IV 



violent internecine struggles for supremacy. The Ballalas disappeared 

 from the scene, and the kingdoms of Devagiri and Orangal were sub- 

 verted. A slight check was given to the spread of the Muhammadan 

 arms when a confederation of Hindu chiefs, led by the gallant young 

 Ganapati Raja, withstood and defeated a large Muhammadan army ; 

 and the aspect of affairs was altered by the revolt of the Dakhani 

 Musalmans against their sovereign in A.D. 1347, which resulted in thfe 

 establishment of the Bahmani kingdom of the Dakhan. But the whole 

 of Southern India was convulsed by this sudden aggression of the 

 Muhammadans, and all the old kingdoms fell to pieces. 



This period, then, about the year A.D. 1310, is to be noted as the 

 second great landmark in South Indian history, the first being about 

 the period 1023 — 1070, when the Cholas became almost supreme over 

 the south. 



While the Bahmani rebels were consolidating their kingdom in the 

 Dakhan, another great power was being formed south of the Krishna 

 This was the kingdom of Vijayanagar. Established on the ruins Ox 

 the Hoysala Ballalas and the other Hindu sovereignties, it speedily 

 rose to a height of power such as no southern kingdom had yet aspired 

 to, and it held the Muhammadans in check for two centuries. From 

 1336 till 1564 A.D. we have merely to consider, roughly speaking, 

 two great powers — that of the Musalmdns north of the Krishna and 

 that of Vijayanagar to the south. 



The Bahmani kingdom fell to pieces at the close of the fifteenth 

 century, being succeeded by five separate kingdoms founded by rival 

 Musalman leaders. Their jealousies aided the Vijayanagar sovereigns 

 in their acquisition of power. In 1487 Narasimha of Vijayanagar 

 completely subverted the Pandiyan country, Chola having fallen long 

 before, and by the close of the fifteenth century the power of Vijaya- 

 nagar was acknowledged as paramount through the entire peninsula. 

 Small principalities existed, such as that of Maisur, the Eeddi chieftain- 

 ship of Kondavidu south of the Krishna (which lasted from 1328 till 

 1427), and the always independent principality of Travancore, but 

 Vijayanagar was supreme. At the beginning of the sixteenth century 

 Krishnadeva Ray a of Vijayanagar further extended the power of his 

 house by the reduction of refractory chiefs far and wide, till his 

 dynasty arose in his day to its greatest height of glory. 



In 1564 (the third landmark) all this collapsed. The Muhammadan 

 sovereigns of the Dakhan combined, and in one grand effort swept over 

 Vijayanagar, sacked the capital, put to death the powerful chief who 

 had ruled over the destinies of the empire, and for ever crushed out all 

 semblance of independent Hindu power from the south of India. Even 

 the very family that governed Vijayanagar divided, so that it becomes 

 almost impossible to trace their history, and for a second time the whole 

 of the peninsula was thrown into confusion. 



Naturally the minor chiefs seized this opportunity for throwing off 

 all fealty to their sovereign, and throughout the peninsula arose a 

 large number of petty Poligars and small chieftains, whose quarrels 

 and wars and struggles for supremacy kept the whole country in 

 confusion for two and a half centuries. The only chiefs that attained 

 to real power were the Madura Nayakkas, formerly Viceroys of 



