第67章

"Ali Adil Shaw,preparatory to the war,and to afford himself a pretence for breaking with his ally,dispatched an ambassador to Ramraaje,demanding restitution of some districts that had been wrested from him.As he expected,Ramraaje expelled the ambassador in a very disgraceful manner from his court;and the united sultans now hastened the preparations to crush the common enemy of the Islaam faith."Ibrahim Qutb Shah had also joined the coalition,and the four princes met on the plains of Bijapur,with their respective armies.Their march towards the south began on Monday,December 25,A.D.1564.[322]

Traversing the now dry plains of the Dakhan country,where the cavalry,numbering many thousands,could graze their horses on the young crops,the allied armies reached the neighbourhood of the Krishna near the small fortress and town of Talikota,a name destined to be for ever celebrated in the annals of South India.[323]

It is situated on the river Don,about sixteen miles above its junction with the Krishna,and sixty-five miles west of the point where the present railway between Bombay and Madras crosses the great river.The country at that time of the year was admirably adapted for the passage of large bodies of troops,and the season was one of bright sunny days coupled with cool refreshing breezes.

Here Ali Adil,as lord of that country,entertained his allies in royal fashion,and they halted for several days,attending to the transport and commissariat arrangements of the armies,and sending out scouts to report on the best locality for forcing the passage of the river.

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 pack-bullocks 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 attitude of haughty indifference to the movements of his enemies."He treated their ambassadors,"says Firishtah,"with scornful language,and regarded their enmity as of little moment."[324]

Nevertheless he did not neglect common precautions.His first action was to send his youngest brother,Tirumala,the "Yeltumraj"or "Eeltumraaje"of Firishtah,to the front with 20,000horse,100,000foot,and 500elephants,to block the passage of the Krishna at all points.Next he despatched his second brother,Venkatadri,with another large army;and finally marched in person towards the point of attack with the whole power of the Vijayanagar empire.The forces were made up of large drafts from all the provinces --Canarese and Telugus of the frontier,Mysoreans and Malabarese from the west and centre,mixed with the Tamils from the remoter districts to the south;each detachment under its own local leaders,and forming part of the levies of the temporary provincial chieftain appointed by the crown.According to Couto,they numbered 600,000foot and 100,000horse.His adversaries had about half that number.As to their appearance and armament,we may turn for information to the deion given us by Paes of the great review of which he was an eye-witness forty-five years earlier at Vijayanagar,[325]remembering always that the splendid troops between whose lines he then passed in the king's procession were probably the ELITE of the army,and that the common soldiers were clad in the lightest of working clothes,many perhaps with hardly any clothes at all,and armed only with spear or dagger.[326]

The allies had perhaps halted too long.At any rate,their scouts returned to their sovereigns with the news that all the passages of the river were defended,and that their only course was to force the ford immediately in their front.This was in possession of the Hindus,who had fortified the banks on the south side,had thrown up earthworks,and had stationed a number of cannon to dispute the crossing.

The defenders of the ford anxiously awaited intelligence of their enemy's movements,and learning that he had struck his camp and marched along the course of the river,they quitted their post and followed,keeping always to the south bank in readiness to repel any attempt to cross directly in their front.This manoeuvre,a ruse on the part of the Mussulmans,was repeated on three successive days.On the third night the Sultans hastily left their camp,returned to the ford,and,finding it deserted,crossed with a large force.This movement covered the transit of the whole of their army,and enabled them to march southwards to the attack of Rama Raya's main body.

Rama Raya,though surprised,was not alarmed,and took all possible measures for defence.In the morning the enemy was within ten miles of his camp,and Venkatadri and Tirumala succeeded in effecting a junction with their brother.