Alliance of the four sultans.
In 1564 the combination was duly effected, the parties to it being the four sultans or kings of Bljapur, Ahmadnagar, Golkonda, and BIdar. The ruler of Bcrar did not join. The allies began their southward march on Christmas Day, 1564. In January, 1565, they assembled their combined forces at the small town of Talikot'a in BIjapur territory to the north of the Krishna. That circumstance has given the current name to the ensuing battle, although it was fought on the south of the river at a distance of about thirty miles from Talikota. At Vijayanagar there was the utmost confidence. Remembering how often the Moslems had vainly attempted to injure the great capital, and how for over two centuries they had never succeeded in penetrating to
the south, the inhabitants pursued their daily avocations with no shadow of dread or sense of danger ; the strings of packbullocks laden with all kinds of merchandise wended their dusty way to and from the several seaports as if no sword of Damocles was hanging over the doomed city ; Sadasiva, the king, lived his profitless life in inglorious seclusion, and Rama Raya, king de facto, never for a moment relaxed his haughty indifference to the movements of his enemies. " He treated their ambassadors", says Firishta, "with scornful language, and regarded their enmity as of little moment."
Battle of Talikota, 1565.
If mere numbers could have assured victory, the confidence of the rulers and people of Vijayanagar would have been justified. Estimates of the forces at the command of Rama Raja vary, but it seems certain that his vast host numbered between half a million and a million of men, besides a multitude of elephants and a considerable amount of artillery. On the other side, the Sultan of Ahmadnagar brought on the ground a park of no less than six hundred guns of various calibres. The total of the allies' army is supposed to have been about half that of the Vijayanagar host.
The battle was fought on January 23, 1565, on the plain between the Ingaligi ford and Mudgal. At first the Hindus had the advantage, but they suffered severely from a salvo of the Ahmadnagar guns shotted with bags of copper coin, and from a vigorous cavalry charge. Their complete rout followed on the capture of Rama Raja, who was promptly decapitated by the Sultan of Ahmadnagar with his own hand. No attempt was made to retrieve the disaster. About 100,000 Hindus were slain, and the great river ran red with blood. The princes fled from the city with countless treasures loaded upon more than five hundred elephants, and the proud capital lay at the mercy of the victors who occupied it almost immediately.
The plunder was so great that every private man in the allied army became rich in gold, jewels, effects, tents, arms, horses, and slaves ; as the sultans left every person in possession of what he had acquired, only taking elephants for their own use.'
Ruin of Vijayanagar.
The ruin wrought on the magnificent city may be described in the words of Sewcr, who is fan)iliar with the scene of its desolation. When the princes fled with their treasures,' then a panic seized the city. The truth became at last apparent. This was not a defeat merely, it was a cataclysm. All hope was gone.The myriad dwellers in the city were left defenceless. No retreat, no flight was possible except to a few, for the pack-oxen and carts had almost all followed the forces to the war, and they had not returned. Nothing could be done but to bury all treasures, to arm the younger men, and to wait. Next day the place became a prey to the robber tribes and jungle people of the neighbourhood. Hordes of Brinjaris, Lambadis, Kurubas, and the like pounced down on the hapless city and looted the stores and shops, carrying off great quantities of riches. Couto states that there were six concerted attacks by these people during the day. The third day saw the beginning of the end. The victorious Musalmans Tiad halted on the field of battle for rest and refreshment, but now they had reached the capital, and from that time forward 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 the kings, that with the exception of a few great stone-built temples and walls, nothing now remains but a heap of ruins to mark the spot where once the stately buildings stood. They demolished the statues, and even succeeded in breaking the limbs of the huge Narasimha monolith. Nothing seemed to escape them. 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 Vitthalaswami near the river, and smashed its exquisite stone sculptures. With fire and sword, with crowbars 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 ; teeming with a wealthy and industrious population in the full plenitude of prosperity one day, and on the next seized, pillaged, and reduced to ruins, amid scenes of savage massacre and horrors beggaring description.'
Rama Raja's brother, Tirumala, who along with Sadasiva the nominal king took refuge at Penugonda, himself usurped the royal seat some few years after the battle. This third usurpation, the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, may be dated in or about 1570. The most remarkable king of the new dynasty was the third, by name Venkata I, who came to the throne about 1585. He seems to have moved his capital to Chandragiri, and was noted for his patronage of Telugu poets and Vaishnava authors. It is unnecessary to follow the history of his successors, who gradually degenerated into merely local chiefs. In March 1639-40 Venkata II granted the site of Madras to Mr. Day the English factor, and in 1645-6 that transaction was confirmed by Ranga II, who was the last representative of the line with any pretensions to independence.
Much of the Deccan was overrun by the Muhammadans and passed under the sovereignty of the Sultans of Bijapur and Golkonda, who in their turn were overthrown by Aurangzeb in 1086 and 1687.