第62章

Correa[299]states that in 1542Achyuta,king of Vijayanagar,died,leaving a young son in the power of his uncle,brother of the dead king,who had been king contrary to right.[300]The nobles wished to keep the boy at liberty,nominating two ministers to carry on the government;but the uncle disagreed,since in this way he would lose all power,and he contrived to gain over some partisans to his side.The nobles in disgust separated,returned to their estates,and,in despair of good government,began to assume independence each in his own province.The queen,mother of the boy,begged the Adil Shah to come to her aid and secure the kingdom for her son,promising him,in return for this favour,immense riches.The Sultan set out for this purpose,intending to visit Vijayanagar,but on the road he was met by emissaries from the minister,and bought off with lavish gifts.The king by real right (probably the uncle,Ranga),who had been detained in a fortress,was then liberated,and he also sought aid from the Sultan of Bijapur.The Sultan took advantage of the opportunity to set out afresh,nominally to aid the true king,but really to acquire the kingdom for himself.The Hindus,in fear for their safety,placed on the throne the brother of the dead king,and succeeded in defeating the Adil Shah close to Vijayanagar.The new king,in order to strengthen his position for the future,caused the boy,his rival,to be assassinated,as also two of the latter's uncles and a nephew of the dead king (Achyuta).[301]Then,in dread of the power of the principal nobles,he summoned them to court,and put out the eyes of those who arrived first;so that the rest returned in great anger to their homes and began to intrigue with the Sultan.They urged him to depose the tyrant,promising their aid,and offering him the kingdom for himself if only the country could be freed from this monster.The Adil Shah therefore advanced,entered the kingdom of Vijayanagar,and was received as sovereign by many;but he also assumed such intolerant and haughty airs that he aroused the hatred of all around him,and in the end was obliged,in fear for his own safety,to retire to Bijapur."Meanwhile a new king had seized the throne of Vijayanagar,a great lord from Paleacate,married to a sister of the king that preceded the dead king,[302]and in the end he secured the kingdom."[303]

It seems impossible,as Senhor Lopes justly observes,to get at the truth of all this at present,and I think it best to abandon the subject and pass on to consider the events of the reign of Sadasiva,which lasted from 1542to 1567.It is pretty evident that each chronicler acquired his knowledge "from stories transmitted from mouth to mouth and disfigured in the process."[304]

In 1543Burhan Nizam Shah made an alliance with Rama Rajah and Jamshid Qutb Shah,Sultan of Golkonda,and attacked the Adil Shah,whereupon Rama Rajah,taking advantage of the latter's troubles,sent Venkatadri to reduce Raichur and the Doab,"so that Beejapore,attacked at the same time by three powerful princes in three separate quarters,was full of danger and disorder."[305]True to the traditions of his predecessors,the new Sultan of Bijapur "called Assud Khan from Balgoan to his presence and demanded his advice on the alarming state of affairs,"with the result that he patched up a peace with Burhan,making over to him the rich districts surrounding Sholapur,and sent ambassadors to arrange terms with Vijayanagar.This done,and the allies having retired,Asada Khan marched against the Qutb Shah of Golkonda,defeated him under the walls of his capital,and in a personal encounter grievously wounded him in the face with his sabre.[306]

The Portuguese at this period had been very active,and amongst other more or less successful enterprises the Governor,Affonso de Sousa,attacked the territory of the Rani of Bhatkal on the pretext that she had withheld tribute due to the king of Portugal,and wasted her country with fire and sword.Her city was burnt,the Hindus were slain in large numbers,and the Rani reduced to submission.

About the year 1544--the date is somewhat uncertain --Sultan Burhan again attacked Ibrahim Adil at the instigation of Rama Rajah,but was completely defeated.