resigned the throne, and advised them to elect Hassan Kangoh in his place. This proposal was received with the utmost enthusiasm and the former peasant was raised to the throne under the title of Sultan Alla-ud-Din Hassan Kangoh Bahmance. (A. D. 1347). In the hour of his prosperity the new Sultan did not forget his old patron and, faithful to his former promise, he sent for Kangoh and committed to his care his treasury and finances. It is said that Kangoh was the first Brahmin who ever took service under a Mahomedan Prince, but, however this may be, he was most certainly not the last, for during the next two hundred years it became the universal custom throughout the Deccan for the different Mahomedan kings to appoint Brahmins to high posts of authority. This was a wise stroke of policy; for it had the effect of bringing the Government more in touch with the people, the vast majority of whom were Hindoos. In fact the Mahomedans throughout the Deccan were only employed in military posts, and the cultivation of the country was everywhere left in the hands of the Hindoos. Malik Seyf-ud-Din Ghorce was appointed Prime Minister, and the ex-Sultan resumed his name of Ismael, and was nominated Amir-ul-Amra or chief of the nobles.

Such was the commencement of the dynasty of the Bahmanec Sultans of Gulburga, for this was the capital of the new kingdom. In the succeeding chapters we shall see to what an extraordinary height of prosperity this kingdom quickly rose, under the wise and just rule of Sultan Alla-ud-Din the former servant of the Brahmin astrologer. Amongst the Mahomedans more than any other nation, there are to be found instances of a romantic and adventurous life, but even amongst Mahomedans there are but few examples of such a wonderful change of fortune, and still rarer are the instances where the success was unstained by cruelty. Sultan Alla-ud-Din was now 57 years of age, and he had still eleven years before him in which to finish the work he had thus gloriously commenced.

WE have already seen that with the fall of Warangal in 1323 the Hindoo kingdom of Telingana came to an end. The city was plundered and destroyed and the King was carried off prisoner to Delhi. After some years he was permitted to return to find his capital in ruins and its inhabitants scattered.

He exercised a certain control over a few districts, but he never recovered his former power and position, and instead of being the head of a mighty kingdom, he became nothing more than a petty chieftain. There had been two brothers in the army of the King of Warangal, named Bukha Raya and Hari-hara. When the city fell, these two brothers made their escape with a small body of horse, and were according to one account accompanied in their flight by a Madhava Brahmin named Vidya Aranya, or the Forest of learning. This Brahmin had formed a strong attachment towards the two brothers, and had prophesied that they would some day become Kings *). During their flight they were joined by other remnants of the army of the King of Warangal until at last the following became quite a large one. This small army marched towards the south, and crossed the Kristna about the spot where it is joined by the Tungabadhra, near where the present town of Kurnool is situated. Following the course of the Tungabadhra the brothers marched on for more than 150 miles up the stream, until they reached a spot where they thought themselves safe from a Mahomedan invasion. Here they remained for some years, moving probably from one place to another until at last they selected a site for a town, which in honour of their Brahmin Counsellor they called Vidhyanagaram, or city of learning. The date of the building of this city is generally ascribed to the year 1336 A.D. The only records to be found of this new kingdom are in the grants which are to be found in the inscriptions on stone and copper in the temples. The earliest of these is several years subsequent to the year 1336. This, however, is only natural as it would only be after increasing in power that such grants would be made. The time was especially favourable for the growth of a new power. It will be remembered that the armies of the Delhi Sultans under Malik Kafur and others had between 1310 and 1324 *For another and more reliable account see Chap. VII.

swept away the Hindoo kingdoms of the Deccan. After this period, and especially during the reign of Mahomed Toghluk, there were so many disturbances in the Mahomedan kingdom that the Sultan had but little time to spare to look after the conquests in the South. The Mahomedan Governors of the provinces, amongst whom was Hassan Kangoh, were each too busy in schemes of personal aggrandizement to interfere with what was going on at a distance, so that whilst circumstances were bringing about the founding of a new Mahomedan Kingdom at Gulburga, Bukha Raya and Harihara were left undisturbed. So rapidly did their conquests extend, especially towards the East and South, that in a short time the name of their city was changed to Vijayanagaram, or the city of victory, and it is under that name, or that of Bisnugger that we find it mentioned in history. The city of Vijayanagar rapidly grew in size, and extended itself on both banks of the river Tungabadhra. The site is a favourable one, being protected by a ridge of hills, through which a narrow pass that can be easily defended protects the city. The rapid growth of this new kingdom is as striking as was that of the new kingdom of Golconda. For two hundred years they were rivals of each other. At first they were probably allies against the Delhi Sultans and so had time to extend their dominions without mutual interference. The Vijayanagar dynasty having been expelled from the Telingana or Warangal country, seems to have relinquished all thoughts of reconquering it, and devoted itself to recovering from the Mahomedans the outlying and detached provinces situated in the Ma'bar or Southern countries. The dissensions and civil wars, which lasted for the next twenty years in the North of India, enabled it to succeed in this endeavour, for by the end of that time we find that all trace of Mahomedan government in southern India had disappeared. It is probably soon after the establishment of this new Hindoo Kingdom that a geographical line was drawn

between the Deccan and the Carnatic. The former represented that portion of central India which lies between the Godavery as a northern boundary and the Tungabadhra, and extended before long from one coast to the other. The latter comprised the rich valleys of the tributaries of the Pennair with their mountainous passes, and from thence extended to Conjeveram, Arcot, and subsequently Madura. There is throughout the history of the struggles between the Mahomedans and the Hindoos one remarkable feature. No sooner is a Hindoo kingdom established than it at once acquires enormous wealth in gold and jewels. These treasures, no doubt, attracted the cupidity of the Mahomedans, but a few years after a Hindoo Prince has been conquered and despoiled, we almost always find him in possession of fresh hoards of treasure which he again has to yield up. It is only when the Hindoo kingdom is annexed and the dynasty exterminated that we find the country ceases to produce gold and precious stones, and the Mahomedan conquerors have then to go against other Hindoo kingdoms in order to gain fresh treasure. Under Mahomedan rule it would seem that there was little or no natural production, and no development of the country's resources. Under Hindoo Princes, on the contrary, as long as they were left undisturbed, attention was paid to agricultural and irrigation works, and especially to mining industries. The consequence was that the Hindoo kingdoms became rich and prosperous, but as soon as they were conquered and annexed by the Mahomedans the indigenous industries were allowed to languish. No more striking instance of this is to be found than in the Deccan. It has already been told how often Deogiri and Warangal were attacked, and how on each occasion an enormous amount of treasure carried away. To this day the ruins of old irrigation works show how prosperous must have been the agricultural condition of the Telingana country. After the Mahomedan Governor of Warangal had been compelled to