Vijayanagara & Bahmani Kingdoms

The middle of the fourteenth century was a time of breaking and making in the South. Muhammad bin Tughlaq's far-flung empire was cracking, and in the space of just twelve years two big new powers rose from its edges: Vijayanagara in 1336 and the Bahmani Sultanate in 1347. They were neighbours, they were rivals, and for two centuries their quarrels decided who ruled the Deccan. In this chapter we meet both, so keep the pair in your mind: Vijayanagara (Hindu, south of the Tungabhadra) and Bahmani (Muslim, north of the Krishna).

Founding of Vijayanagara (1336). The kingdom was founded by two brothers, Harihara I and Bukka I, of the Sangama family, on the banks of the Tungabhadra. Traditional accounts say that they had served the Kakatiya (or the Kampili) ruler, were carried to Delhi when that kingdom fell, and were later sent back to the South to deal with unrest. Instead of serving the Sultan, they set up their own kingdom, guided and encouraged by the scholar-saint Vidyaranya (Madhavacharya). The city was named Vijayanagara, 'the city of victory'. Its ruins today are called Hampi, a name that comes from Pampa Devi, the local goddess of the Tungabhadra.

The Sangama kings (1336-1485). Harihara I (1336-56) fixed the new kingdom's base, and Bukka I (1356-77) widened it; his son Kumara Kampana overthrew the Sultanate of Madurai (Ma'bar) around 1370, which brought the far South under Vijayanagara. Harihara II (1377-1404) took the grand titles Maharajadhiraja and Rajaparameshvara. Devaraya I (1406-22) built irrigation works on the Tungabhadra and was visited by the Italian Nicolo de Conti. Devaraya II (1424-46) was the greatest Sangama king, called Gajabetekara ('elephant hunter'); in his time the Persian envoy Abdur Razzaq visited the capital (1443), and the Telugu poet Srinatha lived in his court. From the very beginning, Vijayanagara and the Bahmani Sultanate fought for the rich Raichur Doab, the land between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra.

Why did Vijayanagara rise exactly here? Think of its position. The Tungabhadra gave water and a natural wall of rocks and hills; the west coast ports brought in horses and sent out spices and cloth; and a strong army was needed anyway, because the Bahmani Sultans lay to the north and the Tughlaq power had just collapsed. A kingdom born between two threats had to be a warrior state, and that is why almost everything in its government (the nayaka system you will study later) is built around the army.

The Saluvas and the Tuluvas. After Devaraya II the Sangama kings grew weak. The army commander Saluva Narasimha seized the throne in 1485 and started the short Saluva line. His general Narasa Nayaka (of the Tuluva family) then ruled as the real power behind the Saluva boy-kings, and after Narasa Nayaka's death his son Vira Narasimha took the throne in 1505, founding the Tuluva dynasty. Historians call these the first and second usurpations. Vira Narasimha was followed in 1509 by his half-brother Krishnadevaraya, the greatest king of all (studied in the next topic). The last Tuluva, Sadashiva Raya, was only a figurehead; the true ruler was his minister Rama Raya, who died at Talikota (1565). Soon after, Tirumala pushed Sadashiva aside (c. 1570) and began the Aravidu dynasty, which ruled from Penukonda and then Chandragiri.

If one name has to be remembered from Vijayanagara, it is Krishnadevaraya (1509-29) of the Tuluva dynasty. He was a soldier, a poet and a builder at the same time, and under him the empire reached its widest limits and its richest days. The foreign visitors of his time (the Portuguese Domingo Paes among them) wrote that Vijayanagara was one of the finest cities they had ever seen.

Wars and victories. In the north-east he fought the Gajapati king of Odisha, Prataparudra: he took the forts of Udayagiri (1513) and Kondavidu (1515), and the war ended with a peace in which he married a Gajapati princess. In the north-west he faced the Deccan Sultans. His most famous victory was the Battle of Raichur (1520), where he defeated Ismail Adil Shah of Bijapur and took the fort of Raichur, so the contested Doab stayed with Vijayanagara. He also freed the Bahmani Sultan Mahmud Shah from his rebel nobles and set him back on the throne, and for this he took the title Yavanarajya Sthapanacharya ('establisher of the Yavana kingdom'). With the Portuguese at Goa he kept good relations, because their sea trade brought the Arabian horses his cavalry needed.

Poet and patron. Krishnadevaraya wrote the Telugu epic Amuktamalyada (also called Vishnuchittiyam), the story of the Vaishnava saint-poetess Andal (Goda Devi) and her father Periyalvar, which also explains the duties of a king. He is credited with Sanskrit works such as the play Jambavati Kalyanam and Madalasa Charita. His court was adorned by eight great Telugu poets, the Ashtadiggajas ('eight elephants' holding up the directions), led by Allasani Peddana (author of Manucharitramu, called Andhra Kavita Pitamaha); the others include Nandi Thimmana, Madayyagari Mallana, Dhurjati, Ayyalaraju Ramabhadrudu, Pingali Surana, Ramarajabhushanudu and the wit Tenali Ramakrishna. At Hampi he built the Krishna temple (1513) and a great gateway (rayagopura) of the Virupaksha temple, added to the Vitthala temple, raised gateways at several other southern temples, and founded the suburb Nagalapuram in memory of his mother. Under him the Telugu language stood at the peak of its glory, so the period is called the golden age of Telugu literature.

The end: Talikota (1565). After Krishnadevaraya, his half-brother Achyuta Raya (1529-42) and then Sadashiva Raya (1542-70) ruled, but real power passed to the minister Rama Raya (Aliya Rama Raya). He played the Deccan Sultans against one another and even interfered in their quarrels, and this arrogance finally pushed them to unite. The sultans of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda and Bidar (Berar did not join) marched on Vijayanagara and met Rama Raya's army at Talikota (also called Rakshasa-Tangadi or Banihatti) on 23 January 1565. Rama Raya was captured and killed, his army broke, and the great city was plundered for months and never recovered. His brother Tirumala fled to Penukonda with the treasure, and the empire lived on in a weakened form under the Aravidu dynasty until the middle of the 17th century.

Talikota was not simply 'Hindus against Muslims'. Vijayanagara's own army had many Muslim soldiers and officers, and the sultans had often fought one another. What really happened is that Rama Raya's pride and his meddling in the sultans' affairs made them forget their quarrels and act together for once, and one lost battle, with the king-maker killed, was enough to break an army that depended on a strong centre. Always give the reason, then the date.

An empire built for war needs a government built for war, and that is what Vijayanagara had. At the top stood the king (Raya), advised by a council of ministers and helped by a large number of court officers. The traditional accounts note the three great powers around the Krishna and Tungabhadra by their titles: the Vijayanagara kings were called narapati ('lord of men'), the Deccan sultans ashvapati ('lord of horses'), and the Gajapati rulers of Odisha gajapati ('lord of elephants'). Vijayanagara kings also proudly used the title Hindu Suratrana ('Hindu Sultan'), to show that they ruled with the same power and prestige as the sultans.

The Nayankara (Amara-Nayaka) system. This is the heart of Vijayanagara's government and a favourite of examiners. The king gave army chiefs called nayakas a territory, known as amaram. In return the nayaka had to do three things: collect the revenue of his territory, keep a fixed number of soldiers, horses and elephants ready for the king, and pay an annual tribute (and attend the court with gifts). He kept a share of the revenue for his own expenses. To stop nayakas from becoming too strong, they were moved from place to place and watched by royal officers (called Mahanayakacharya). After the defeat at Talikota (1565) the nayakas, who ruled as the rulers of Madurai, Thanjavur, Gingee and Keladi, became independent. In Tamil country their local warrior-chiefs were known as palayakkarars (Palegars), and they later fought against Mysore and the British.

Compare this with the Mughal mansabdari you will meet later: both give the officer an income from land in exchange for army service. The difference is in who holds the post. A Mughal mansabdar was a transferable imperial officer without roots in the land; a Vijayanagara nayaka was often a local military chief, which is why the system turned into small independent kingdoms (Madurai, Thanjavur, Gingee) as soon as the centre fell at Talikota. Weak centre plus strong local chiefs equals break-up.

Village and revenue. The village was run by a group of hereditary officials called the ayagars (traditionally twelve in number), among them the village accountant (karnam), the watchman and the temple priest, the smith and the carpenter. They were paid not in coin but by rent-free land or a share of the village produce, so the village managed itself with very little interference. The state's main income was land revenue, which was charged on the quality of the soil and the crop; the state also collected taxes on crafts, professions, markets, trade and even on marriages, and a share of the revenue was given to temples and Brahmanas.

Economy and trade. Large tanks and canals watered the dry Deccan plateau (the Kamalapuram tank and the canals taken off the Tungabhadra are well known). Vijayanagara's wealth came from agriculture and a lively sea trade through west-coast ports such as Mangalore, Bhatkal and Honavar. It exported spices, cotton cloth, rice and sugar, and imported horses from Arabia and Persia (a matter of life and death for the cavalry), together with pearls, silk and other luxuries. The main gold coin was the varaha (called pagoda by Europeans and hon in Kannada), with smaller silver and copper coins. Merchant guilds, including the powerful Nanadesi and the Banajigas, handled the trade.

Society and religion. Vijayanagara supported Shaiva, Vaishnava and Jain communities, and its kings gave generously to temples. Rulers were devotees of Virupaksha (a form of Shiva, the guardian god of the kingdom) and also of Vishnu, yet Muslims lived in the city, served in the army and had their own quarter. The greatest festival was Mahanavami (Dasara), held in front of the Mahanavami Dibba. Foreign visitors record that the sati custom was practised and that devadasis served in the temples. Slavery existed, and women in the city took part in trade and the court.

How the Bahmani Sultanate began (1347). Muhammad bin Tughlaq's rule in the Deccan was harsh, and his officers (the amiran-i-sada, commanders of a hundred) rebelled against him. Their leader Hasan Gangu, a noble of Afghan or Turkish origin (accounts differ), also called Zafar Khan, defeated the Tughlaq army, was crowned in 1347, and took the title Alauddin Bahman Shah. His state is called Bahmani after him. The first capital was Gulbarga, which he renamed Ahsanabad. A strong Persian-Islamic culture grew in the Deccan, and the Bahmani Sultanate lasted until about 1518 as a united kingdom, and its fragments for another century or so.

Mahmud Gawan (c. 1411-1481). Gawan was a Persian merchant-scholar from Gilan who came to the Deccan about 1453, rose through merit and became the chief minister (wazir / peshwa) of Muhammad Shah III. He is the great figure of the Bahmani court, and the reasons are plain. Conquests: he took the Konkan, including Dabhol and Goa (c. 1472) from Vijayanagara's hold, and also Belgaum and parts of the east coast, so the Bahmani state reached its widest limits. Reforms: he divided the four large provinces (tarafs) into eight, so that no governor became powerful enough to rebel; allowed each governor only one royal fief (khalisa, land directly under the Sultan); measured the land, and fixed salaries and army discipline. Learning: he built a famous madrasa at Bidar (1472) with a great library. Yet the Deccani nobles hated him; they forged a letter to turn the Sultan against him, and he was executed in 1481.

Remember the Bahmani collapse as a story of two parties. The newcomers (Afaqis) were rich and educated, the old settlers (Deccanis) were jealous, and a wise minister like Gawan tried to hold the balance. When the Deccanis finally got him killed in 1481, the strongest pillar of the state was gone: governors began to behave like kings, and within a few decades five independent sultanates stood where one Bahmani state had been. Quarrel inside the court, then break-up outside: this is a common pattern in medieval history.

Bahmani and Vijayanagara. The two neighbours fought for two centuries, and the prize was nearly always the Raichur Doab (the fertile land between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra), with the Krishna-Godavari delta and the western ports as lesser causes. Neither side could win for long: Vijayanagara's wealth and Bahmani's cavalry and guns kept them in balance, until the Bahmani state itself broke up. Administration and culture. The kingdom was divided into four tarafs (Gulbarga, Daulatabad, Berar and Bidar), each under a tarafdar; Persian was the language of the court and the Deccani form of Urdu grew in the region. The Bahmani rulers built the Jama Masjid of Gulbarga (1367, with a covered courtyard, a striking Persian feature), the Haft Gumbaz tombs at Gulbarga, the fort and palaces at Bidar, and the Chand Minar at Daulatabad.

After Mahmud Gawan's death the Bahmani Sultanate was a shell. The governors of the provinces declared themselves independent one by one, and by about 1518 the old kingdom had split into five Deccan sultanates. The easy way to remember them is as a set of five: Berar, Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda and Bidar. The first three came up around 1490, Bidar at about the same time, and Golconda formally in 1518; each is named after the dynasty that ruled it.

Bijapur (Adil Shahis). The most cultured of the five. Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1580-1627) was a patron of music, called Jagadguru, and wrote Kitab-i-Nauras in Dakhini; he treated Hindus and Muslims alike. His tomb, the Ibrahim Rauza, and his successor's tomb, the Gol Gumbaz, are masterpieces. Ahmadnagar (Nizam Shahis). Its great names are Chand Bibi, who defended Ahmadnagar against Akbar's son Murad in 1595-96, and the Abyssinian minister Malik Ambar, who revived the state with guerrilla fighting, a sound land-revenue system and the founding of Khadki (later Aurangabad); the father of Shivaji, Shahji Bhonsle, served in this army. Golconda (Qutb Shahis). Rich through its diamond trade and a port at Masulipatnam, it produced Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (1580-1612), who founded Hyderabad (1591) and wrote poetry in Dakhini Urdu and Telugu. Bidar (Barid Shahis) and Berar (Imad Shahis) were small; Berar was the first to be swallowed.

The Deccan sultanates built in a style that is not purely Persian and not purely Indian. They used Persian forms (domes, pointed arches, minarets, calligraphy) but also local touches: lotus-petal edges on domes, carved brackets and eaves (chhajja), and local granite and basalt instead of the red sandstone of Delhi. Think of them as a mixed culture, just like their language Dakhini Urdu, which blends Persian, Arabic, Telugu, Kannada and Marathi words.

Vijayanagara's capital was a city built to impress, with seven lines of walls and bazaars that the foreign visitors compared to those of the great cities of Europe and Persia. Today its ruins lie at Hampi in Karnataka, on the south bank of the Tungabhadra, among boulders and banana fields, and have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986. The ruins fall into three zones: a sacred centre along the river and the rocky hills (the great temples), a royal centre (palaces, platforms and enclosures) and the urban core with markets and houses.

Hampi teaches an important idea: even the most 'Hindu' empire of the South borrowed freely from its Muslim neighbours when it built palaces, stables and pavilions. The temples stay in the Dravidian tradition, but the secular buildings (Lotus Mahal, Elephant Stables) show Indo-Islamic arches and domes. This is why the Lotus Mahal is such a favourite question: it shows how cultures mixed along the Deccan frontier, in war and in art both.

Literature and music. Four languages flourished at the Vijayanagara court. In Sanskrit, the Vedic commentator Sayana wrote in Bukka I's time, and Vidyaranya (Madhava) is linked with works on philosophy. In Telugu, Krishnadevaraya's Amuktamalyada and the Ashtadiggajas shaped the golden age. In Kannada, Kumara Vyasa composed the Karnata Bharata Katha Manjari, a Kannada retelling of the Mahabharata, and the Haridasa saints, above all Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa, sang devotional songs for the common people. Purandara Dasa (16th century) is called the father of Carnatic music (Karnataka Sangeeta Pitamaha) because he set out the first lessons for students of that music. Tamil poetry and temple dance also grew under the nayakas who ruled the Tamil country on the king's behalf.