Indian Antiquary Vol 52

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 22

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JANUARY, 1923
Thus, from A.D. 1336 to about A.D. 1506, i.e., for about 170 years, the Vijayanagara Empire had gone through a process of consolidation and expansion. Internally it was, generally speaking, strong. Though the ruling person and family occasionally proved unequal to the task, the organising ani governing resources of the state were yet strong. Throughout the whole of Southern India from the Konkan in the west to Kanchi in the east, and from Udayagiri in the north to Tinnevelly in the south, the Vijayanagara rule had been known, though appreciated only in parts.
The idea of an All-South Indian sovereignty, with its centre at Vijayanagara, had now come to be felt and realised, though certain local ruling families were awaiting an opportunity to shake off its supremacy. The occasional troubles in the royal family and in the capital, owing to disputed but soon-settled successions in the one case, and to powerful but repulsed foreign attacks by the Muhammadans and their allies in the other, conjured up ideas of independence in the representatives of such local families. But the time - was soon to come when the brand of the Vijayanagara supremacy was to be set upon the whole of Southern India. During the period consolidation progressed mainly in the western, southern and eastern parts of the peninsula; the north was almost always out of its dominion. The Bahmini Muhammadans and the Gajapatis of Orissa were generally in league against the rising southern power.
The Period of Expansion. The imperial enterprise and aspirations of the Vijayanagara house till the close of the fifteenth century were limited to the conquest of the country between the Malprabha and the Bhima rivers in the north and the Kaveri on the south. This part of the country had been already consolidated to a great extent. In the earlier days of the empire the chief concern of the rulers was to resist the attacks of the Muhammadans from the north and save the capital with the peninsular dominions attached to it. During this period of defensive conquest, the forts of Raichur and Mudkal had many . time passed under their rule. But with the opening of the sixteenth century the Vijayanagara monarch framed and undertook a military policy which was very far-sighted and venturesome. The permanent conquest of Raichur and Mudkal on the Bahmini frontier was held absolutely necessary for keeping back the encroachments of the Muhammadans. The policy was intended to handicap the enemy's resources and attempts by planting military outposts in his lands. This long. cherished and much-emphasised conquest could not be effectively carried out before two decades of the sixteenth century had passed. Krishnaraya adopted the military and political testaments of his predecessor and executed them to the letter. He not only fulfilled but improved upon them. The Adil Shahi capital, viz., Bijapur fell into his hands. But Krishnaraya's rule did not begin so prosperously. Rebellions were springing up. Encroachments had taken place. The former had to be quelled and the latter get back. The Um. mattur chiefs of Maisur laid claim to the lordship of Penugonda. Krishnaraya, as the first step in his conquering career, put them down. This was enough to ring the note of his greatness and that of Vijayanagara supremacy throughout the south. To the east he made three expeditions, by which the provinces of Udayagiri and Kondavidu were recovered to the Vijayanagara crown. Successively his conquests and dominions extended into Kalinga, the modern Gaijam and Vizaga patam districts. Cuttack is also claimed among his conquestb. In his day the Vijayanagara Empire reached its widest boundaries. These conqueste dealt a severe blow to the Golkonda Musselmans and their ally, the Gajapatis of