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The Battle of Talikota and the Hampi Ruins

Dr. M. V. Kamath

Krishnadevaraya’s rule lasted only some twenty years (1509-1529) and as frequently happened in those times, after his death, the kingdom went into a decline. He was followed by Achyutaraya who lacked vigour and initiative. He, in turn, was succeeded by Sadasiva who left the affairs of state in the hands of his minister Ramaraya, which was a mistake. Ramaraya adopted the dangerous course of interfering in the affairs of the neighbouring Muslim states, trying to play off one against the other. Now, he may have had good reasons for doing so, but Ramaraya overplayed his hand and when his armies ravaged Ahmednagar and desecrated several mosques, in retaliation, five Muslim states forgot their internal quarrels and decided to fight Ramaraya unitedly. Their armies marched towards Vijayanagar.

On 23 January 1565 the forces of the Bahmani Confederacy and those of Vijayanagar clashed at a place called Raksas Tangdi, though the battle is familiarly written about as the Battle of Talikota. Ramaraya was then 96 years old, though a European traveler, Couto, described him as “brave as a man of thirty”. But his bravery was of no avail. Unable to ride a horse due to age, he preferred to be carried in a litter which was a wrong thing to do during a battle. True, in the early stages, the army of the Vijayanagar empire put up a good show and the soldiers of the Confederacy were being thrown back. At this point Ramaraya committed another error. Wishing to encourage his soldiers still further, he got down from his litter and seated himself on a decorated throne and ordered his treasurer to “place heaps of money around him” for distribution-and this, on a field of battle!

When this was going on, the soldiers of the Confederacy suddenly found an opening towards Ramaraya, and it was too late for him to get back to his litter. An enemy officer charged on an elephant and before Ramaraya could mount a horse he was captured and taken to the Sultan who ordered that Ramaraya be instantly decapitated and his head displayed on a spear.

That act totally demoralized the Vijayanagar forces who fled helter-skelter. The Confederacy forces now pursued them and according to a Muslim historian, “above one hundred thousand infidels were slain in battle and during the pursuit”.

Such was the hatred of the Muslim Sultans towards Ramaraya that the man who cut off his head, Hussein Nizan Shah said: “Now I am avenged of thee! Let God do what he will to me!”

The British historian, Colonel Briggs, who translated passages from Firishta’s account, noted: “It offers a striking example at once of the malignity of the Mohammadans towards this Hindoo prince, and of the depraved taste of the times, when we see a sculptured representation of Ramaraya’s head, at the present day, serving as the opening of one of the sewers of the citadel of Beejapoor (Bijapur); and we know that the real head, annually covered with oil and red pigment, has been exhibited to the pious Mahammadans at Ahmednugger (Ahmednagar) on the anniversary of the battle, for the last two hundred and fifty years, by the descendants of the executioner, in whose hands it has remained till the present period.” That was written in 1829!

With the defeat of the Vijayanagar forces, the Confederacy Army marched towards Hampi whose citizens were blissfully unaware of the defeat of their forces. Robert Sewell, author of the famous work A Forgotten Empire, writes of what happened when the enemy forces finally entered Hampi.

…For a space of five months, Vijayanagar knew no rest. The enemy had come to destroy and they carried out their object relentlessly. They slaughtered the people without mercy, broke down the temples and palaces; and wreaked such savage vengeance on the abode of kings that with the exception of a few great stone-built ruins to mark the spot where once the stately buildings stood nothing now remains. They demolished the statues and even succeeded in breaking the limbs of the huge Narasimha monolith. They broke up the pavilions standing on the huge platform from which the kings used to watch the festivals and overthrew all the carved work. They lit huge fires in the magnificently decorated buildings forming the temple of Vittalaswami near the river and smashed its exquisite stone sculptures. With fire and sword, with crowbar and axes, they carried on day after day their work of destruction. Never perhaps in the history of the world has such havoc been wrought and wrought so suddenly on so splendid a city… amidst scenes of savage massacre and horrors beggaring description.

The loot was enormous. According to Couto, among the treasures that the enemy found was a diamond “as large as a hen’s egg”, which was kept by Adil Shah.

Vijayanagar never recovered. Today the ruins are there still, and an effort is being made by the Karnataka Government to clean them. In cannot, of course, rebuild the city but plans are afoot to find out what lies underneath and some amazing things are being discovered. It would interest you to know, Gauri, that the idea of doing something for Hampi was originally mine and I am a member of Hampi Reconstruction Authority.

In my next letter, I shall tell you about three other famous battles that determined the course of Indian history.

Your loving,

Ajja