[29]--Buchanan ("Mysore,"&c.,iii.110),while on a visit to Beidur in Mysore in 1801,was shown by one Ramappa Varmika a Sanskrit book in his possession called the VIDYARAYANA SIKKA,which relates that the founders of Vijayanagar were Hukka and Bukka,guards of the treasury of Pratapa Rudra of Warangal.These young men came to the Guru,or spiritual teacher,Vidyaranya,who was head of the monastery of Sringeri,and the latter founded for them the city of Vijayanagar.This was in 1336,and Hukka was made first king.But this story entirely leaves out of account the most important point.How could two brothers,flying from a captured capital and a conquered kingdom,suddenly establish in a new country a great city and a sovereignty?
[30]--DECADA VI.l.v.c.4.
[31]--"India in the Fifteenth Century,"Hakluyt edit.,p.29.
[32]--JOURNAL BOMBAY BR.R.A.S.,xii.338,340.
[33]--There is an undated inion,published in Dr.Hultzsch's "South Indian Inions"(vol.i.p.167),on a rock not far from the summit of the lofty hill on which stands the virgin fortress of Gutti or Gooty in the Anantapur District,according to which that stronghold belonged to King Bukka.The place is seventy-eight miles east of Vijayanagar.
[34]--EPIG.IND.,iii.36.
[35]--An inion of 1368--69(Saka 1290,year Kilaka)mentions Madhavacharya Vidyaranya,apparently as still living.IND.ANT.,iv.206.
[36]--See my "Antiquities of Madras,"ii.8,No.58;Hultzsch's EPIG.INDICA,iii.21.
[37]--Briggs,i.427.
[38]--This is in itself absurd,and carries with it its own refutation.It would be manifestly impossible for the city to be "built"in so short a time,and,moreover,it would have been sheer waste of time for the Prince to have employed himself in such a way.The sentence was probably introduced merely to account for that city having been built ABOUT this period.
[39]--Firishtah says on 1st Rabi-ul-awwal A.H.759;A.H.761(A.D.1359--60)according to the BURHAN-I-MAASIR.But the author of the latter work says that Ala-ud-din reigned thirteen years ten months and twenty-seven days,which would make the date of his death the 22nd of Rabi-ul-awwal A.H.762,or January 31,A.D.1361.He does not,therefore,appear to be very accurate.Firishtah gives in words the length of his reign as "eleven years two months and seven days."[40]--Certain inions published by Mr.Rice state that the general who commanded Bukka's armies about this time was Nadegonta Mallinatha,son of Nadegonta Sayyana.These bear date A.D.1355--1356and 1356--57.
[41]--Called "Nagdeo"in Scott's translation (i.19).
[42]--Briggs,ii.307.
[43]--There is a confusion of dates here in Firishtah;but he definitely fixes the month and year when Muhammad set out,and we may accept it for the present.The BURHAN-I-MAASIR implies that the war against Vijayanagar took place prior to the campaign against Warangal.Firishtah places it certainly after the "Vellunputtun"affair.
[44]--Firishtah (Scott,i.23).
[45]--Adoni as now called;Adhvani as properly spelt.This is a fine hill-fortress with extensive lines of walls,a few miles south of the River Tungabhadra and on the line of railway between Madras and Bombay.
[46]--We must never forget that the narrative of Firishtah is necessarily tinged with bias in favour of the Musalmans,and that it was not compiled till the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century A.D.The "infidels"are,of course,the Hindus,the "faithful"the followers of Muhammad the Prophet.
[47]--The country in question is a plain composed of a deep alluvial deposit,generally overlying gravel,and known as "black cotton soil."After heavy rain it is practically impassable for traffic for some days.
[48]--The expression of Firishtah last quoted is deserving of note,as it implies that,according to tradition in his time,the Raya of Vijayanagar had by the year 1366A.D.become a great and important sovereign.
[49]--Briggs (ii.312,n.)considers it unlikely that the armies could have possessed artillery at so early a date.
[50]--Scott's edit.,i.27.
[51]--Briggs gives the name as Bhoj-Mul.He MAY be the Mallayya or Mallinatha mentioned above (p.31,note).
[52]--Sacred animals to the Hindus.
[53]--About forty-two miles.
[54]--The Tiger-Hunter.
[55]--19th Zilkada A.H.776(Firishtah).The BURHAN-I MAASIR says in A.H.775.
[56]--The BURHAN-I MAASIR calls the Raya "Kapazah."Major King says that even the vowel marks are given,and there can be no doubt about the name.I venture to hazard a conjecture that if the word had been written "Pakazah,"transposing the first two consonants --a mistake occasionally made by writers dealing with,to them,outlandish names --the sound of the word would suggest Bukka Shah.There is no name that I have met with amongst those borne by the kings of Vijayanagar in the remotest degree resembling "Kapazah."[57]--Firishtah relates a story which is hardly sufficient to account for Bukka's faint-heartedness.He says that Mujahid went one day while on the march after a man-eating tiger of great ferocity,and shot it with a single arrow through the heart."The idolaters,upon hearing of this exploit,were struck with dread."At the present day,at least,there are no tigers in the country between Adoni and Vijayanagar,though panthers are plentiful enough.
[58]--Firishtah,ii.332n.
[59]--A French map of A.D.1652,published by Mr.Danvers ("Portuguese in India,"end of vol.i),shows at this spot "C.de Rames,"but the modern Ordnance Map has no place of that name in the vicinity.
[60]--It should be noted that Firishtah has previously described Mujahid,though he was then only about twenty years old,an a remarkably powerful man.He states that at the age of fourteen he had broken the neck of an opponent in a wrestling match.
[61]--Probably Marappa or Muddappa.
