Germination of the Battle of Talikota

It could be reasonably said that Muslim sources give us a fairly accurate picture of the Talikota Battle compared to their Hindu counterparts, comprising (historical-narrative) vachanas, bakhairs, kaifiyats, the “Keladi Nripavijayam,” etc. These narratives in Kannada were composed several decades after the battle.

In 1589 CE, Qasim Ferishta took up a position with the Sultan of Bijapur and then wrote the history of the Talikota Battle, 24 years after the incident. Some historians do not consider this as an eyewitness or accurate account because a quarter of a century is long enough for several legends and cooked-up historical tales to emerge.

Around 1560 CE, Rafiuddin Shirazi joined the services of the Bijapur ruler Ali Adil Shah and was eventually promoted to the post of prime minister. He lived for 24 years after the Talikota Battle and left behind eyewitness accounts of the battle.

This is also corroborated by Mirza Ibrahim Zubairi, who invokes his account of the battle in his Busateenus-Salateen.

Upon the request of Ali Adil Shah, Rama Raya marched against the Ahmednagar kingdom and successfully raided it. Equally, on occasion, the Nizam of Ahmednagar and Qutub Shah of Golconda had sought Rama Raya’s assistance to teach Ali Adil Shah a lesson.

In the foregoing instance, Rama Raya successfully wrested the Raichur doab on behalf of these two kings, angering Ali Adil Shah who then sought the advice of his close aides. Two of these aides, Kishwar Khan Lary and Abu Turab Shirazi recommended an alliance of all the Bahamani kings temporarily forgetting mutual hostilities. And further that this grand alliance should march against Rama Raya. As we’ve seen, Qutub Shah of Golconda and Hussain Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar had tasted bitter defeat at the hands of Rama Raya on several occasions. Indeed, after Rama Raya’s successful campaign against him on behalf of Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur, Nizam Shah was so stricken with mortal fear that he abandoned even the thought of marching against Adil Shah.

And so, the Sultans of Bijapur, Ahmednagar and Golconda entered into a joint pact. Accordingly, Chand Bibi (popularly known for her defence of Ahmednagar against the forces of the Mughal emperor, Akbar), daughter of Hussain Nizam Shah was married to Ali Adil Shah I of Bijapur, a marriage of political expediency. Likewise, Murtajabiz the son of the Sultan of Ahmednagar, was married to Adil Shah’s sister.

All parties of this alliance agreed to wage war against Vijayanagara after the marriage celebrations were over.

That done, Adil Shah sent an emissary to Rama Raya’s court with a message: give up the key forts of Raichur and Mudgal. Rama Raya sent the emissary back with a contemptuous refusal. The same contempt was reserved for the emissaries that followed.

The stage was now set.

The combined forces of Bijapur, Ahmednagar and Golconda began to march towards Vijayanagara. Because Bidar’s Sultan, Burhan Imadul Mulk was a sworn enemy of Hussain Nizam Shah, he refused to join the coalition. The coalition army eventually reached and pitched camp at a spot near Talikota, which fell under the domain of the Bijapur Sultan.

The battle that followed occurred at Tavarekere (today’s Tangadi or Rakkasatangadi), southwest of Talikota.

A Battle of Overconfidence, Stealth and Treachery

The Sultans assembled at Talikota didn’t immediately start war preparations. They indulged in merry-making for several days as a mark of more firmly cementing their circumstance-forged, superficial unity, and resealed their alliance against their common but far superior enemy.

And then they began their march.

Meanwhile, a supremely overconfident Rama Raya continued to remain unperturbed. He didn’t perceive this as a threat of any consequence and began to make his own preparations.

It is estimated that he sent a contingent of twenty thousand horseback soldiers and a lakh and fifty thousand elephants as advance force under the leadership of his brother Tirumala Raya.

He followed this up with another force of sizeable strength and numbers. Historians peg the total strength of the Vijayanagara military force as comprising one lakh horsemen and five lakh infantry.

The task of the advance contingent was to prevent the Bahamani forces from crossing the Krishna river. The force had massive canons forming the leading front. Additionally, sturdy forts at strategic points along the Krishna river were designed to impede the enemy’s attempts at crossing it.

Spies of the Bahamani army reported that there were some places situated about two-three miles along the river line that were unguarded and could help the army cross the river.

Adil Shah conferred with his allies and sought their permission to conduct the war by stealth because whatever Rama Raya’s other faults, the Vijayanagara army was a formidable fighting machine, and all of his adversaries had tasted humiliating defeats at his hands in the past.

Accordingly, Adil Shah ordered his men to adopt this strategy: pretend to attempt crossing the river at a few points and then turn back and then actually try to cross the river from a different place.

When the Vijayanagara army witnessed this, they realised that the enemy’s attempts were futile and abandoned their existing positions, thereby falling neatly into the enemy’s trap. Adil Shah’s strategy proved hugely successful.

The Bahamani army quickly tied up the canons with strong chains. In his cocksure certainty that this was a minor battle, Rama Raya had not even made a Plan B, forget a contingency plan.

Neither did he learn any lesson when he saw that he was outwitted. He led from the front and ordered his army to randomly attack the Bahamani force. There was no strategy, no discipline.

Even worse, he didn’t heed the advice of his ministers who had pleaded with him to to mount a horse. Instead Rama Raya sat in his throne on the elephant. He bombastically motivated his soldiers with the war cry, “We are not cowards to be scared of this insignificant war! Go on, fight!”

As blood-curdling as the cry was, it simply didn’t work. The scattered and indisciplined manner in which his soldiers fought began to take its toll. Rama Raya quickly realised this, dismounted, and spread out a heap of enormous quantities of gold, precious stones, and coins and declared that the one who displays the maximum valour would be rewarded with untold wealth and would be royally honoured.

This motivation helped breathe fresh zest into the soldiers who began hacking their way into the Bahamani force. The left flank of the Bahamani force was decimated and what was left of it began to retreat.

This turn of events greatly worried Nizam Shah, Qutub Shah and Ali Barid.