The story
In January 1565 the armies of four Deccan sultanates, Bijapur, Ahmednagar, Golconda and Bidar, met the army of Vijayanagara near the Krishna River at Talikota (also called Rakkasa-Tangadi). Aliya Rama Raya, the aged regent who ruled in the name of the emperor, was killed, and his army broke. The victors then moved on the capital.
The sultanates were the successors of the Bahmani Sultanate, which had split in the late fifteenth century, and they had long fought Vijayanagara over the rich lands between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. Rama Raya had played them against each other for years and angered them with his high-handed rule. They were persuaded to join forces, and the alliance was sealed by marriages. The sack of Vijayanagara's capital lasted for months, and the city was never lived in again. Its surviving rulers moved their court to Penukonda and later to Chandragiri, and the kingdom lingered under the Aravidu dynasty until about 1646, with its southern chiefs, the nayakas, gradually becoming independent.
Why it mattered
- Vijayanagara's power ended, and the largest Hindu empire of the south broke into smaller nayaka states.
- The ruins of Hampi became one of India's great archaeological sites, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- The Deccan sultanates reached their height but their rivalry kept them weak, and the Mughals absorbed them in the following century.
- The nayaka states of Madurai, Thanjavur and Mysore grew into regional powers that later met the British.
Sources
- Battle of Talikota Britannica
- Group of Monuments at Hampi UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Medieval city of Vijayanagara Wikipedia
Drafted by AI (Claude) from the sources above and checked against them by AI; no historian has reviewed this page. Spot a mistake? Suggest a correction. How pages are made
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