In the Deccan, a cataclysmic clash took place which shaped South India for decades. This battle, named The Battle of Talikota by some, and the Battle of Rakshasi -Tangadgi by others, has been largely ignored by historians; but it caused more casualties than all the three battles of Panipat put together, and destroyed the prosperous, thriving Vijayanagar Empire.
Established in 1336, the Vijayanagara Empire had,for over two centuries, been the most flourishing empire state of South India. A hub of commerce, culture and arts, it had a thriving trade with Persia, Arabia and the Far East. Its capital city of Vijayanagar (meaning the City of Victory) was acclaimed as the most beautiful city of South India and perhaps all of India. It had reached the pinnacle of its power from 1520 to 1560, first under Krishna Deva Raya (1509 -1529) and then under his son-in-law Rama Rajaraya. At its peak, the Vijayanagara Empire encompassed all of Southern India.
Ramaraya was himself a very capable military leader and an able administrator. As he expanded his empire, he reached the banks of the Godavari. Flush with power, he began interfering with the affairs of his neighboring states of the Deccan Sultanates – the states of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda, Berar and Bidar – and came into conflict with each of them. These states came together under Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur to form a Muslim confederacy against the Vijaynagar Empire.
The joint armies of the Sultanates put aside their past rivalries, cemented the alliance with marriages between each other’s families and began preparations for a joint assault on Vijaynagar. News of their activities reached Ramaraya, and so around Dussehra in 1564, he began mobilising his own forces. He had over 1,00,000 infantry and around 40,000 cavalry against a combined force of around 1,10,000, which the Sultanates had assembled. But the numbers don’t tell it all. His force de la main was 1000 war elephants. His infantry had no body armour and fought in turbans and loincloths. Their six-foot-long spears and short swords were no match for the 16-foot-long spears of the Sultanates’ armies. Their unwieldy bamboo bows were out-ranged by over 70 yards by the composite bows and metal arrows of their opponents. The small country-bred ponies of their cavalry did not have the strength or the mobility of the Arab steeds of the Sultan’s army. The clincher lay in the artillery. Although Ramaraya had around 200 cannon and rockets, they were yet a generation behind the batteries of the 600 latest cannons held by his opponents, manned by expert Turkish and Persian gunners. And there was the leader himself. Ramaraya was in his 70s, and his brothers and other generals were equally aged. Though they led from the front, they just did not have the energy and vigour required for battle.
The Krishna River formed the dividing line between the Vijaynagar Empire and Ramaraya had deployed large forces to guard its crossing. On 27 Dec 1564, the combined armies of the five Sultanate states reached the main crossing place at Tangadgi. The crossing was held in strength by Ramaraya’s brother, Tirumalla but was crossed easily using an age-old stratagem. The Sultanate’s forces moved eastwards, ostensibly trying to find another crossing place and their move was shadowed by the defending forces on the opposite bank. Then one night, a strong covering force of cavalry wheeled back to Tangadgi, crossed the river and secured the far bank. Over the next three nights, the rest of the army crossed the Krishna and were in Vijaynagar territory.
Ramaraya had been waiting behind with his main force, and the two armies made contact. Over the next three weeks or so, frequent clashes erupted between the two armies, in which the Sultanates armies suffered crippling losses, which almost broke the alliance. Ali Adil Shah, the architect of the alliance, also sent a message to Ramaraya professing neutrality, a ploy which prevented his forces from being attacked by the Vijaynagar army. In the period of waiting, the Sultanate’s emissaries made contact with two mercenary generals of the Vijaynagar Army —the Gilani brothers, Noor Khan and Bijli Khan—who agreed to switch sides at an opportune time in the battle.
The main battle took place on 23 Jan 1565 in a wide area south of the Krishna River between the villages of Tangadgi and Rakshasi. Ramaraya was in the center with the main force and his brothers Tirumalla and Venkatadri on the right and left flanks. The army was deployed in an all-arms formation with the guns and rockets ahead to give them clear fields of fire. The opposing formation had Hussain Nizam Shah and his Ahmadnagar forces in the centre, the army of Bijapur under Ali Adil Shah on the right wing and the armies of Golcunda and Bidar under Ibrahim Qutb Shah on the left. They were deployed in a classic Turkish formation with a screen of light cavalry ahead, the main force in a defensive layout, light cavalry on the flanks and heavy cavalry in the rear as a central reserve. Their artillery park of 600 modern cannon was kept centrally to bring down maximum volumes of fire.
The forces lined up in the morning with the firing of guns and rockets, none of which did any major damage. Around midday, Ramaraya’s brothers launched spirited attacks on both flanks, which pushed back the left wing of the Deccani armies. This initial success was not exploited and the attacking force was pushed back by showers of arrows from the nimble cavalry who charged, fired and wheeled away. Venkatadri and his son were wounded and carried away, and the attack petered out.
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With the battle not going well, Ramaraya decided to launch an assault with the bulk of his forces from the centre. He was old and had to be carried to the battlefield on a palkhi and then hoisted atop an elephant, where he sat with trays of gold coins and jewels to be given to those who fought well. Under his urging, the Vijayanagar armies launched a desperate attack. The attack was repulsed by the combined fire of all 600 of the Sultanate guns, which had been kept primed and filled with bags of copper coins, which scythed through the attacking ranks like shrapnel. In spite of heavy casualties, the attack was making headway when the two Gilani brothers – acting on a predetermined signal- changed ranks and began attacking their own forces from the rear with their two divisions. This attack took the Vijayanagar forces completely by surprise. Faced with attack from the Muslim divisions of their own army from the rear and the Sultanate's forces from the front and flanks, they gave way and broke ranks.
Ramaraya’s elephant was hit by a cannon shot and fell. As he was being carried away on a palkhi, he was overtaken by the Sultanate’s officers, who beheaded him and mounted his head on a lance for display. This shattered the morale completely, leading to a rout. What followed was a general massacre of the once magnificent Vijayanagara army.
Worse was to follow. Ramaraya’s brother Tirumalla Deva Raya fled to Vijayanagar and, instead of defending the capital, fled with the royal treasury mounted on 1550 elephants. Three days later, the Sultanate’s armies descended on Vijayanagar. Over a period of six months, they destroyed the city, killing over 5,00,000 civilians. “With fire and sword, with crowbars and axes, they wrought their work of destruction. Never in the history of the world has such havoc been wrought on so splendid a city, teeming with wealth and prosperity one day, seized and reduced to ruins, the next”
Vijayanagar, ‘The city of Victory’, virtually vanished. This centre of arts, culture and heritage passed in to history. The two-hundred-year-old Vijayanagara Empire limped along for another few decades as its limbs were slowly torn asunder and annexed into neighbouring kingdoms. What remained of that magnificent empire are just the ruins of Hampi – on the site of the old city of Vijayanagar – which are a stark reminder of what once was and of what could have been.
