Rise and fall of Vijayanagar - The Hindu Kingdom -10

Vijayanagar -Part 10 - The begining of the end

After Krishnadeva Raya(1530), Achyuthadeva Raya was acceded the throne. He ruled for a brief period of 7 years. This was the deciding period in the timeline of Vijayanagar. He lost the faith of his close aides, his tributaries and his close friends. He had ill treated those who were faithful to the throne. There were disturbances and strained relations within the Kingdom. He gave such a mortal blow to the kingdom that he himself did not live to see the fate of the empire. After him Sadashiva Raya was asked to sit on the throne, but was deprived of all the powers and the administration was handled by Ramaraya(nephew of Krishnadeva Raya) keeping Sadashiva Raya under house arrest.

By that time Bahamani Kingdom was split into five different territories. They were fighting among themselves. Ramaraya had his hands at the fighting Islamic rulers. Whenever he was asked for help he was there at their disposal, helping one ruler against another. This was unacceptable among the subsidiaries of the Kingdom. Moreover small rulers wanted to declare themselves as independent sovereign states. They also opposed Ramaraya`s arrogance in keeping sadashiva Raya under house arrest. Slowly but surely cracks began appearing on the very foundation of the mightiest kingdom of India.

Ramaraya was undoubtedly a shrewd and a great statesman. But was too old to handle day to day affairs. He had to, at times, face opposition from his brothers Tirumala and Venkatadri. Ramaraya had once teamed up with Nizam shah to fight against another muslim ruler. It was after the battle that Nizam shah thought that he had teamed up with a Kafir and had killed his own men. Because after the war, Ramaraya did not sheath the sword and killed innocent people. Mostly muslims.

Nizam shah convened a meeting of all Five rulers of southern region and in that meeting it was decided that the common enemy of Islam should be wiped out. That is Vijayanagar.

By that time to add salt to the wound, Ramaraya had spoiled his trade relations with portuguese as well. Where Krishnadeva Raya had dictated trade terms, Ramaraya had succumbed the proposal of Portuguese.

The Islamic rulers sent a letter through a messenger asking Ramaraya to handover all the territories that were captured by muslims back to them. The messenger was received only after a month and was humiliated and sent back with a negative answer.

The stage was then set for a decisive battle.