The Beginnings
This is the second episode in this series. Click Part 1 for the first episode.
Legend has it, that once a minor chief serving a in the court of a South Indian kingdom set out on a hunt. The place where he was hunting didn't consist of deep forests; rather it was a landscape of rolling hills and piles of boulders, many times the size of men. As he was hunting, he spotted a rabbit and set his hunting dog after it. The dog bolted after the rabbit trying to catch it. In and out it ran, around the rocks, and over the mounds and the boulders. When it finally caught up with the animal, the rabbit bit the dog and escaped. The chief had never seen anything like it. Dazed and astounded, he was returning from his hunt when he came upon a Brahmana, who looked to be a wise man. He told the brahmana about the hunt and the strangely ferocious rabbit and asked him what it meant. The brahmana asked to see the place and the chief led him to it. He tried in vain to locate the rabbit, but it was not found. The brahmana looked around the place. It was ringed by hillocks and cut through by a river of sweet, cool water. He advised the chieftain to build his capital there on that spot of land.
In the early fourteenth century, northern India was ruled by the Sultanate of Delhi. The Sultan was Ala-ud-din Khilji, of the Turko-Afghan Khilji Dynasty. In the south of the Vindhyas, three powers ruled the Deccan lands between them; the Yadavas of Devagiri just south of the Vindhyas, the Kakatiyas to the east towards the Bay of Bengal, and the Hoysalas, to the west. In the year, 1307, Khilji's general and right hand man, Malik Kafur, invaded South India. The Khilji armies soon overran the Deccan and attacked the Tamil kingdom of the Pandyas, reaching Madurai in 1311. No king or dynasty since Ashoka had ever controlled such vast lands on both sides of the Vindhyas. The Yadavas and Kakatiyas were subdued, but the Hoysalas under Veera Bhallala, capitmoved their capital east, from Dwarasamudra to the Tungabhadra basin.
However, Khilji's achievement was short lived; he died in 1315 after suffering a terrible illness. His sons and descendants descended into internecine conflict, and in 1320, the Khilji lineage was overthrown by one of Ala-ud-din's own generals, Ghiyath-ud-din Tughlaq. His son, Muhammad bin Tughlaq infamously and unsuccessfully attempted to move the capital from Delhi to Aurangabad in the south. This one move would contribute largely to the fall of the Tughlaq dynasty and the collapse of the Delhi Sultanate. The Tughlaqs would continue to rule Delhi nearly a hundred years, followed by the Sayyids and the Lodhis, until the Mughal invasion in 1526; but, the Sultanate would no longer control large parts of South India.
The Sultanate rule receded, leaving in it's wake three new kingdoms. The plateau of the Deccan was ruled by the Bahmani Sultans, once commanders of the Delhi armies. The second kingdom to the east was the Reddy Dynasty of Kondavidu that succeeded the Kakatiyas. The third was the Vijayanagara Empire, established by two brothers, Harihara Hakka Raya and Bukka Raya. Harihara was the chieftain of legend in the story of the rabbit and the hound, and the wise man was Vidyaranya, who would go on to become the pontiff of Sringeri. The Hoysala dynasty had been brought to a brutal and gory end after the Battle of Kannanur against the Madurai Sultans, where Bhallala was captured and flayed. This led to the birth of Vijayanagara. The three kingdoms would compete for hegemony over the Deccan and over the two coasts on either side of the Deccan for a while.
After Hakka, and his brother, Bukka, the third king of Vijayanagara was Harihara II, who ascended the throne in 1377. The Khiljis and Tughlaqs had left behind feudal chieftains called dalavayis, or dalapatis, minor local chiefs controlling their immediate vicinity, who also wanted assert their independence. In 1399, while Harihara was busy dealing with the Reddys up north, he appointed a palegara, or as they would be called later by the British, a Polygar, named Yaduraya to deal with the dalavayis. The origins of Yaduraya are disputed, with later texts claiming that he and his brothers came from Dwaraka and were of the Yadava lineage. Other sources claim, and this seems more likely, that he was related to the Hoysalas. At that time Mysore was a vassal of Vijayanagara and the king of Mysore, Chamaraja had died without a male heir. Sources say that Yaduraya defeated Maranayaka, one of the leaders of the dalavayis and married Chamaraja's daughter Chikkadevarasi, establishing the Wodeyar Dynasty. Yaduraya was still a vassal of Vijayanagara and Mysore would continue to be under Vijayanagara for another century and a half. But, the lineage of Yaduraya, who was also called Vijaya or Vijayaraja, would continue to rule Mysore. Raja Wodeyar who was cursed by Alamelamma at Talakadu was Yaduraya's direct descendant.
Click here for Part 3.
The Sultanate rule receded, leaving in it's wake three new kingdoms. The plateau of the Deccan was ruled by the Bahmani Sultans, once commanders of the Delhi armies. The second kingdom to the east was the Reddy Dynasty of Kondavidu that succeeded the Kakatiyas. The third was the Vijayanagara Empire, established by two brothers, Harihara Hakka Raya and Bukka Raya. Harihara was the chieftain of legend in the story of the rabbit and the hound, and the wise man was Vidyaranya, who would go on to become the pontiff of Sringeri. The Hoysala dynasty had been brought to a brutal and gory end after the Battle of Kannanur against the Madurai Sultans, where Bhallala was captured and flayed. This led to the birth of Vijayanagara. The three kingdoms would compete for hegemony over the Deccan and over the two coasts on either side of the Deccan for a while.
After Hakka, and his brother, Bukka, the third king of Vijayanagara was Harihara II, who ascended the throne in 1377. The Khiljis and Tughlaqs had left behind feudal chieftains called dalavayis, or dalapatis, minor local chiefs controlling their immediate vicinity, who also wanted assert their independence. In 1399, while Harihara was busy dealing with the Reddys up north, he appointed a palegara, or as they would be called later by the British, a Polygar, named Yaduraya to deal with the dalavayis. The origins of Yaduraya are disputed, with later texts claiming that he and his brothers came from Dwaraka and were of the Yadava lineage. Other sources claim, and this seems more likely, that he was related to the Hoysalas. At that time Mysore was a vassal of Vijayanagara and the king of Mysore, Chamaraja had died without a male heir. Sources say that Yaduraya defeated Maranayaka, one of the leaders of the dalavayis and married Chamaraja's daughter Chikkadevarasi, establishing the Wodeyar Dynasty. Yaduraya was still a vassal of Vijayanagara and Mysore would continue to be under Vijayanagara for another century and a half. But, the lineage of Yaduraya, who was also called Vijaya or Vijayaraja, would continue to rule Mysore. Raja Wodeyar who was cursed by Alamelamma at Talakadu was Yaduraya's direct descendant.
Click here for Part 3.
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