ruling house in
Afghanistan,let alone two powerful Hindu kingdoms.Later on I found more references to the
ferocious resistance these two Hindu dynasties offered to the Islamic invaders.Sri Sita Ram
Goels books on Voice of India website were an excellent source of information.
The first Islamic invasion of the Arabs which lasted for almost three hundred years broke
apart on these two formidable break waters.It was the Turk invasion starting somewhere
around 900 AD which proved to be the undoing of these two great Kingdoms.
The 12th Century historian of Kashmir kalhana eloquently describes the ruling house of Kabul
as below,
Where is the Shahi dynasty with its ministers, its kings & its great grandeurThe
very name of the splendour of the Shahi kings has vanished. What is not seen in a
dream, what even our imagination cannot conceive, that dynasty accomplished with
ease.
Kalhanas Rajatarangini
Thus were the great defenders of the gates of India, the kings of Kabul and Zabul, whose
name has been all but forgotten by an ungrateful people. These were men of peerless
courage and a soul of steel forged in the fire of war. They were the sword arm of Dharma,
defending the land of the Bharatas against those who would seek to defile it by their touch.
It is not surprising that most of us have never heard of them,our secularised education
system makes sure we never come to know that there was any kind of resistance offered by
our ancestors.It is a part of the social engineering programme to brain wash entire

generations with the completely bogus message of tolerance and turning the other
cheek!!
These glorious names have not been forgotten by history, but only pushed into the shadows
by those who would seek to rewrite history of Sanatana Dharma to suit their own ends.
Map References:
The primary reference i have used is ALexander Cunninghams Geography of Ancient
India.It is availaible for free download from Internet archive.
A secondary reference has been the excellent Digital South Asia Library series of maps.
The base map used for to trace the above was sourced from the Perry Castaneda collection.
(http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/pakistan.html)
Comments (6)
June 2, 2010

Vijayanagar Chapter 4
Filed under: Vijayanagar Yogeshwar Shastri @ 4:40 pm
Tags: Ala-ud-din, Delhi Sultanate, Deogiri, Gujarat, Haripala Deva, India, India History,
Invasions of South India, Jambudveep, Kakatiya, KAN Sastri, Khilji, Khusrau, Mamluk,
Mubarak khilji, Pandya, Raghava, South India, Vijayanagar, Warangal

Vijayanagar
Chapter 4

Disintegration of Deogiri
In 1312 CE Rama Raya of Deogiri died and his son Sangama (some accounts call him
Bhillama) took over the throne. The first thing Sangama did like his late brother Shankara
Deva was to rebel against the Muslims and declare independence.
Ala-ud-din promptly despatched Kafur to dispose of the rebel. Kafur ravaged the lands of
Deogiri .Sangama deciding discretion was the better part of valour fled from Deogiri.

However this time no scion of the Yadava dynasty was installed on the throne. Deogiri lost
its independence and was annexed to the Delhi sultanate for good. Malik Kafur made himself
the governor of Deogiri and instituted an aggressive policy of Islamisation of the Deccan. The
imperialism of the Muslims entailed settling large numbers of Muslims from the north and
foreign countries in and around Deogiri. Deogiri like Delhi was fast becoming a Muslim city.
Hindus were marginalised and terrorised. Kafur was an enthusiastic breaker of Hindu temples
and took great delight in breaking them down and erecting mosques in their place.
As the Deogiri kingdom passed out of existence, various Hindu chiefs formerly under it
refused to bow down to the Islamic oppressors. The hilly region of the Sahyadri Mountains,
particularly around Pune was under the Koli king Naga Nayaka, who retained his
independence in face of Muslim assaults.
In the southern part of the kingdom Mallideva the chief of Rayadurga

was a relation of

Rama Raya. He declared himself the king of Maharashtra. Mallidevas attempt at opposing the
Muslims ended in failure, Mallideva being killed in battle by rival chiefs Mummadi Singeya of
Kampili and Jagatapa Gangayadeva of Gutti.
Mummadi Singeyas son Kampili Raya established the powerful kingdom of Kampili, which
covered present day Dharward, Bellary and Raichur districts. Kampili stood as a bulwark
against Muslim invasions till it was overwhelmed by Muhammad Tughlaq.
Malik Kafur departed for Delhi soon after leaving Ain ul- Mulk as the governor of Deogiri.
Change at Delhi
In 1316 Ala-ud-Din
Kafur. In the

Khilji died and the administration of the sultanate was taken over by

bloody

succession struggles which were typical

of the

Delhi sultanate,

he

had two of Ala-ud-dins older sons Khizr Khan and Shadi Khan blinded. Imprisoning them in
Gwalior he proclaimed Ala-ud-dins infant son as the sultan. Mubarak Khilji was thrown into
prison and expected to meet the same fate as his brothers.
Kafur being a man of many enemies thought it wise to recall Ain-ul-Mulk to Delhi. Ain-ul-Mulk
gathered all the Muslims of Deogiri and started his march to Delhi. As I have pointed out
before the Muslim community was almost completely militarised, which meant each and
every Muslim played the role of a soldier in battle. Hence for a brief period of time Deogiri
was left completely to the Hindus.

However before Ain-ul-Mulk could reach Delhi, Kafur was assassinated by his bodyguards.
They raised Mubarak to the throne, who proclaimed himself as Sultan Qutb-ud-din Mubarak
Khilji. Mubarak himself had a male slave on whom he lavished his attentions. Known as
Hasan he was subsequently given the title Khusrau Khan by Mubarak. Khusrau Khan was one
of the enigmatic characters of the Delhi Sultanate.
Mubarak was a debauch and spent his time drinking or with women. He had his brothers
Khizr Khan and Shadi Khan killed and took their wives for his own pleasure. The unfortunate
Devala Devi was amongst these and Mubarak forcibly married her. With a fetish for cross
dressing he used to appear in his court dressed in a womans clothes!!
But he was of one mind on the question of pursuing Jihad against the Hindus.
Haripala Deva
With the bulk of the Muslim forces departing with Ain-ul-Mulk (the governor of Deogiri), a war
of independence was waged in Deogiri by

the valiant Haripala Deva.

Haripala Deva was the son in law of the late Rama Raya. The situation for Hindus had
become intolerable with their day to day lives being dependent on the whims and fancies of
the Muslim rulers. Hindu women were abducted in broad daylight and the peasantry taxed to
death.
Haripala Deva was joined in his efforts by Raghava, a minister of

Rama Raya .For a brief

period under the kingship of Haripala Deva, Deogiri regained its independence. He succeeded
in defeating various Muslim amirs to the extent that Sultan Mubarak himself had to lead an
army from Delhi to recapture Deogiri.
In 1318 CE, Mubarak accompanied by his lover Khusrau Khan started from Delhi with a large
army. Entering Maharashtra they had to fight tough battles with Haripala Deva

and

Raghava.
Raghava was defeated by Khusrau and his army destroyed. But Haripala Deva defeated
Khusrau twice in battle. Making intelligent use of the mountainous terrain Haripala Deva with
his strong army gave the Muslims a tough time.

Haripala Deva was finally cornered in Devagiri fort and agreed to surrender after Sultan
Mubarak promised to spare his life. On surrendering this lion of the Yadava clan met a most
gruesome end.
Mubarak in flagrant violation of his own promise, had Haripala Deva skinned alive and his
lifeless corpse hung from the gates of Deogiri fort .The entire royal family of the Yadavas was
massacred to prevent any future uprisings. Maharashtra was distributed to various Muslim
chiefs as their reward.
Malik Yak Lakhy was made the governor of Deogiri and military garrisons were posted at
Sagar, Gulbarga and other places. But the garrison meant to subdue Dvarasamudram was
defeated by Katari Saluva Raseya Nayaka who was an officer in Veera Ballalas army.
Khusrau Khan was despatched to collect tribute from Prataparudra and Sultan Mubarak
departed for Delhi on 5th August 1318 CE.
Thus ended the great line of the Yadavas of Deogiri. With them came to an end the golden
age of Maharashtra. For the next three hundred years

the life of Hindus in the

Deccan slipped into a dark age. The life of the common Hindu becoming worse than that of
animals, as ravaging Muslim armies swept

across the landscape. Maharashtra passed from

one genocidal sultan to the next, till divine deliverance came in the form of Chattrapati
Shivaji in the seventeenth century.
Khusraus forays into the South
As soon as Sultan Mubarak was back in Delhi, Malik Yak Laky proclaimed himself Sultan
Shams-ud-din and even minted coins in his own name. The Sultan promptly sent Khusrau
khan with a large army to imprison the usurper. For a man with royal ambitions Malik Yak fell
short of loyal friends .Betrayed by his own subordinates, he was imprisoned by Khusrau
Khan who sent him to Delhi. There his ears and nose were cut off and would be sultan was
deprived of all his wealth. Khusrau Khan appointed Ain-ul-Mulk as the viceroy of Deccan.
Khusrau Khan was further entrusted to attack the Pandya kingdom which was in a state of
complete chaos. After Kafurs foray

in 1311 CE the Pandya brothers resumed their power

struggles. However this time Vira Pandya gained the upper hand and Sundara Pandya was
forced to flee into exile. Soon Vira Pandya himself was dethroned following an invasion by the
Chera king of Kerala Ravivarman Kulashekhara. Ravivarman was forced to retire back to

Kerala following troubles there and the Pandya kingdom was again in the hands of Vira
Pandya.
Meanwhile in 1317 CE Prataparudra taking advantage of the disorder sent a powerful army
under his general Muppidi Nayaka. The Kakatiya army successfully captured Kanchi from the
Pandyas. Thus on the eve of Khusraus invasion the Pandya kingdom was in an even worse
state of chaos than before.
As in Kafurs time the Pandyan army refused to fight a set piece battle with Khusrau. Civilians
wise from previous experiences of the Muslims fled before the advance of the enemy,
taking

along their possessions .Khusrau managed to capture a hundred elephants and the

city of Pattan. The governor of Pattan was a Muslim named Siraj-ud-din. This did not stop
Khusrau from

confiscating his wealth and taking his daughter!!

With the beginning of the rains and internal squabbles breaking out in his camp, Khusrau was
forced to move back to Delhi. Khusraus southern campaign thus ended

in failure without

producing any tangible results.

For Chapter 5 click here.
References:
1. The Early Muslim Expansion in South India, N. Venkataramanayya, edited by
Prof. K A N Sastri, Madras University Historical Series, 1942. Available at
http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandyan_Dynasty
3. South India and Her Mohemmedan Invaders, S Krishnaswami Iyengar, S Chand
& Co,1921, http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
4. TRKH-I FROZ SHH,

ZU-D DN BARN, Packard Humanities

Institute, retrieved on 03-04-2010, http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main

5. A History of South India, Prof K A N Sastri, Oxford University Press, 1966.
Leave a Comment
May 15, 2010

Vijayanagar Chapter 3

Filed under: Vijayanagar Yogeshwar Shastri @ 1:38 pm

Tags: Ala-ud-din, Delhi Sultanate, Deogiri, Gujarat, India History, Jambudveep, Kakatiya,
Khilji, Madurai, Mamluk, Pandya, Veera Ballala, Vijayanagar, Warangal
I have created rough graphics of Malik Kafurs invasion routes using in S Krishnaswami
Iyengars description and with the help of Google Earth .I have modified Vijaynagar Chapter
2 to show the map for Kafurs invasion of Deogiri and Wrangal.
Vijayanagar Empire of the Gods
Chapter 3
After

extracting tributes from two of the most powerful Hindu Kingdoms in India at that

time, Ala-ud-dins gaze was naturally turned on the rich Hoysala kingdom in Karnataka and
Pandya kingdom in Tamil Nadu.
The Hoysalas
The Hoysala kingdom was extensive and covered almost all of modern Karnataka and parts of
western Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. It was a rich and flourishing kingdom with revenues
from sea trade, teak

etc. The Hoysala kings were known for their patronage of Kannada

literature and fine architecture. Many temples from the Hoysala period still survive to this day
and are outstanding examples with superb detail and exquisite craftsmanship.
The capital of the Hoysalas was Dvarasamudram (modern day Halebid in Karnataka), a well
fortified city. Veera Ballala III (ruled from 1291-1343 CE) was the ruler at the time of Kafurs
raid on South India. He was a person with exceptional foresight, courage and

one of the

mighty defenders of Hindu Dharma in troubled times of the fourteenth century. Even at the
age of

eighty years this great king was still fighting against the Muslims, when he was

treacherously murdered in 1343 CE by Sultan

Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad Damghani of

Madurai.
The Pandyas
The Pandya kingdom was extremely rich and powerful, commanding the vital sea routes. It
stretched from Quilon in Kerala to Nellore in Tamil Nadu. The capital of the Pandyan kingdom
was Madurai and its second great city was Vira Dhavalapattanam (known to the Muslims as

Bir Dhul).As it stood astride the major sea trading routes, it had a flourishing network of
ports and a large fleet of ships.
The Pandya kings used to maintain a large cavalry force, sustained by constant imports from
abroad. It must be pointed out here that India is not ideal horse country, the weather and
climatic conditions render horses susceptible to a host of diseases and early death. Except for
the hardy indigenous breeds of horses, foreign breeds had a very short life. This was why
maintaining a large cavalry force was a luxury for most kingdoms .They needed to be
constantly replenished and were a drain on resources. A good cavalryman in that age was
worth his weight in gold. The Muslims in contrast had access to large cavalry forces straight
from Central Asia.
The Pandyas also possessed a force of nearly thousand elephants, a large army with a
contingent of Arab fighters as well. Elephants played a role on the battlefield much like battle
tanks do today i.e. steamroll

the opposition. War elephants

worked fine until they ran

amok and turned on their own side.

The king ruling over this porsperous domain just prior to the muslim invasion was
Kulashekhara Pandya.He was an extremely capable and ambitious ruler. He defeated the
Kakatiyas and laid siege to the Hoysala capital of Dvarasamudram twice. Ceylon and other
islands were subject to his power. After he was foully assassinated by his son Sundara
Pandya, the Pandya kingdom fell on hard times.
A fratricidal war erupted between Sundara Pandya and his

younger brother Vira Pandya.

Vira Pandya had been nominated by Kulashekhara as his successor. This was the reason
why

Sundara Pandya killed his father and usurped the throne.

In a see-saw of battles the fortunes of Vira and Sundara Pandya rose and ebbed in turn. Thus
on the eve of Kafurs attack the entire Pandya kingdom was in a state of chaos.
Attack on Dvarasamudram

Fig 1. Kafurs invasion route to Dvarasamudram and Madurai

In the map above I have charted out a rough route for Kafurs attack on Dvarasamudram and
Madurai based on the description given in in S Krishnaswami Iyengars book.
Malik Kafur reached Deogiri on 3rd February 1311 CE.As usual Rama Deva provided all the
materials needed to help to the invaders.Rama Deva deputed one of his commander in chief
Parshuram Dalavi to guide Kafur onto the right route for Dvarasamudram. Parshurams
domains bordered Veera Ballalas kingdom. Rama Deva had his own axe to grind against
Veera Ballala III, as Veera Ballala had made repeated attacks on the Deogiri kingdom to seize
territory.
Thus suitably provisioned, Kafurs force started from Deogiri on 7th February 1311 CE and
reached a place called Bandir (as per S K Aiyangar this is Pandharpur in Maharashtra)
on

22nd February 1311 CE. This was at the border of

Deogiri and the Hoysala kingdoms.

Like all good practitioners of warfare, Kafur had an intelligence wing in his army. Before
penetrating into the Hoysala kingdom, Kafur despatched four officers(Bahram Karra, Qatlah
Nehang, Mahmud Sartiha and Abaji Mughal), each accompanied by an interpreter to gather
information about the enemy. The interpreters were fluent in the local language; I assume
this was ancient Kannada.
Meanwhile Veera Ballala had decided to take advantage of the chaos in the Pandya kingdom
and

was leading his army to try and take back territory lost by the Hoysalas to

Kulashekhara Pandya. As soon as Kafurs scouts reported this news, Kafur decided to head
straight for

the capital Dvarasamudram.

Veera Ballala on his part learned of the Muslims at his rear and returned with great haste to
Dvarasamudram.
En route one of Veera Ballalas

Nayakas

attacked Kafurs

army, but was killed on the

battlefield.
Following his tried and tested strategy of launching

surprise attacks straight on enemy

capitals, Kafur reached Dvarasamudram on 25th February 1311 CE. In a short span of twelve
days he had force marched his army straight to the gates of Dvarasamudram.
As per accounts initially Veera Ballala wanted to go into battle with Kafur. The Pandya king
Vira Pandya had already despatched a force to help Veera Ballala. He however changed his
mind on seeing the destructive capacity of Kafurs army. Before making up his mind he sent
his advisor Kesava Mal to ascertain the strength of the enemy. Learning of the formidable
strength of the enemy

Ballala decided to sue for terms. Veera Ballala was prepared to lose

his treasure in order to safeguard his people and kingdom. He sent Ballapa Deva Nayaka who
was known for his negotiation skills to Kafurs camp. Kafur made the same demands as before
and extracted a heavy price from Veera Ballala.
There were two additional stipulations to the terms of surrender; one was that Veera Ballalas
son Veera Virupaksha Ballala was to accompany Kafur back to Delhi (possibly as a hostage to
prevent Veera Ballala turning against Delhi) and that he should lead the Muslim army to
Madurai. With no way out of the quandary he was in Veera Ballala agreed to these terms.
Onward to Madurai

Guided by Veera Ballala, Kafurs army reached the border with the Pandya kingdom on 15th
March 1311 CE. The Pandyan princes mounted guerrilla warfare against the invaders almost
as soon as they entered their territory.
Showing tactical ingenuity the Pandyas refused to fight set piece battles where Kafurs
armoured cavalry would have an advantage. Instead they kept eluding Kafurs forces.
Kafur moved towards Veera Dhavalapattam, conducting savage massacres of defenceless
Hindus along the way. Vira Pandya was in Veera Dhavalapattanam and he sent out a mixed
force of Hindu and Muslim cavalry. A ferocious battle raged between the combatants from
afternoon till sunset. In the might taking advantage of the lull in fighting Vira Pandya escaped
with his family and treasure.
Furious at losing Vira Pandya, Kafur pursued him from place to place without any success. In
the meanwhile rains had started and Kafur was obliged to stop as his army was in no position
to fight.
As soon a Kafur made camp, Pandyan cavalry launched a fierce attack in the rain and were
only repulsed after a terrible battle. Realising that making camp in the rains would make him
a sitting target Kafur resumed Vira Pandyas pursuit.
With the entire landscape flooded by torrential rains, it was left to Veera Ballala to safely
guide the Muslims across the waters. In the course of his pursuit Kafur came upon hundred
and twenty elephants laden with Vira Pandyas treasure which he promptly appropriated.
After sacking the town of Kandur, Kafurs forces fell upon the town of Marhatpuri in the night
where every civilian was killed. In Marhatpuri the Brahmanas and other courageous civilians
had decided to defend the temples to their last breath and were killed to a man fighting
Kafurs forces. The temples in every case were razed to the ground.
Reaching Veera Dhavalapattanam on 1st April 1311 CE, Kafur destroyed the temples; even
going to the extent of digging up their foundations to make sure no traces remained of them.
Kafur

reached Madurai on 10th April 1311 CE, but was unable to plunder it .Madurai was the

seat of power of Sundara Pandya and was very well defended. Sundara Pandya had already
fled Madurai.

Just when it seemed all was lost, a hurricane rose up which nearly destroyed Kafur and his
band of thugs. Vikrama Pandya who was the younger brother of Kulashekhara Pandya took
charge of the army. Vikrama Pandya was

eighty years old and with the help of his veteran

Brahmana commander he marshalled the Pandya warriors to destroy the invaders ( to put
the significance of this in context, try to imagine geriatrics like Manmohan Singh, Lal Krishna
Advani etc taking up arms to defend India, cant see that happening can you?!).
By now Kafur had overstretched himself and had penetrated too deep into the Pandya
territory. Gathering a

vast force Vikrama Pandya attacked Kafur (Im not sure of the

location).The Pandyan warriors were incited to terrible fury by the heinous acts committed by
Kafur. In the fury of their attack the Muslim cavalry was annihilated and most of Kafurs army
destroyed.
Like other Hindu kings Vikrama Pandya fell short of completely annihilating Kafurs army and
killing Kafur.
On his part Kafur managed to escape along with the treasure which had been despatched to
Delhi. The battered remains of Kafurs army returned to Dvarasamudram and from there
made their way to Delhi, reaching Delhi on 30th October 1311 CE.
Kafur took Veera Virupaksha Ballala to Delhi where Ala-ud-din pleased with the help
rendered by Veera Ballala, presented him with ten lakh tankas (silver coins) and sent him
back to Dvarasamudram.
Thus Kafurs attack on the Pandya kingdom came to an ignomious end at the hands of the
valiant Vikrama Pandya. Veera Ballalas kingdom was left intact and he would be the last
Hindu king left standing when the next wave of conquest started from Delhi.
For Chapter 4 click here.
References :
1. The Early Muslim Expansion in South India, N. Venkataramanayya, edited by
Prof. K A N Sastri, Madras University Historical Series, 1942. Available at
http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandyan_Dynasty

3. South India and Her Mohemmedan Invaders, S Krishnaswami Iyengar, S Chand

& Co,1921, http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
4. The Never to be Forgotten Empire Vijayanagar, B Suryanarain Row,1905,
http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/handle/1/3601
Comments (2)
May 1, 2010

Vijayanagar-Chapter 2
Filed under: Vijayanagar Yogeshwar Shastri @ 8:28 am
Tags: Ala-ud-din, Delhi Sultanate, Deogiri, Gujarat, India History, Jambudveep,
Jambudveepam, Kakatiya, Khilji, Mamluk, Vijayanagar, Warangal
Vijayanagar Empire of the Gods

Chapter 2

Malik Kafur

We have seen previously that Ala-ud-din Khilji made a surprise attack on Deogiri and with the
enormous treasure he looted, became Sultan of Delhi.
Now his attention was naturally on the rich and flourishing kingdoms of the south. The
Kakatiya kingdom of Warangal was next on his list of Hindu kingdoms to loot. In this he was
ably aided by his trusted general and lover Malik Kafur [i].
Malik Kafur was originally a Hindu from Khambat (Cambay) on the coast of Gujarat. During
Ulugh Khans attack on Gujarat in 1297 and its subsequent conquest, Malik Kafur was
amongst the innumerable Hindus sold into a life of slavery. But by various accounts he was a
handsome youth who attracted the Sultans attentions . Chroniclers like Zia-Ud-Din Barni are
quite explicit in the details of Ala-ud-dins sexual infatuation towards Malik Kafur. It is quite
hypocritical that Muslims cry foul on homosexuality when quite a few of the Ghazis
(warriors who carry out jihad against the infidels) had a liking for young boys!
Ala-ud-din had him castrated and converted to Islam. Castration of slaves and making them
eunuchs was an integral part of the Islamic slave system. This ensured that the captured

men would not be able to reproduce and dilute the Muslim bloodlines. As per K S Lal the
present day system of Hijras in our country is a direct consequence of the distinct class of
eunuchs created by the muslim rulers .
Lo and behold, the new convert became even more fanatic than the sultan himself!! Being a
favourite of Ala-ud-din, he rose fast through the ranks to become Malik Naib (senior
commander of the army). An extremely shrewd and ruthless man, Malik Kafur was the ideal
companion to Ala-ud-din.
Neo converts like Malik Kafur were more of a threat to the Hindus than the Sultans
themselves. To prove themselves worthy of their new religion, they usually exceed even their
masters in committing atrocities upon their former co-religionists. Even more damaging was
the fact that they had an insiders view of contemporary Hindu society and knew how society
worked. Being aware of the Hindus strengths and weaknesses, they ruthlessly exploited
them.
Malik Kafur became the second most powerful man in the Delhi Sultanate after Ala-ud-din
After Ala-ud-dins miserable death due to dropsy(as per Barani, Kafur hastened Ala-ud-dins
death by poison).Ironically, Kafur himself met a gruesome end in 1316, trying to play the
kingmaker in Delhi.
Second Invasion of Deogiri

Fig 1 Malik Kafurs second invasion of Deogiri and second invasion of Warangal
Around 1300 AD Rama Raya of Deogiri had stopped sending tribute to Delhi. Ala-ud-din was
preoccupied in quelling internal rebellions and pushing the Mongols back. Now his attention
was again turned beyond the Vindhyas and the riches that lay in the kingdoms of Warangal.
Meanwhile in Deogiri Rama Rayas son Shankar Deva (also known as Sangama) was a man of
courage and a free spirit, who could not bear to see the devastation, wrought by the Muslims.
The realisation that his sister was now part of the Sultans harem would also have spurred
him against tyranny of the Muslims. It made no difference whether you submitted your
kingdom to Ala-ud-din or were killed on the battlefield trying to defend it; the end result was
always the same: total ruin of your people and destruction of contemporary Hindu society
[iii].

While on one hand Rama Raya was constrained by many reasons: concern for the safety of
the people of Deogiri, his daughter was now in the Sultans harem (this was part of the price
extracted by Al-ud-din on the first invasion of Deogiri) and the fact that his treasury was
nearly empty.
On the other hand Shankar Deva was made of sterner stuff and realised that if the Muslims
were not defeated and driven out, it was only a matter of time before Deogiris independence
was extinguished forever by the Sultan. Under Muslim administrators the life of Hindus would
become a living hell, as was demonstrated later on when Deogiri was incorporated into the
Sultanate.
By 1306 the heroic Shankar Deva had taken over the administration of Deogiri and after
defeating the Muslim administrators put in place, nearly brought Deogiri back to its former
independence. The reins of Deogiri were taken over from Rama Rayas hands by Shankar
Deva.
There was another not completely unrelated reason why Ala-ud-din sent his hordes hurtling
down into the Deccan.
When Ulugh Khan invaded Gujarat in 1297 CE, Karnadev Vaghela cowardly fled his capital
Anhilwara Patan leaving his queen, the beautiful Kamala Devi to fall into the hands of the
Muslims. Kamala Devi was made by Ala-ud-din a part of his harem, but her only surviving
daughter Devala Devi was still with Karnadev. As per different accounts Karnadev sought
sanctuary with Deogiri .
The Khiljis made a demand for Devala Devi and Karnadev refused. Instead of giving his
daughter to the Muslims to use as chattel, he agreed to marry his daughter to Rama Rayas
son Shankar Deva (also known as Sangama). Muslim chroniclers have portrayed the incident
as Kamala Devi pining for her daughter and asking Ala-ud-din to get her from Karnadev!! It is
one thing for Kamala Devi to be resigned to her fate, but which mother would want her
daughter to be subjected to a life of sexual slavery in a Muslim harem?
Thus two expeditions started from Delhi in 1306:1. One was led by Malik Ahmad Jitam. Its purpose was to defeat Karnadev and bring Devala
Devi to Delhi and completely extinguish resistance in Gujarat.

2. The second expedition was under Malik Kafur tasked with extracting tribute from Rama
Raya and making him submit.
They were joined by reinforcements from Gujarat and Malwa.
The first mission was successful; Karnadev was reduced to a refugee fleeing from court to
court seeking protection. The unfortunate Devala Devi was captured by the Muslims when she
was being escorted to Deogiri and was subsequently sent to Delhi. This brave woman was
forcibly married to Ala-ud-dins son Khizr Khan. On Khizr Khans assassination, Qutbuddin
Mubarak Khilji in turn forcibly made her his concubine. To add to her miseries after
Qutbuddin was killed by his lover Khusrau Khan, she was forced into Khusraus harem [ii]. A
terrible fate to the princess of the royal house of Vaghelas.
Malik Kafur started with nearly 100,000 horsemen and in March 1307 CE clashed with
Shankar Deva outside Deogiri. Shankar Deva being aware of Kafurs advance gathered all his
troops near the capital. Shankar Deva had made the strategic mistake of allowing the invader
to advance unmolested right upto the capital and then fighting him with all his troops in once
place. This meant that the battle became a set piece one. Ideally Shankar Dev should have
set up ambushes and tried to cut off the supply lines of Kafurs army.
In the meantime Kafurs army had caused immense destruction of the surrounding
countryside. Civilians were massacred, women raped and wanton destruction of crop and
property took place.
Shankar Dev was assisted by his brother Bhillama, his commanders Raghava and Ramadeva.
After a hard fought battle Shankar Dev was defeated and was martyred by Malik Kafur.
Deogiri was plundered, and its population was made to experience all the horrors of Islamic
conquest. The same gory story of rape, murder and loot was repeated here as well.
Rama Raya and the royal family were made prisoners and sent to Delhi, where Ala-ud-din
Khilji pardoned his father in law and reinstated him to his kingdom. Kafur had specific
instructions to spare Rama Raya during the sack of Deogiri. As per N. Venkataramanayya the
reason for Ala-ud-dins benevolence towards Rama Raya was due to Rama Raya having
informed the sultan of Shankar Devas rebellion. Of how true this explanation is I have no
idea.
First Invasion of Warangal

Warangal was the capital of the Kakatiya kingdom. The Kakatiya kingdom covered a wide
area including most of present day Andhra Pradesh, parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and
Orissa. The Kakatiya kings were suryavamshi kshatriyas.
The Kakatiyas produced a great line of monarchs and most unique among them was the
warrior queen Rudramba who took over the reins of the kingdom after her father Ganapatis
death in CE. She fought off aggressive attempts by the Yadavas of Deogiri to expand into
Kakatiya territory.
Her grandson Prataparudra succeeded her after she retired from public life. Prataparudra was
an ambitious ruler who carried out regular campaigns against the Hoysala who ruled the
present day Mysore region, the Deogiri Yadavas and the Pandyas of Tamil Nadu. It is a sad
testament to our short sightedness that these four great Hindu dynasties were constantly
engaged in trying to overthrow each other, rather than combine their arms and kick the
invaders out of India.
The first invasion of Warangal took place in 1304 CE. A large Muslim army led by Malik Fakhrud-din Juna (Mohammed Tughlaq) and Malik Jhaju of Karra was despatched to plunder the
riches of Warangal.
But the Hindus of Warangal were prepared for them. Armies led by Prataparudras
commanders Potuganti Maili & Venna among others, met the Muslims at Upparapalli in
Karimanagar district (Andhra Pradesh).In the ferocious battle which took place, the heroic
Telugu chiefs destroyed a large part of the sultans army and forced the remnants to flee in
confusion.
This was a great setback to Ala-ud-dins plans of looting the Kakatiya kingdom. At the same
time the Mongol chief Targhi penetrated right upto Delhi with the speed of a hawk and an
army of 20,000 Mongols. The brave Ala-ud-din was forced to take shelter in Siri fort as no
reinforcements were at hand, most of them down south trying to conquer Warangal!!
Although this incident has been presented as an attempt to raid Warangal for loot, I believe
this was more to try and establish Ala-ud-dins administration in the south. Why would Alaud-din risk sending a large force when his frontiers were threatened by the Mongols? All
these years he had been cautious not to open another front within India, till the Mongol
threat to his sultanate had passed over.

This incident like many other Islamic defeats has been glossed over by Muslim historians. It is
a great pity that we know more about Muslim tyrants like the Khiljis, rather than about
valiant heroes like Potuganti Maili who risked all to protect their motherland against the
Muslim hordes.
Second Invasion of Warangal
After getting a sound thrashing Ala-ud-din kept away for some years from the Deccan. He
was now occupied with defeating the valiant Raja Satal Deva of Siwana and Raja Kanhad Dev
Songara of Jalor (Rajasthan).
Kanhad Deva Songara was the true embodiment of how a Kshatriya should be. He had not
only rescued over 50,000 Gujarati Hindus who were being taken to Delhi as slaves by the
Muslims, but also the fragments of the broken Shiva lingam of Somnath which was being
taken to Delhi to be defiled by the Muslims.
Kanhad Deva and his son Vikrama Deva both attained veeragati fighting Ala-ud-dins forces
and the women of Jalor committed jauhar to save their honour. With northern India subdued
for the time being, the avaricious Ala-ud-din turned his gaze back upon the Kakatiya
kingdom.
Going back to the Deccan, Rama Raya had become a staunch ally of the sultan and kept
sending him regular tribute.
A vast force under the command of Malik Kafur and Khwaja Haji started on 31st October
1309 from Delhi. This force would have been extremely well armed and well supplied. In the
five years since the Muslim defeat at the hands of the Telugu people, Ala-ud-din would have
put a lot of thought and effort to avoid a repeat of the disastrous performance of the
Muslims.
Their first stop was Deogiri which had now become a base for further operations in the
Deccan. Rama Raya gave all the assistance required to Kafurs army and they proceeded into
Telangana.
The first encounter with the Kakatiyas took place at Sirpur fort. Kafur besieged the fort from
all sides. The Kakatiya garrison fought valiantly, but with food and other supplies running out
the situation inside the fort became desperate. As a last resort a huge pyre was lit inside the

fort and the Hindu warriors along with their families sacrificed themselves in the yajna kunda
of war. Whatever few survivors of this assault remained fled to the protection of Warangal.
Prataparudra was well prepared to meet the invasion. By some accounts his army consisted
of 20,000 horsemen, hundred elephants and a large number of archers. In some ways his
strategy mirrored that of Shankar Deva of the Yadavas. Prataparudra pulled back all his
forces from the forts in the path of the invading army and concentrated them in and around
Warangal. In the formidable fortress of Warangal, Prataparudra was joined by many of his
chiefs along with their forces.
Following a scorched earth policy, Telugu soldiers laid to waste the route the Muslim armies
would take, in order to deny the invaders any provisions.
One of the reasons why Kafurs forces were able to reach Warangal in quick time by January
1310 CE, as there was no substantial force to oppose them on their way.
On 19th January 1310 CE, Malik Kafurs forces began the siege of Warangal. As a first step
they captured the hill fort of Hanumakonda, which overlooked the city and from which the
interiors of Warangal were visible.
Warangal itself was a great fortress with a circumference of nearly 12,546 yards. It was
protected by two massive walls, the outer wall made of mud and the inner wall made of
stone. The inner and outer walls were essentially two separate forts, which meant if one fell
the defenders could retire to the inner fort. The outer wall had nearly seventy seven bastions
(burj or towers) manned by Prataparudras chiefs who were known as Nayakas. The outer
wall was surrounded by a large moat.
As per Venkataramanayya the fort was well equipped with weaponry to withstand a
prolonged siege. Presumably this means catapults, trebuchets etc. Malik Kafur was also well
prepared to assault such a strong fort. His army was equipped with the most advanced siege
equipment of that age including weapons such as maghribi (catapults), mangonels,
trebuchets etc.
Kafur set up his headquarters a miles from the main gate and ordered his army to pitch their
tents all around the fort. Each division of his army was responsible for the siege of the 1200
yards of fort walls allocated to it. In addition the camp of each division was protected by a
strong wooden stockade (wooden wall).

The siege started in earnest on 19th January 1310 CE .In the meantime Kafurs postal service
which enabled Ala-ud-din to get rapid communication from the battle front, was destroyed by
Telugu soldiers who engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Muslims.
A valiant night attack by thousand horsemen commanded by Vinayaka Deva was launched on
the Muslim camp. A fierce encounter ensued with heavy causalities on both sides, but the
attack failed.
Prataparudra was in no mood to surrender, as the Muslims had not made even a breach in
the outer wall. Kafur kept up the momentum of the attack and had the moat filled .
Finally a breach was made in the outer wall and a flood of Muslim soldiers rushed in. Heavy
fighting followed with neither party giving nor taking any quarter.
By means of a night attack three bastions of the outer wall were taken and within three days
Kafur was in command of the whole outer wall.
Inside the inner fort conditions were growing increasingly grim. The inner stone fort was filled
to the brim with civilians, nobles & soldiers. People suffered greatly in such crowded
conditions. And once the Muslims gained control of the outer wall, civilians came straight in
the line of fire. Many were killed by the arrows launched by the enemy. Treating the wounded
became a near impossibility in such conditions.
Not being able to see the suffering of his people and realising that prolonging the siege would
end in a general massacre, Prataparudra decided to negotiate with the Muslims.
The siege finally came to an end on 20th April 1310 CE.
As per the truce which was subsequently agreed, Prataparudra had to give Kafur all his
treasure. This amounted to a golden image of Prataparudra, hundred war elephants and
nearly thousand camels laden with gold. Additionally Prataparudra agreed to pay the jizya
and send tribute annually. Prataparudra dutifully sent the annual tribute every year till the
disturbances caused by Ala-ud-dins death.
Kafur reached Delhi on 10th June 1310, where he was given a grand reception by Ala-ud-din.

For Chapter 3 click here

References:
[1] TRKH-I FROZ SHH,

ZU-D DN BARN, Packard Humanities Institute, retrieved

on 16-04-2010, http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main
[2] Muslim Slave System in Medieval India, K.S.Lal, Voice of India Books,
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/siii/index.htm
[3] The Early Muslim Expansion in South India, N.Venkataramanayya, edited by Prof.K A N
Sastri, Madras University Historical Series, 1942. Available at http://library.du.ac.in/dspace/
Comments (3)
April 30, 2010

Vijayanagar- The Empire of the Gods

Filed under: Vijayanagar Yogeshwar Shastri @ 8:33 am
Tags: Ala-ud-din, Delhi Sultanate, Deogiri, Gujarat, India History, Jambudveep,
Jambudveepam, Kakatiya, Khilji, Mamluk, Vijayanagar, Warangal

Vijayanagar- The Empire of the

Gods
The city of Bijanagar (Vijayanagar) is such that the pupil of the eye has never seen a place
like it, and the ear of intelligence has never been informed that there existed anything to
equal it in the world. -Abdur Razzak, ambassor of Persia to Vijayanagar.
To avoid confusion let me make it clear that Vijayanagar was both the name of the empire
and its capital city (present day Hampi, Karnataka).
In the south of India, Vijayanagar is a household name. The name itself evokes civilisational
memories of a glorious bygone past, the evidence of which can be still seen in the mute ruins
of Hampi in Karnataka.
But in other parts of India, especially the north, awareness of this great Hindu empire, which
acted as the last refuge to persecuted Hindus from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries,
remains woefully low.

There are many reasons for this, the chief one being the complete whitewash of our history
by a government which is continually haunted by the spectre of the truth about Muslim rule
in India becoming popular knowledge .A false creed of secularism has been foisted by the
rulers onto a gullible majority. Add to this cocktail a feckless media and an education system
which presents our history as a lifeless caricature of itself
What the media and the government fail to realise is that Hindus are not going to go
rampaging against the minorities if the real history of Islamic invasions is publicised. The
civilisational memory is very strong; attempts to whitewash our history are only going to end
in grief. The majority has enough common sense to realise that the present day Indian
Muslims are not responsible for the atrocities committed by their forebears.
But what an honest rendering of our history will do is clear the air for a clear dialogue
between the two communities without prejudices and predilections.
As I begin this article, my only request to the reader is: read with an open mind .I will give
references as applicable. Feel free to read up and check on them. If I have missed some,
please point them out to me. Almost all of the original texts of Muslim chroniclers are
available online. I have used the notation CE (Christian Era) instead of AD (Anno Domini)
for denoting the years.
I am a firm believer in our national motto Satya meva jayate. The rotting carcass of lies will
eventually fall off and truth will break free with the force of a typhoon.
And so we begin.
To understand the significance of Vijayanagar in our history we need to dig a bit deeper into
the century and the circumstances in which it was born.
1. A Century before
It is said that the true eclipse of the Hindu civilisation started with fall of the last Hindu king
of Afghanistan, Jayapala Shahi in 1001 CE. If that was beginning of the eclipse, the darkest
moment for our holy land was when the Mohemmedan hordes under Ulugh Khan (later known
as Mohammed Tughlaq) overran southern India in 1314 CE. This meant that for a very brief
period of time the whole of India came under Muslim rule.
By the beginning of the fourteenth century, Northern India (except for Rajputana) had
become a lifeless limb, being ravaged for over a century by the genocidal sultans of Delhi.
The Delhi sultanate was well entrenched for more than a century by now. The horrors
inflicted on the populace were beyond description. To get an idea of the life of the average
Hindu under the enlightened sultans one does not need to look very far. To give an example
from the Kmil-ut-Tawrkh of Ibn Asir, The slaughter of Hindus (at Varanasi) was immense;

none were spared except women and children, and the carnage of men went on until the
earth was weary. This was to describe the sack of Varanasi, after the last Gahadvad King
Jaichandra (better known as Jaichand of Prithviraj Raso infamy) was killed on the battlefield
by Qutub-uddin-Aibak in 1194.
Another example from Zia- ud -Din Barnis Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, In two nights and three
days he crossed the Ganges at Kateher, and sending forward a force of five thousand
archers, he gave them orders to burn down Kateher and destroy it, to slay every man, and to
spare none but women and children, not even boys who had reached the age of eight or nine
years. He remained for some days at Kateher and directed the slaughter. The blood of the
rioters ran in streams, heaps of slain were to be seen near every village and jungle, and the
stench of the dead reached as far as the Ganges. This is a graphic description of the
massacre of Hindus in the doab by Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Balban. The date is unclear, but
would have been sometime during his reign (1265-1285 CE). Hindus had rebelled against the
sultanate and were close to overthrowing the Muslim governors of Badaun and Amroha.
The list of atrocities goes on and on, the incidents described in graphic details by the Muslim
chroniclers themselves. The horrific accounts are written with great pride by these
chroniclers, who see the sultans as fulfilling their religious obligations as laid out in the
Quran.
Resistance was fierce, but was crushed with overwhelming force and brutality. The common
people of India had never experienced such horrors. Mass rapes, murder and mayhem had
become the order of the day.
Like I said, dont take my word for it, read the references which are freely available on the
internet.
2. The major Hindu Kingdoms
At this point in time it would be pertinent to see the situation in the rest of India. At the close
of the thirteenth century, what is present day Maharashtra was ruled by the Yadava kings of
Deogiri (present day Daulatabad), Rajputana by various Rajput kings, the Telangana region
ruled by the Kakatiya kings, Andhra by the Hoysala kings, present day Tamil nadu by the
Pandyas, Assam by the Ahom kings and Kashmir by its last Hindu ruler Suhadeva. Bengal
had fallen to the Bakhtiar Khilji at the beginning of the thirteenth century in 1206 CE and
Gujarat to Alauddin Khiljis hordes in 1297 CE.
3. While Elsewhere

Fig 1 The extent of the Mongol empire (image courtesy Wikipedia)

On the world stage, the descendents of Chengiz Khan were tearing a blaze of destruction
across the Muslim world (which included central Asia, Afghanistan, Persia, Iraq, todays
Middle East),China, southeast Asia, carrying on right till Europe. This led to an influx of
dispossessed Muslim princes and soldiers into the Delhi sultanate .And of course each one of
them would be eager to go on a jihad against the unbelieving Hindus!!
The sultanate meanwhile was still consolidating its grip on the gangetic plains and
simultaneously defending its northern frontier (Punjab) against the Mongols.
4. The First Incursions into the South

Fig 2.Deogiri Fort (Daulatabad) (image courtesy Wikipedia)

The first successful incursion into the south was via Deogiri (present day Aurangabad,
Maharashtra). Ala-ud-din Khilji, the wily nephew of Sultan Jalal-u-ddin laid siege to Deogiri in
1294.At this precise moment most of Deogiris forces were fighting with the Hoysala kings
further down south. Rama Raya, the king of Deogiri was forced to submit after the
reinforcements led by his son Shankar Deo were beaten back by the Turks. Alauddin

extracted a tremendous price from Deogiri, virtually denuding it of all riches. As per Ferishta
the booty included, 600 maunds of gold, seven maunds of pearls, two maunds of other
jewels, thousand maunds of silver, and a yearly tribute of the revenues of Elichpur province.
A maund is roughly anywhere between 18-59 kgs. So we can easily imagine what the size of
the treasure was!!
Backed by this treasure, Ala-uddin subsequently murdered his uncle the Sultan, in cold blood
and took over the throne of Delhi. Murderous wars of succession and assassinations have
always been an integral part of any Muslim sultanate anywhere in the world. With the aid of
the looted treasure, a massive standing army of 4, 75,000 ( four lakhs and seventy five
thousand) was maintained and the frontiers secured against the Mongol threat .Successive
Mongol incursions were repelled, in fact the cunning Alauddin got rid of his powerful rival
Zafar Khan in one of the Mongol raids. The Mongol incursions more or less stopped after 1308
CE, the Mongols now being fully immersed in their own disputes.
As the Mongol threat receded it was but natural for the avaricious sultan to turn his gaze
back to the kingdoms beyond the Vindhyas.
5. Interregnum
Before we move on I will expound a bit on the nature of the sultanate and why it scored quick
successes under able sultans like Alaudddin and Mohammed Tughlaq.
Shri Sita Ram Goel has given an excellent account of the main reasons in his book The story
of Islamic Imperialism in India (available for free reading from
http://voiceofdharma.org/books). I will very briefly touch on them here.
Spiritual & Intellectual Decline: The foremost reasons were the spiritual and intellectual
decline of society. India had been exposed to Islamic invasions since the establishment of
Islam in the seventh century. The first phase of invasion was of the Arabs (starting around
650 AD) which lasted for nearly three hundred years, till about the tenth century and was a
dismal failure. Thus five hundred years had passed since the first clash with the armies of
Islam and the time Muammad Ibn Sm (Mohammed Ghori) broke through into India proper.
The pattern of Islamic atrocities was always the same as in later ages; people were aware of
what they were facing.
Despite this, in the span of five centuries, why was no effort made to understand the ideology
which motivated the invaders? Why did no religious leader declare that dharma itself was in
danger and that the invaders had to be completely and utterly destroyed? Why were the
defeated Muslim armies not pursued to their homelands and annihilated?
Despite knowing the nefarious tactics employed by the invaders, why did we consistently

stick to myopic codes of honour, which in the end brought centuries of dishonour and
tremendous suffering to our people?
Due to a refusal to see the true nature of the invader there was no strategic focus with Hindu
rulers, bar a few notable exceptions. On the other hand irrespective of which person became
Sultan , the overriding goal remained the same i.e. conquest and conversion.
The situation is not very different today, where any attempt to probe the true nature of the
Islamic threat is dismissed as communal. An entire race seems to be in denial about the
danger it faces.
Structure of Society: Hindu society had traditionally different classes such as, scholars
(Brahmins), traders; kshatriyas (warriors).The movement of classes within the society was
fluid as has been pointed out by Sita Ram Goel. This division of labour is characteristic of all
modern societies, where different segments of society tackle different tasks.
Muslim society in India by contrast was fully militarised. The entire focus was on maintaining
strength of arms, this being the only way they could subjugate a hostile majority (i.e.
Hindus). This was remarkably similar to the Mongols who were a fully militarised society as
well. In contrast the Muslim empires like Khwarazim, who fell like nine pins in front of the
Mongol onslaught, were what could be called as normal societies in terms of the way their
social structure.
The chief difference of course lay in the fact that the Mongols were shamanistic and by very
nature accommodating of other faiths. Whereas the secular Sultans did not even accord
Hindus the status of human beings!!
And the only way to sustain a militarised society was a constant inflow of looted treasure and
slaves from their wars with the Hindus. Enslavement of Hindus was big business; the markets
of central Asia were flooded with Hindus sold into slavery. The fate of Hindu women was even
more terrible. They were treated like chattel and sold in market places into sexual slavery .It
is not surprising not a few times Hindu women preferred to be consumed by the flames and
commit jauhar, rather than put their honour at the tender mercies of the invader.
There was a very good reason why a total extermination of Hindus was not carried out even
under fanatics like Alauddin. The sultans realised early on they needed the farmers, the
traders and administrators to carry on his wars of conquest. This was a temporary
arrangement till the number of Muslims reached a critical mass. But the ulema (Muslim
theologians, more commonly known as scholars of Islam!) had to be kept happy, so Hindus
were routinely massacred to cleanse the land of idolaters. The concentration of Muslims was
still in the urban areas, e.g. Delhi had become more or less a Muslim city by the beginning of
the thirteenth century, but the rural areas remained overwhelmingly Hindu.

Structure of Armies: Another contrast, as pointed out by Sita Ram Goel was the way in which
the armies were maintained . In Hindu kingdoms, the main fighting core under the king was
comparatively small but dedicated group of Kshatriyas .A liberal tax regime meant that more
focus was on general economic and social progress rather than on maintaining a vast
standing army. Rest of the recruits were levies provided by local feudatories or chiefs. This
meant that the quality of the army could vary significantly. And once the king was killed on
the battlefield or the main core of warriors smashed, the rest of the army would flee the
battlefield. Throughout their wars the Muslim chiefs almost always focussed on killing the
opposing king or key commanders. This invariably led to even the most well equipped Hindu
armies to flee the battlefield. This trend was not reversed till Chattrapati Shivajis time, who
taught his followers to fight for Dharma rather than the king.
The Muslim armies on the other hand were fully professional, mostly directly under the
command of the sultan .Even the nobles or the amirs under the Khiljis and the Tuglaqs
remained fearful of their power being taken away, or in the worst case ending up dead; if
they disobeyed the sultan . Even if the sultanates armies were defeated once, a vast reserve
meant the Sultans could send a steady stream of invading armies at very short time
intervals. On the other hand the Hindu kingdoms resources would have been depleted in the
previous wars and the same exhausted army would be facing a much fresher invigorated
enemy. Additionally, the scorched earth tactics pursued by the Muslims in ravaging the
countryside and killing people in droves, shook the fabric of society and took their toll on the
defenders.
Deception & Betrayal: Muslims used every trick of statecraft, deception and stratagem
against the Hindu kings. No treaty was worth the paper it was written on. And they had
scriptural justification for these acts, for Taqiyya (deception) with unbelievers is sanctioned
by the Quran itself . Assurances of safety to surrendering Hindus were repeatedly violated.
E.g. The last Yadava ruler of Deogiri, Haripala Dev; was skinned alive and his corpse hung
from the gates of Daulatabad fort in 1318 CE. This was in clear violation of the assurances of
safe passage given by Mubarak (the successor of Ala-ud-din Khilji) in 1318 CE .
Taxation: Under Hindu kings the taxes on the people were kept at a low level. In contrast
under the sultanate, the common people were taxed to death; their blood being sucked dry
by a parasitical sultanate .Non payment of taxes meant being sold into slavery and
subsequent conversion to Islam. Revolts were common and as seen in the previous passages,
very brutally put down. The most ignominious was of course the Jaziya, the tax on non

Muslims.
The existence of Hindus who lived within the frontiers of the sultanate was pathetic, their
existence that of a Zimmi or a second class citizen. On the borders people were subjected to
constant raids and pillaging by the Muslim armies.
In the second part, I will touch upon the invasion of Malik Kafur beyond Devagiri into the
Kakatiya kingdom till Madurai.
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