The country of India has attracted several Islamic invaders in the past due to the wealth it held, the culture it nurtured, and the royalness that the then Kings and Queens inherited. The Islamists often portrayed affinity to the Indian rulers back then only with the alleged intentions of acquiring the latter’s empire and expanding their rule over the country. In this, unfortunately, several times it has happened that the members of the Indian kingdoms have joined hands with the Mughals to betray their Kings and the country out of jealousy or their malicious intentions, then be it the episode of the capture of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj in Maharashtra where his brother-in-law revealed his location and other crucial details to Aurangzeb or Man Singh who allegedly betrayed brother Maharana Pratap during the Haldighati war.
A similar episode was recorded by historians in the 16th century in the case of Aliya Rama Raya of the Vijayanagara Empire and his death at the hands of the union of Mughals from Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. This union of Islamists notably took the assistance of the Gilani brothers, who were among Rama Raya’s trusted commanders, resulting in the fall of the Empire and the death of the King.
The Hindu ruler died at the hands of the Deccan sultanates (Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda) in the Battle of Talikota on 23rd January 1565. The battle took place at Talikota, today a town in northern Karnataka, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) to the southeast of the city of Bijapur. Following the war, massive destruction of the Vijayanagara Empire was executed, resulting in the ruins that are to date seen in the region of Hampi, Karnataka.
This history portraying the anti-Hindu approach of the Muslims towards the Hindu kingdom dates back to the period when the medieval city of Vijayanagara, in today’s Hampi had become the most glorious empire in the southern part of the country, ruled by King Krishnadevaraya. As per historians Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, who wrote the survey of Indian history in the name of ‘History of India’, the Vijayanagara Empire led by Aliya (son-in-law) Rama Raya was winning the Battle of Talikot, but suddenly two Muslim generals of the Vijayanagara army switched sides and turned their loyalty to the united Deccan Sultanates.
‘Historians’ argue, say no communal intention behind war
While this very famous fact takes a firm place in the pages of Hindu history, historians such as Richard Eaton, Muzaffar Alam, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam argue that there were no communal intentions behind the War and that it was initiated due to Rama Raya’s act of waging an old war against the Nizams of Ahmednagar. “The more proximate reason for the sudden unity displayed by the sultanates was their alarm at Rama Raya’s territorial ambitions, specifically his desire to control Kalyana, an old city in the northern Deccan that was the capital of the western Chalukya Empire during the eleventh and early twelfth centuries,” it adds allegedly justifying the switch of Gilani brothers to the Mughal side. Notably, there hardly is any relevance to the arguments made by the latter historians as the question of communal intentions arose after the war began, towards the end when the Vijayanagar empire was about to win until the Gilani bothers made the switch and not around the reason of initiation of the war.
Battle of Talikota: Revising the episode as it is
During the 16th century, the Empire of Vijayanagara was ruled by Krishnadevaraya, an able administrator, and a skillful diplomat. Rama Raya was his son-in-law, a valiant commander, and a tactful warrior who led several successful campaigns under him. On the death of Krishnadevaraya, the throne of Vijayanagara was passed on to his brother Achyuta Raya who died in 1542 CE. The throne was further passed on to his son, nephew of Krishnadevaraya, Sadashiva Raya who was then a minor. Rama Raya circled the opportunity to keep Sadashiv Raya under house arrest and become the ruler of the Empire by appointing his trusted men to important positions around the throne.
Reportedly, Rama Raya’s approach towards religion was broad and liberal and he recruited a lot of Muslim soldiers in his troops. His treatment towards them was also lauded and many removed Adil Shah were given shelter by the Vijayanagara Empire.
The strategy of Rama Raya involved expanding the kingdom and becoming a shrewd political operative. He was surrounded by five hostile Bahamani kingdoms and to his credit he constantly engaged in wars that involved two sultans among the five against each other. He raided Nizam’s Ahmednagar at the request of li Adil Shah of Bijapur, then later assisted Nizam of Ahmednagar and Qutub Shah of Golconda to teach Ali Adil Shah a lesson. He protected the Empire of Vijayanagara by constantly furthering enmity between the Sultanates, but the strategy did not work longer as the five realized that they had a common enemy in the form of Rama Raya.
In the series of events, Chand Bibi, daughter of Nizam got married to Ali Adil Shah, and Ali Adil Shah’s sister got married to Nizam’s son. The Islamist dynasts happened to unite at the marriage ceremony and decided to wage war against the Vijayanagara Empire after the celebrations. Accordingly, the five united and Adil Shah furthered an emissary to Rama Raya demanding 2 key forts of the kingdom, Raichur and Mudgal. The Hindu leader refused the emissary and many others that followed. The Deccan sultanates then walked towards Vijayanagara and stopped at Talikota, today’s Tangadi or Rakkasatangadi.
On reaching the spot, the rulers attempted to offer affinity portraying their superficial unity, and resealed alliance against their common but far superior enemy. On refusal by Rama Raya, the war march began. The Hindu leader in the midst had already begun the preparations for the war by gathering the Vijayanagara military force comprising one lakh horsemen and five lakh infantry. The men were tasked with stopping the Sultanate force from entering River Krishna. However, the army marched. Rama Raya, high on fury, had no plans and strategy. He, as per the historians, ordered his men to directly launch random attacks at the Sultanates saying, “We are not cowards to be scared of this insignificant war! Go on, fight.” That eventually didn’t work as a large number of Hindu soldiers began dying. The rest, scared, were motivated by the potential reward of untold wealth and royalty. This worked and the soldiers killed the entire left flank of the Bahamani force.
This created worry among the Sultanates, some of whom even placed the boards that read ‘Rahtaanat’ (holy oath that soldier would die in jihad and attain heaven) in front of their camps. However, the combined forces of Nizam Shah, Qutub Shah, Ali Adil Shah, and Ali Barid gathered courage and attacked the Hindu soldiers. Ali Adil Shah attacked Rama Raya’s brother Tirumala Raya while others attacked Rama Raya’s other important soldiers. Later Ali Adil Shah attacked Rama Raya and allowed Nizam Shah and Qutub Shah to face him directly.
Gilani brothers ordered Muslim soldiers to not fight for the Hindu ruler
Amid this, several Muslim soldiers from the Vijayanagara Empire refused to fight for Rama Raya. They either put down their weapons or joined the Sultanates against Rama Raya. They clearly refused to fight on the side of the Hindu army. Notably, this action of theirs was directed by the Gilani brothers, Rama Raya’s two trusted commanders. The Sultanates then fired two canons at the Vijayanagar force killing most of the soldiers. Another shot was directed at the elephant on which Rama Raya was seated.
Injured Rama Raya was then taken to the foot of Nizam on the field who beheaded the Hindu leader, resulting in the fall of the huge Hindu empire. “The warriors of Islam chased them and slaughtered everyone in sight. An area spanning about twenty miles was littered with dead bodies, the earth bloody. The victorious soldiers of Islam took untold riches in the form of coins, jewellery, and slaves: both male and female,” the historical records read adding that it took 12 days to count the number of dead bodies lying on the battlefield.
Undermining facts to chase the mirage of communal harmony
The incident portrays the seeds of radical Islamism that were spread to force the Gilani brothers to direct their soldiers to stand for Islam. Gilani brothers were Rama Raya’s trusted commanders and who would have thought of them switching sides had religion not been involved? Those historians who write alleged twisted facts to protect the so-called communal harmony must understand that the point of contention was when the soldiers fighting for Rama Raya switched at the end of the war when Vijayanagara was about to win the war, and not the reason behind inception of the war, as widely claims. As per the left historians, there shall be no angle of communal intentions of the war as Rama Raya’s alleged diplomacy had put him to death. By saying this, these ‘historians’ are also attempting to justify the alleged rise of radical Islamization.
There are many more instances that one can quote to substantiate the fact that Hindus have been terrorized by radical Islam. Hindus are not safe in a modern nation-state like India if Muslims become a majority in any state. Territories like Kashmir, and Kerala are a trailer for Hindus of the rest of India.
Forgetting all these historical events for the sake of ‘communal harmony’ or ‘secularism’ is not at all a fair proposition. Hindus shall never forget the barbarian nature of these events and ensure that such acts are condemned by one and all. Burying these historical facts to shield minorities from ’embarrassment’ will only embolden religious fanatics and extremists.