Love ,War and History- A Vijayanagara King’s Tale of Love and Destruction

Love and History has been a constant attratction to directors, plawrights and movie buffs. Mughal-e- Azam, Bajirao Mastani, Padmaavat, Jodhaa Akbar and many more across film industries testify the constant attempt to romanticize history in order to attract a wider audience, beyond history enthusiasts, because a mere narration, may not impress people and would render financial loss to the director. As a result, the only history familiar to the people beyond textbooks, are these historical love stories.

I came across this when I was reading Nilakanta Sastri’s , “A History of South India” and a further research on this made me realize, that this event isn’t very popular. Though the purpose of this blog is to approach history in a different way, I believe such events and a few I’ll be posting soon on themes like bravery, love, sacrifice aren’t really popular and though there’s not much substance, it would be intersting for the readers.

This was during the reign of Devaraya-1 of the Sangama kings of Vijayanagara. Right from the beginning of the Vijayanagara era, they were in constant conflict with the Bahmani Empire, started by Alauddin Hassan Gangu Bahmani. The conflict continued for about two centuries even after the split of the latter, which was instrumental in the sack of Vijayanagara in 1565. The region between the Tungabhadra river and Bahmani capital of Gulbarga, Raichur Doab was a highly contested zone, with both of them claiming their authority, often leading to massacre of a lot innocent people, including women and children.

Devaraya fell in love with a goldsmith’s daughter from Mudgal which, was in the region mentioned above; a highly contested region between the two empires. The name of the girl was Parthal; she was an expert in dance and music. Devaraya hadn’t seen her, but heard of her from a brahmin pilgrim who was on his way back from Benares and had halted at the goldsmith’s place. On hearing Devaraya, ordered the goldsmith’s family to shift to Vijayanagara; he sent the brahmin to convince and she refused at once. The girl believed that once married to him, she will never get a chance to come back and meet her parents. Devaraya raided the place with an army of 30,000 and 5000 cavalry, destroying the neighbouring villages which enraged Firuz, who was the reigning monarch of the Bahmanis and Faulad Khan, who was the governor of the Doab. Meanwhile, the goldsmith’s family fled to the jungle. Firuz retaliated by ordering an attack on Vijayanagara; he marched southward along with his men lead by Khan-i-Khanam and Inju. Though he had to retire, wounded to a fortified city closeby, his men ravaged the country and went upto Adoni, south of the city; Bankapur was caputured as well. Devaraya finally surrendered and he had to give his daughter to Firuz for marriage and forgo Bankapur as dowry. Along with it, ten lakhs of hens, 5 maunds of pearls, 50 elephants, 2000 boys and girls skilled in song and dance had to be given.

This turned out to be the outcome of Devaraya’s pursuit of love. Losing much booty (in terms of elephants, pearls, slaves), Bankapur which till then was a mark of Vijayanagara’s relentless fight for the contested territory, his daughter who had to be married to Firuz , a Bahmani with whom his ancestors had bitter relations from the start; siege of Adoni which was again a mark of Bahmani might and finally his beloved Parthal. Whether it was a well planned attack, or an unplanned impulsive order; we don’t know. From the time of Bukka, the relations with the Bahmanis had always been bitter, and outcomes of this bitterness horrifying; infact the Bahmanis had an upper hand in the struggle.

Love indeed demands sacrifices and that’s been a very common thing; but was this love worth those sacifices ? Or is it an inspiration for all lovers out there to pursue their love no matter what ? Well this decision is completely personal and there’s nothing judgemental about it. Before you decide let us end this tale and know what happened to the girl.

Parthal was secured for Firuz Shah’s son Hasan Khan. Yes, now you all can make the decision.

Cheers

REFERENCES

1. A., N. S. K., & Champakalakshmi, R. (2017). A history of South India: from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
2. L, N. (2015). Some Illuminaries of Bahmani Period [Shodhganga@INFLIBNET]. Kalaburgi, Karnataka: Gulbarga University. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10603/182192
3. Devi, V. (1964). THE KRISHNA-TUNGABHADRA DOAB (AD. 1335-1450). Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 26, 27-36. Retrieved May 7, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/44140313