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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
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Two more expeditions canne during the time of the Tachluqs, who succeeded the Khaljīs on the throne of Delhi. Both were despatched by Sultan Chiyāg-ud-din Tugbluq Shāh (1320-25 A. D.), under the command of his son Ulugh Khăn (the later Muhammad bin Tughluq) in 1323 A. D. The first of these ended in disaster. Ulugh Khan suffered defeat, partly due to dissensions in his camp and the treachery of his officers, under the walls of Warangal, and was compelled to retreat at first to Dēvagiri and thence to Delhi. He returned, however, within four months at the head of a fresh and powerful army, and succeeded after & siege of six or seven months in capturing not only Warangal but also Pratāparudra, whom he sent to Delhi as a prisoner of war.
The Muslim historians thus enumerate five expeditions between 1303 and 1323 against Tiling, of which three were successful and the rest abortive. The Hindu records on the other hand refer to several Muslim expeditions-eight according to the present grant--of which all, excepting the very last, ended in the defeat of the Muslim armies and their expulsion from Tiling. Although these are said to have taken place in the reign of Pratāparudra, the exact time of their arrival and the circumstances in which they suffered defeat are not known. There is reason to believe that the Kākatiyas came into conflict with the Mussalmans long before 'Ala-ud-Din Khalji's attack on Dēvagiri in 1296 A. D. An epigraph in the temple of Chhāyā-Sõmanātha at Pānugallu in the Nalgonda District of Andhra Pradesh dated 1267 A. D. describes the viotories of Prince Sārngapāņidēva, the son of the Sēņa king Singhaņa and a subordinate of Mahāmandalesvara ManumaRudradēva-mahārāja, i.e. the Kakatiya queen Rudrāmbā or Rudramadēvi. Among his exploits enumerated in the inscription, his victory over the Mussalmans deserves particular mention. Sārngapānidēva is spoken of in this record as the Primeval Boer who rescued the earth from the Turushka calamity.
The Mussalmans also seem to have descended upon the Deccan a little later from another quarter. In an epigraph at the Kallēsvaradēva temple at Haļuvägilu in the Bellary District dated 8. 1204, Chitrabhānu (1282 A. D.), the Yādava king Ramachandra, that is, Rāmadēva, the adversary of 'Alā-ud-din Khalji, is described as a rescuer of earth from the depredation of Turushkas.'
The circumstances in which these Turuskha invasions took place are not on record. Some of the expeditions sent by Balban against the Central Indian Hindu kingdoms probably penetrated into the Deccan, but being worsted in the fight by the Kakatiyas and the Yādavas they were compelled to retreat homewards.
The Muslim invasions of Tiling began in right earnest after Pratäparudra's accession in 1296. A.D. According to the present grant, which was issued within a decade of the Muslim conquest, the Muslims attacked Tiling no less than eight times. Pratāparudra is said to have defeated the Sultan of Delhi seven times, but was vanquished, owing to the misfortune of the earth; on the last occasion by that Turushka sovereign, and while being carried away as u prisoner to Delhi, died by the decree of Providence on the bank of the Sõmódbhavā (Narmadá) river. This is not the only record that refers to the defeat of the Muhammadans. An inscription, noticed by the Mackenzie Surveyors in the fort of Warangal, refers to a victory of Manarangodariraju and Layingayadēvs over the Turakas in Samvat 1362 (1304-05 A.D.). The proximity of the
48.
Corp. Inscr. Tel. Dist., p. 98, No. 34. As most of the chiefs mentioned in this inscription figure in Singhana's inscriptions as the foes conquered by him (Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, ii. Pp. 239-43), Sarngapäpidēvs seems to have participated in his father's wars and took credit for his victories before he accepted service under the Kakatiyas, Although the Turushkas, among the peoples of many other countries, are said, in very general terms, to have oboyed his comands, the Turushka invasion is not mentioned in any of his inscriptions. It is not therefore unlikely that the invasion took place after Sārngapāņidēva had entered the service of the Käkatsyas.
* A. R. Ep., No. 224 of 1918; SII, Vol. IX, Part I, No. 380. Mack, M88., 15-3-20, p. 101.
