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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(NOVEMBER, 1916
rivalry. When Sri Ranga Râya approached Ginji, therefore, he found his adversaries not only unprepared, but disunited. The Naik of Tanjore, evidently the pious Vijaya Râgkava, availed himself, with plausible sincerity, of the first chance to add a second treason to the first. At the mere sight of the imperial forces, he deserted his allies, ffered his submission to Sri Ranga Raya, informed him of the nature and extent of the
federate league, and, faithful to his new allegiance, took part in the operations of the imperial army. Sri Ranga was now in a position to march on Ginji. It is impossible to explain the lethargic despair into which Tirumal Naik fell at this crisis.
More than fifteen years back, he had commenced, in the anticipation of this very war, to husband the resources of his realm, and what was more, would probably have succeeded, if the war had then broken out; and yet, fifteen years later, when the invasion did actually take place, an invasion that, being the sole outoome of his deliberato treason, must havo been long expected by him-he showed himself, even with the assistance of the Governor of Ginji, singularly impotent. What were the reasons of this strange inconsistenoy ? Possibly, the military strength of Madura had been weakenod by the Ramnad rebellion. Possibly, Tirumal had not yet recovered from the effects of his protracted wars with Mysore and Travancore. His very eagerness to ignore his differences with the chiefs of Ginji and Tanjore and to enlist their co-operation had been in all probability due to this exhaustion of his resources. It is at tho samo time probable that he mistook the military capacity of his suzerain, and deluded himself into the notion that the emperor was too weak to resist or too timid to chastise his disaffection. Whatever it was, the fiokleness of the Tanjore Naik and the unoxpected activity of Sri Ranga Raya evidently upset his calculations, disappointed his expectations, and paralised his energies. From that time he appears to have sunk into a depression of spirits which dulled the fiery elements of his nature and incapacitated him for exertion. -
Tirumal's invitation to the Goleonda Sultan. At this crisis, he took a step, the enormity and folly of which will always single him out as one of the most shortsighted rulers in Indian History. This was no less than an invitation to the Sultan of Golconda the greedy Abdulla, Kutb Shah, the fifth of the Kutb Shahi dynasty and the deadly enemy of the Empire, to invade the Northern dominions of his master. It was a diplomatic move, no doubt, but the act of a political vandal who knew neither honour nor patriotism, and worshipped expedienoy and selfishness alone. For the sake of a title, Tirumal Naik thus betrayed his religion and his country, besides sacrificing his conscience and his reputation. More than 300 years had passed since Malik Kafur had marched his army into South India. The obstinate defence of Vijayanagar on the one hand and the disunion among the Dakhan Sultans on the other hand prevented the complete Muhammadan conquest of this region. Even after the disaster of Talikota and the removal of the seat of government to Pennakonda, the Musalman attempt at conquest and domination had, as we have already seen, almost though not entirely, failed. And, by a strange irony of fato, it was reserved for the most orthodox king of the age to play the traitor and invite the dreaded enemy into the land. Mr. Nelson, an ardent admirer of Tirumal Naik, mistakes his treachery for diplomacy, and considers his call for Musalman interference to be a lauda ble break from the past isolation of Madura. But the conduct of
34 Tirumal Näik's rebellion against Vijayanagar' is generally attributed to 1638. Seo, for example 8. Aroot., Gazr. p. 36. But it took place after 1642.
