RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES AND MILITARY FEUDALISMHarihara I was succeeded by his younger brother, Bukka I, in 1357.
Bukka initiated the rapid expansion of the empire. He defeated and killed
King Rajanarayana Sambuvaraya, who had been reinstated as ruler of
Tondaimandalam by Harihara when he had needed an ally in his fight
against the sultan at Madurai. Bukka also fought against Muhammad Shah
Bahmani in order to gain control over the Raichur Doab, the land between
the rivers Tungabhadra and Krishna. In a peace treaty of 1365 this Doab
was ceded to Bukka and the Krishna became the boundary between the two
realms. Some revenue districts to the south of the Krishna were to be
administered jointly. However, this Doab remained a battleground into
future years. In 1370 Bukka won the war against the sultan of Madurai,
whom he defeated and killed. This put an end to the history of this
southernmost of all India’s sultanates. When Bukka died in 1377
Vijayanagar was the largest regional realm of South India ever to have
existed: it had been established and consolidated within a few decades.
Harihara II (1377–1404) and Devaraya I (1406–24) augmented and
preserved the power of the empire. They could defend the Doab against the
Bahmani sultans, though this was achieved at the cost of many casualties.
Harihara II also extended the influence of the empire to the northeast by
fighting against the Reddi princes of Kondavidu (coastal Andhra) and the
Velama dynasty of Warangal. In due course this drive to the northeast led to
a clash with the Gajapatis of Orissa. A first encounter of Gajapati
Bhanudeva IV with Devaraya I seems to have ended in an agreement for
peaceful coexistence; under Devaraya II (1426–46), however, Vijayanagar
waged several wars against Orissa and this struggle for supremacy continued
for about a century. The two major Hindu realms thus undermined each
other’s resistance to Muslim rule and, as far as Orissa was concerned, the
downfall of the Gajapati kingdom was certainly precipitated by this
internecine struggle. Whenever the Gajapati was strong and the ruler of
Vijayanagar weak—as in the case of Kapilendra and Malikarjuna (1446–
64)—Vijayanagar’s control of the east coast was challenged. Around 1450
Kapilendra conquered Rajahmundry and Kondavidu (coastal Andhra) and
installed his son, Hamvira, as governor of this region. Hamvira conquered
the east coast all the way down to Tiruchirappalli in the Kaveri valley in
- Kapilendra later withdrew his troops from there and after his death
the Gajapatis lost control of coastal Andhra.
At the same time, however, the Sangama dynasty of Vijayanagar also
declined. The last king, Virupaksha II (1464–85), was unable to prevent his
too powerful subjects from indulging in a struggle for power. It was against
this background that Narasimha, a prince of the Saluva clan and son of the
commander of the fortress of Chandragiri in eastern Andhra, emerged as
the saviour of the empire. At first he fought the various warlords on behalf
of Virupaksha II but then he deposed him and usurped the throne.
Narasimha died while his sons were still small and the regent whom he had