Battle of Talikota

The Battle of Talikota was a watershed battle fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and an alliance of the Deccan sultanates.^[5] The battle resulted in the defeat and death of Rama Raya, the de facto ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire, set forth the collapse of the Vijayanagara polity and reconfigured South Indian and Deccan politics.^[5]

Battle of Talikota
Part of Deccani–Vijayanagar wars
Battle of Talikota from Ta'rif-i Husain Shahi (Chronicle of Husain Shah), 16th century.
Date 26 January 1565 Location Around the villages of Rakkasagi and Tangadagi near Talikota in present-day Karnataka[1] Result Deccan Sultanates alliance victory
Belligerents
Ahmadnagar Sultanate Bijapur Sultanate Golconda Sultanate Bidar Sultanate Berar Sultanate	Vijayanagara Empire
Commanders and leaders
Hussain Nizam Shah I Ali Adil Shah I Ibrahim Qutb Shah Ali Barid Shah I Burhan Imad Shah	Rama Raya  Venkatadri † Tirumala Deva Raya Achutappa Nayak Hande Malakappa Nayaka[2] Pemmasani Erra Timmanayudu †
Casualties and losses
Significantly less	Over 100,000[3][4]

The specific details of the battle and its immediate aftermath are notoriously difficult to reconstruct in light of the distinctly contrarian narratives present across primary sources.^[6] The defeat in this battle is usually blamed on the gap in relative military prowess of the combatants.^[7][6] Orientalist and nationalist historians claimed the battle as part of a clash of civilizations between Hindus and Muslims.^[5][6] Contemporary scholars reject such characterizations as flawed.^[8][9]

Background

Rama Raya, after his installation of a patrimonial state and emerging as the ruler, adopted a political strategy of benefiting from the internecine warfare among the multiple successors of the Bahmani Sultanate, and it worked well for about twenty years of his reign.^[5][10][11]

However, after a series of aggressive efforts to maintain hold over Kalyan^[12][a] and diplomatic dealings with the Sultanates laden with insulting gestures by the Sultanates, the four Muslim Sultanates – Hussain Nizam Shah I and Ali Adil Shah I of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur to the west, Ali Barid Shah I of Bidar in the center, and Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali of Golkonda to the east – united in the wake of shrewd marital diplomacy and convened to attack Rama Raya, in late January 1565.^[5][6]

Battle

Battle of Talikota.

Sources

There exist multiple contemporary chronicles (literary as well as historical) documenting the war:^[6][13]

• Burhan-i Maasir by Sayyid Ali Bin Abdullah Tabataba, the court historian of Ahmadnagar Sultanate.
• Gulshan-i Ibrahimi by Ferishta, the court historian of Bijapur Sultanate.
• Taḏkerat al-molūk by Rafi-ud-Din Shirazi, another court historian of Bijapur Sultanate.
• Décadas da Ásia by official Portuguese record-keeper Diogo do Couto.
• Letters by Goa governor Dom Antão de Noronha.
• Fath-Nama-i Nizam Shah by Hasan Shauqi, a Dakhni poet.
• Tarif-i Husain Shah by Aftabi, a poet at Ahmadnagar court.

The details of the battle and immediate aftermath are often distinctly contrarian and even accounting for biases, reconstruction is difficult, if not impossible.^[14][6][15]

Description

The exact venue of clash has been variously mentioned as Talikota, Rakkasagi-Tangadigi and Bannihatti, all on the banks of river Krishna.^[6][16][b] There exists debate as to the precise dates.^[6][17] Span-lengths vary from hours to days; descriptions of battle formations and maneuvers vary too.^[6]

Robert Sewel, gleaning from the description left by the Portuguese, described the war as best as he could. According to him, Rama Raya responded with an extremely large force, which was pretty much impossible to control in a military manner due to sheer size of it. This large Vijayanagar force was deployed in three parts along the known points of crossing the Krishna river. The Allied Sultans contemplated a forced crossing, and then decided against it. Instead, they hatched a somewhat genius plan. In pretension of looking for a suitable place to cross the river, the Muslim army walked along the riverbank for three days. The Vijayanagara Army imitated them on the other side of the river, equally determined to challenge any attempt to cross anywhere. However, on the third night, the Muslim Army hurried back to a well-known ford of the Krishna and successfully crossed the river under cover of darkness.^[18]

Rama Raya decided on a pitched battle after his failure to stop the river-crossing. The large Vijayanagara army was commanded by three generals— Tirumala on the left, Venkatadri on the right and Rama Raya himself in the centre. Facing Tirumala was Sultan Ali Adil Shah. Hussein Nizam Shah was in the centre, thus was facing Rama Raya. On the Muslim left, facing Venkatadri, were Sultan Ali Barid of Ahmadabad and Sultan Ibrahim Qutub of Golkonda.

The battle started with exchange of canon fire and went in favour of the Vijayanagara in the initial stage. The Muslim force, however, had another surprise prepared. In the Muslim camp, the canons were arranged in a way that, the largest ones were in the front line, and then the smaller ones in descending order. At the very last line were the small swivel guns. Then, around two thousand archers (possibly mercenary) were put in front of these canons and guns to conceal these field pieces.^[19]

At certain stage of the battle, the Hindu army of Vijayanagara tried to rush this position. The archers, however, simply moved to another location, clearing a path for canon shells and creating a killing field. As the Muslim canons came to life with thundorous roar, the carnage was so great that the Vijayanagara Army was forced to retreat.

Then the flanks of both armies engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat, and the Allied Sultan army was slowly pushed back. As it seemed victory was near, the aged Rama Raya came out of his litter and mounted on a heavily ornamented throne in the open. Encouraged by this show of bravery from the Hindu King, the Vijayanagara army attempted another charge in a bid to capture Muslim artillery pieces. This, however, backfired spectacularly.

As the hindu army drew near, the Sultans decided to use bowls of copper coins instead of canon balls. The small projectiles shredded through the hindu army and killed so many this time, that the entire Vijayanagara army drowned into utter chaos.^[20] At this moment, a detachment of Muslim riders cut through the enemy lines, and made a run for the enemy king, Rama Raya. Rama Raya's throne bearers abandoned him out of fear. The Muslim riders quickly captured Rama Raya, and immediately retreated. The two Muslim generals of the Vijayanagara army, i.e., Noor Khan Gilani and Bijli Khan Gilani, simply known as the 'Gillani Brothers', switched sides and joined the Allied Sultanate after the capture of Rama Raya.^[21]

Outcome

Rama Raya was eventually beheaded either by Sultan Nizam Hussain himself or by someone acting on his behest despite Adil Shah, who had friendly relations with Raya, intending against.^[6] In the resultant confusion and havoc, Raya's brother Tirumala deserted with the entire army; he did try to regroup in Vijayanagara but failed and moved to the outskirts.^[5][11] His other brother Venkatadri was blinded and likely killed in action.^[5]

Analysis of defeat

Vijayanagara side was winning the war, stated by Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund in a survey of Indian history, until the two Muslim generals of the Vijayanagara army, i.e., Noor Khan Gilani and Bijli Khan Gilani, together known as the 'Gilani Brothers' switched sides.^{[10][22][6][14][7][9]}

Aftermath

The "Malik-i-Maidan" (Master of the Battlefield) cannon, stated to be the largest piece of cast bronze ordnance in the world,^[23] was utilized by the Deccan Sultanates during the Battle of Talikota. It was provided by Ali Adil Shah I (Bijapur Sultanate)

The Sultanates' armies went on to plunder Vijayanagara, unopposed.^[5] Popular accounts and older scholarship describe Vijayanagara falling to ruins, in light of the widespread desecration of sacred topography; however, this view has been contested.^[24] Contemporary historians and archaeologists warn against conflating the state with the town as little evidence exists about any damage inflicted beyond the Royal Center; they further underline the politically strategic nature of destruction and arson, since sites associated with sovereignty, royal power, and authority were subject to more wanton means.^[24]

Nonetheless, the battle caused a political rupture for the state of Vijayanagara and permanently reconfigured Deccan politics.^[5] Patronage of monuments and temples ceased, the Vaishnava cult perished from the city of Vijayanagara due to the cessation of royal patronage, and the Royal Center was never rebuilt.^[5][25] The Bijapur Sultanate reaped maximum gains but their alliance with the other Deccan sultanates did not last long.^[11][26] Tirumala went on to establish the Aravidu dynasty, which held sway over fragments of the erstwhile empire and even operated out of Vijayanagara for two years, before shifting to Pengonda.^[11][26] But faced with succession disputes, rebellions by multiple local chieftains—primarily Telugu Nayak houses—who did not wish for the reemergence of any central authority,^[c] and continuous conflicts with the Bijapur Sultanate—who might have been invited by Rama Raya's son—, it moved southwards before disintegrating in the late 1640s.^{[5][11][6][28]}

Legacy

Historiography

Colonial era historiography (e.g. the work of Robert Sewell and Jonathan Scott), drawing from the accounts of Firishta^{[citation needed]} and others^[who?], placed this battle within the context of a larger "Clash of civilizations" metanarrative. In this account, the battle pitted, on the one hand, Hindu civilization, represented by the "Rama-rajya" of Vijayanagara, against Islamic civilization on the other hand, represented by the alliance of Deccan sultanates. The result of the battle, according to this view, was the fall of the "last Hindu bastion" to Muslim zealotry and expansionism. In the modern post-colonial era, a number of South Indian nationalist historians (Aluru Venkata Rao, B. A. Saletore, S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, K. A. Nilakanta Sastri) have continued to endorse this view or one like it.^[32]

However, in recent decades, a number of historians have criticized or rejected this view. For example, Richard M. Eaton denies any religious motives behind the battle and describes the clash of civilizations hypothesis as emblematic of flawed Orientalist scholarship. In support of his position, Eaton cites a number of lines of evidence, including the multiple alliances of Rama Raya with various Muslim rulers at different points in time, (motivated by political rather than religious factors); the thorough perfusion of Persian Islamate culture within the Vijayanagara Kingdom, as evident from court sanction and patronage of Islamic art, architecture and culture; and the strategic alliances of Rama Raya's heirs (the Aravidus) with the heirs of the Deccan Sultans that fought at Talikota.^[5][7] Romila Thapar, Burton Stein, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Muzaffar Alam, and Stewart N. Gordon have concurred with this perspective on the basis of similar analyses. Additional arguments include the fact that the Muslim Berar Sultanate did not join the battle, the fact the Sultanate-alliance dissipated soon after the battle,^[36] and the existence of harmonious Hindu-Muslim relations in the Vijayanagara Empire, which extended to the placement of Muslims in high positions in the royal court of Vijayanagara.^[39]

Popular culture

The battle has been adopted into a play by Girish Karnad titled "Rakkasa Tangadi" (English title: "Crossing to Talikota"). Karnad based it on Eaton's analysis.^[40][41]

See also

• War of the League of the Indies

Notes

1. Kalyana was the capital of the Chalukyas. Rama Raya sought to control the territory in his bid to gain popular legitimacy by establishing himself as the true heir to Chalukya sovereignty and glory. Other examples included retrofitting of decayed Chalukya complexes and bringing back Chalukya festivals.
2. James Campbell had reported traces of the Vijayanagara defensive fortifications along the southern bank of Krishna in these regions as late as 1884.
3. Stein notes of these independent estates to have been consolidating power since the zenith of Rama Raya's rule. He considers the entire span of Vijayanagara Empire to be a weakly-centralised polity, whose most important territories were regarded by local chiefs as independent "in every respect save that they could not claim to be fully-fledged kingdoms". Noboru Karashima disagrees with Stein's broad characterization but agrees that the final period of the Vijayanagar empire (Aravidus) was indeed marked by the growing power of the Nayakas as local feudal lords.^[27]