Episode 3

Introduction Introductory remarks --Sources of information --Sketch of history of Southern India down to A.D.1336--A Hindu bulwark against Muhammadan conquest --The opening date,as given by Nuniz,wrong --"Togao Mamede"or Muhammad Taghlaq of Delhi --His career and character.

In the year 1336A.D.,during the reign of Edward III.of England,there occurred in India an event which almost instantaneously changed the political condition of the entire south.With that date the volume of ancient history in that tract closes and the modern begins.It is the epoch of transition from the Old to the New.

This event was the foundation of the city and kingdom of Vijayanagar.Prior to A.D.1336all Southern India had lain under the domination of the ancient Hindu kingdoms,--kingdoms so old that their origin has never been traced,but which are mentioned in Buddhist edicts rock-cut sixteen centuries earlier;the Pandiyans at Madura,the Cholas at Tanjore,and others.When Vijayanagar sprang into existence the past was done with for ever,and the monarchs of the new state became lords or overlords of the territories lying between the Dakhan and Ceylon.

There was no miracle in this.It was the natural result of the persistent efforts made by the Muhammadans to conquer all India.When these dreaded invaders reached the Krishna River the Hindus to their south,stricken with terror,combined,and gathered in haste to the new standard which alone seemed to offer some hope of protection.The decayed old states crumbled away into nothingness,and the fighting kings of Vijayanagar became the saviours of the south for two and a half centuries.

And yet in the present day the very existence of this kingdom is hardly remembered in India;while its once magnificent capital,planted on the extreme northern border of its dominions and bearing the proud title of the "City of Victory,"has entirely disappeared save for a few scattered ruins of buildings that were once temples or palaces,and for the long lines of massive walls that constituted its defences.Even the name has died out of men's minds and memories,and the remains that mark its site are known only as the ruins lying near the little village of Hampe.

Its rulers,however,in their day swayed the destinies of an empire far larger than Austria,and the city is declared by a succession of European visitors in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to have been marvellous for size and prosperity --a city with which for richness and magnificence no known western capital could compare.Its importance is shown by the fact that almost all the struggles of the Portuguese on the western coast were carried on for the purpose of securing its maritime trade;and that when the empire fell in 1565,the prosperity of Portuguese Goa fell with it never to rise again.

Our very scanty knowledge of the events that succeeded one another in the large area dominated by the kings of Vijayanagar has been hitherto derived partly from the scattered remarks of European travellers and the desultory references in their writings to the politics of the inhabitants of India;partly from the summaries compiled by careful mediaeval historians such as Barros,Couto,and Correa,who,though to a certain degree interested in the general condition of the country,yet confined themselves mostly to recording the deeds of the European colonisers for the enlightenment of their European readers;partly from the chronicles of a few Muhammadan writers of the period,who often wrote in fear of the displeasure of their own lords;and partly from Hindu inions recording grants of lands to temples and religious institutions,which documents,when viewed as state papers,seldom yield us more than a few names and dates.The two chronicles,however,translated and printed at the end of this volume,will be seen to throw a flood of light upon the condition of the city of Vijayanagar early in the sixteenth century,and upon the history of its successive dynasties;and for the rest I have attempted,as an introduction to these chronicles,to collect all available materials from the different authorities alluded to and to weld them into a consecutive whole,so as to form a foundation upon which may hereafter be constructed a regular history of the Vijayanagar empire.The result will perhaps seem disjointed,crude,and uninteresting;but let it be remembered that it is only a first attempt.I have little doubt that before very long the whole history of Southern India will be compiled by some writer gifted with the power of "making the dry bones live;"but meanwhile the bones themselves must be collected and pieced together,and my duty has been to try and construct at least the main portions of the skeleton.

Before proceeding to details we must shortly glance at the political condition of India in the first half of the fourteenth century,remembering that up to that time the Peninsula had been held by a number of distinct Hindu kingdoms,those of the Pandiyans at Madura and of the Cholas at Tanjore being the most important.

Episodes
1 Episode 1
2 Episode 2
3 Episode 3
4 Episode 4
5 Episode 5
6 Episode 6
7 Episode 7
8 Episode 8
9 Episode 9
10 Episode 10
11 Episode 11
12 Episode 12
13 Episode 13
14 Episode 14
15 Episode 15
16 Episode 16
17 Episode 17
18 Episode 18
19 Episode 19
20 Episode 20
21 Episode 21
22 Episode 22
23 Episode 23
24 Episode 24
25 Episode 25
26 Episode 26
27 Episode 27
28 Episode 28
29 Episode 29
30 Episode 30
31 Episode 31
32 Episode 32
33 Episode 33
34 Episode 34
35 Episode 35
36 Episode 36
37 Episode 37
38 Episode 38
39 Episode 39
40 Episode 40
41 Episode 41
42 Episode 42
43 Episode 43
44 Episode 44
45 Episode 45
46 Episode 46
47 Episode 47
48 Episode 48
49 Episode 49
50 Episode 50
51 Episode 51
52 Episode 52
53 Episode 53
54 Episode 54
55 Episode 55
56 Episode 56
57 Episode 57
58 Episode 58
59 Episode 59
60 Episode 60
61 Episode 61
62 Episode 62
63 Episode 63
64 Episode 64
65 Episode 65
66 Episode 66
67 Episode 67
68 Episode 68
69 Episode 69
70 Episode 70
71 Episode 71
72 Episode 72
73 Episode 73
74 Episode 74
75 Episode 75
76 Episode 76
77 Episode 77
78 Episode 78
79 Episode 79
80 Episode 80
81 Episode 81
82 Episode 82
83 Episode 83
84 Episode 84
85 Episode 85
86 Episode 86
87 Episode 87
88 Episode 88
89 Episode 89
90 Episode 90
91 Episode 91
92 Episode 92
93 Episode 93
94 Episode 94
95 Episode 95
96 Episode 96
97 Episode 97
98 Episode 98
99 Episode 99
100 Episode 100
101 Episode 101
102 Episode 102
103 Episode 103
104 Episode 104
105 Episode 105
106 Episode 106
107 Episode 107
108 Episode 108
109 Episode 109
110 Episode 110
111 Episode 111
112 Episode 112
113 Episode 113
114 Episode 114
115 Episode 115
116 Episode 116
117 Episode 117
118 Episode 118
119 Episode 119
120 Episode 120
121 Episode 121
122 Episode 122
123 Episode 123
124 Episode 124
125 Episode 125
126 Episode 126
127 Episode 127
128 Episode 128
129 Episode 129
130 Episode 130
131 Episode 131
132 Episode 132
133 Episode 133
134 Episode 134
135 Episode 135
136 Episode 136
137 Episode 137
138 Episode 138
139 Episode 139
140 Episode 140
141 Episode 141
142 Episode 142
143 Episode 143
144 Episode 144
145 Episode 145
146 Episode 146
147 Episode 147
148 Episode 148
149 Episode 149
150 Episode 150
151 Episode 151
152 Episode 152
153 Episode 153
154 Episode 154
155 Episode 155
156 Episode 156
157 Episode 157
Episodes

Updated 157 Episodes

1
Episode 1
2
Episode 2
3
Episode 3
4
Episode 4
5
Episode 5
6
Episode 6
7
Episode 7
8
Episode 8
9
Episode 9
10
Episode 10
11
Episode 11
12
Episode 12
13
Episode 13
14
Episode 14
15
Episode 15
16
Episode 16
17
Episode 17
18
Episode 18
19
Episode 19
20
Episode 20
21
Episode 21
22
Episode 22
23
Episode 23
24
Episode 24
25
Episode 25
26
Episode 26
27
Episode 27
28
Episode 28
29
Episode 29
30
Episode 30
31
Episode 31
32
Episode 32
33
Episode 33
34
Episode 34
35
Episode 35
36
Episode 36
37
Episode 37
38
Episode 38
39
Episode 39
40
Episode 40
41
Episode 41
42
Episode 42
43
Episode 43
44
Episode 44
45
Episode 45
46
Episode 46
47
Episode 47
48
Episode 48
49
Episode 49
50
Episode 50
51
Episode 51
52
Episode 52
53
Episode 53
54
Episode 54
55
Episode 55
56
Episode 56
57
Episode 57
58
Episode 58
59
Episode 59
60
Episode 60
61
Episode 61
62
Episode 62
63
Episode 63
64
Episode 64
65
Episode 65
66
Episode 66
67
Episode 67
68
Episode 68
69
Episode 69
70
Episode 70
71
Episode 71
72
Episode 72
73
Episode 73
74
Episode 74
75
Episode 75
76
Episode 76
77
Episode 77
78
Episode 78
79
Episode 79
80
Episode 80
81
Episode 81
82
Episode 82
83
Episode 83
84
Episode 84
85
Episode 85
86
Episode 86
87
Episode 87
88
Episode 88
89
Episode 89
90
Episode 90
91
Episode 91
92
Episode 92
93
Episode 93
94
Episode 94
95
Episode 95
96
Episode 96
97
Episode 97
98
Episode 98
99
Episode 99
100
Episode 100
101
Episode 101
102
Episode 102
103
Episode 103
104
Episode 104
105
Episode 105
106
Episode 106
107
Episode 107
108
Episode 108
109
Episode 109
110
Episode 110
111
Episode 111
112
Episode 112
113
Episode 113
114
Episode 114
115
Episode 115
116
Episode 116
117
Episode 117
118
Episode 118
119
Episode 119
120
Episode 120
121
Episode 121
122
Episode 122
123
Episode 123
124
Episode 124
125
Episode 125
126
Episode 126
127
Episode 127
128
Episode 128
129
Episode 129
130
Episode 130
131
Episode 131
132
Episode 132
133
Episode 133
134
Episode 134
135
Episode 135
136
Episode 136
137
Episode 137
138
Episode 138
139
Episode 139
140
Episode 140
141
Episode 141
142
Episode 142
143
Episode 143
144
Episode 144
145
Episode 145
146
Episode 146
147
Episode 147
148
Episode 148
149
Episode 149
150
Episode 150
151
Episode 151
152
Episode 152
153
Episode 153
154
Episode 154
155
Episode 155
156
Episode 156
157
Episode 157

Download

Like this story? Download the app to keep your reading history.
Download

Bonus

New users downloading the APP can read 10 episodes for free

Receive
NovelToon
Step Into A Different WORLD!
Download MangaToon APP on App Store and Google Play