| Battle of Talikota | |||||||
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| Part of Hindu Restoration Wars(?) | |||||||
 Artist impression of Tirumala fighting in the centre |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Vijaynagar Empire
| Deccan Sultanates
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Aliya Rama RayaTirumala Deva RayaVenkatadri
| Deccan Sultans
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| Strength | |||||||
| 140,000 foot 10,000 cavalry 100 war elephants 200-300 "guns" 30,000 cavalry | 80,000 foot 30,000 cavalry 300-400 "guns" |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 55-60,000 men | 90-95,000 men | ||||||
The Battle of Talikota was a watershed battle fought between Vijayanagar, supported by (Hemu's kingdom), against the Deccan Sultanates of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Berar and Golkonda, resulted in a rout of the Deccan sultanates, and is marked as beginning of the end for Muslim resistance in South India. Although stategically inconclusive in the short term, it would mark the beginning of the decline of the Sultanates and would lead to eventual Vigaynagri hegemony over the whole region.
Prelude[]
The throne of the Vijayanagara Empire had passed from Achyuta Raya, upon his death, to Rama Raya. Until now, the sultanates had been involved in conflicts with each other, but intermarrying helped resolve decades of conflict with the region. Vijayanagar was seen to be the greater enemy, one that would have to be destroyed at all costs if the sultanates were to ever hope to become the foremost power in South India. Thus preparations and planning soon began within the Sultanate to break the last bastion of Hindu power in the south.
On the other hand, Vijayanagar had continued to maintain a significant level of prominance within the region. The current ruler of the Kingdom, Aliya Rama Raya, had managed to expand his kingdom toward the north, using the disunity of the Sultanates to establish greater control. Only interfering when one of the sultanates asked for his aid, he gradually pushed the border of the kindgom northward. Yet he ruled as regent, keeping the legitimate ruler captive and ensuring loyalty of the kingdom to him and not the kingdom itself.
Although Aliya believed Vijaynagri power was unrivalled, his couriers insisted on an alliance with the newly arisen prominant power in the north, (Hemu's kingdom). Vijaynagar thus found itself in a defensive alliance with (Hemu's kingdom), where one would assist the other against a common enemy, which was assumed to be the Sultanates, which were uniting due to Aliya Rama Raya's political maneuvering. Adil Shah had called upon his closest advisors and friends, expressing opinion of opposing Vijaynagar; who subsequently advised him to form a federation of the Sultanates to attack the Hindu kingdom. In secret exchanges with Qutb Shah, he found another ally and more importantly a mediator for dealing with Ahmadnagar. His marriage to the daughter of Nazim Shah, the monarch of Admadnagar and his sister's marriage to Nazim's son would help to quell decades of distrust between the two Sultanates.
The Battle[]
Initial Moves[]
Example of the cannons supplied to Vijaynagar
By 29 December 1564, the first battles had broken out between the Sultanates and Vijaynagar. Qutb and Nizam Shah, great friends, decided to lead their divisions to clash with Tirumala's division first. Tirumala's soldiers inflicted a defeat on the Sultans, who fled in disarray, having lost thousands of men in the encounter. Although a victory for Tirumala, it became clear to the commander the lack of cannons did give the Sultanate forces an advantage on the battlefield. As a result, he dispatched a messenger to Hemu, explaining the situation and requesting support and cannons, though Hemu's response never reached him.
The Sultans were shaken, and as a result approached Adil Shah, pleading with him to forget previous arguments and honour their agreement by standing with them for the intended Vijaynagri counterattack. They decided that the only way to succeed was to resort to stratagem; Nizam Shah and Qutb Shah pretended to parlay with Aliya Rama Raya who was now planning a massive counter-thrust into the Muslim flanks. At the same time, Adil Shah sent a false message to the Hindu commander that he wished to remain neutral. The Sultans sent messengers to the Muslim commanders in the Vijayanagri army during the same time, appealing to their religious duty of Jihad to secure their alliance to launch a subversive attack. As a result of these parlays, Rama Raya delayed his counter-thrust giving a small but critical time window for the Muslims to regroup. Sultan Imad Shah of Berar made the first thrust by attacking Tirumala's division guarding the Krishna ford. Tirumala fell upon him with his full force and in a short but intense encounter broke the Sultan's army, which sent him fleeing. But, the euphoria of this victory proved short-lived as the Sultans Nizam, Qutb and Barid Shah on one side and Adil Shah on the other used this distraction to cross the Krishna and face off against the main Hindu divisions.
Aliya Raya, though thoroughly surprised, was not alarmed and responded rapidly. Despite his advanced age, being well into his eighth decade, he personally lead the Hindu armies and took to the field in the centre. He was faced by Nizam Shah's division. Aliya Raya's brother, Tirumala, hurriedly returned to form the left wing of the Hindu army that was countered by Adil Shah and traitorous Hindus under the Maratha chief Raja Ghorpade. His second brother Venkatadri formed the Hindu right wing that was opposed by Qutb Shah and Barid Shah, strengthened by Nizam Shah's auxiliaries as the battle progressed.
Main Attack[]
On 23 January 1565, the enormous armies clashed on the plains near the villages of Rakshasi and Tangadi. Many accounts claim over a million men were involved in this historic clash, although the majority of these men were undoubtedly those conscripted and with little in regards to weapons, thus bearing no significant impact to the main battle.
Venkatadri struck early and within the first two hours the Hindu right wing's heavy guns fired constantly on the ranks of Barid Shah. As the ranks were softened the Hindu infantry under Venkatadri plowed through the divisions of Barid Shah annihilating them. The assault was so vigorous that it looked like a Hindu victory on the flank was imminent. Qutb Shah too was in retreat, when Nizam Shah sent his forces to shore up the ranks of the sultans. Men under Aliya Rama Raya attacked the centre under Nizam Shah, but came under heavy fire from his guns which had been positioned in the centre of the line, forcing the men to retreat with staggering losses.
With the battle becoming more general, Nizam Shah himself was then pressed hard by desolating fire from a number of field-pieces and rocket-batteries from Rama Raya's division. An infantry thrust with Rama Raya at the helm seemed likely to complete the overthrow of the whole Muhammadan line, before the front rank of Nizam Shah's field pieces were fired at close quarters, charged with bags of copper money; slaying as many as five thousand soldiers. At this point the sultans signaled to the Muslim officers in the Vijayanagaran army to launch a subversive attack, while some five thousand of Nizam Shah's cavalry charged at Aliya Rama Raya's position.
Aliya Rama Raya suddenly found his rear surprised by the two Muslim divisions, commanded by the Gilani brothers, in his ranks turning against him. About 14,000 Muslim troops had opened a vigorous rear attack on his forces and captured several artillery positions, while Nizam Shah led his cavalrymen to capture Aliya Raya in the centre; successfully doing so as the latter tried to mount a horse and reach safer ground. On the Nizam's orders, Aliya was promptly executed and his head spiked.
Arrival of the Bagh Banner[]
The actions of Nizam Shah seem to almost complete victory of the Sultanates over the forces of Vijaynagar, and indeed victory would be complete if it was not for Tirumala Deva Raya and his valiant attempts to stiffen the centre. It was clear that things were looking bleak for Vijaynagri as Nizam, Qutb and Barid Shah combined their forces and attacked Tirumala, killing Venkatadri Raya in the process. The artillery still under the command of Tirumala had in most cases run out of ammunition and those that still had a supply were now under the command of the traitorous Gilani brothers.
The flanks of the Vijaynagri forces were left leaderless and were beginning to rout, with no central figure to coalese around. Tirumala could not command the forces to his flanks and thus could not effectively bring the might of his full army to bare on the attacking Sultans. In his memoirs, written many years after the battle, Tirumala would talk about thoughts of fleeing from the battle, and nearly doing so were had it not been for the timely intervention of his ally.
For Hemchandra Vikramaditya had responsed to Tirumala's request for aid, and had marched rapidly with a cavalry force of some 30,000 men and some forty heavy cannons, facing no resistance marching through Golkonda to get to the battle. Although he had sent a response to the aid request, it is clear due to some reason Tirumala did not receive confirmation of Hemu's assistance, and as a result the men in his army had no idea they would receive any aid from a foreign, though allied, power. His arrival was heralded by the blowing of a conch, which grabbed the attention of the men, along with their commanders, and the sight of the Bagh Banners (Tiger Banners) of Hemu fluttering in the wind gave the Vijaynagri men heart to keep fighting.
Hemu's cavalry smashed into the rear and flank of the combined forces of the Shahs, who could not sufficiently react as they were too deep in fighting Tirumala Raya's forces. Capturing the artillery pieces of the Sultanate forces, Hemu turned them, along with his own cannons, on the Muslim rear and ordered a devestating barrage. He also sent his able commander, Ramaya, to take command of the right flank of Vigaynagri forces and to bring them back into the battle. This proved to be crucial, for Adil Shah had been waiting to attack the rear of Tirumala's central wing but with the Vijaynagri right wing now stiffened and began to enact a flanking maneuvre on the combined forces of the three other Sultans. This forced him to move his soldiers away from his current position and try to retake the artillery positions currently occupied by Hemu's soldiers.
Without an attack to the rear, and his opponents facing an attack from three sides, Tirumala managed to successfully stiffen the centre. He is aided by the rejoining of the units formerly in the disintegrated left wing, who under the leadership of an able subordinate turn the tide on the Gilani brothers and manage to recapture Vijaynagri artillery. Both brothers would be killed in the fighting, with their heads too spiked in response to the Sultanates.
Destruction[]
With Adil Shah's attempts to recapture Sultanate artillery failing, the commander made the fateful decision to withdraw from the field of war and abandon his allies to their fate. Seeing their ally fleeing lead the remaining Shahs into a fit of anger, and Nizam Shah began to undertake rash, bold attacks trying to punch through the centre and win the battle through sheer will alone. It was not to be; his soldiers after hours of fighting were tired and had were neither fresh like Hemu's cavalry or reinvigorated like the Vijaynagri. His soldiers began to rout, but found themselves being given no quarter.
Attacked from three sides and sandwiched between Hemu and Tirumala, the Sultanate soldiers routed, but found themselves being cut down in the attempt to flee from the battlefield. Many, inspired by their leaders, fought to their deaths against the "infidels" but their deaths were to be in vain as each of the three armies was systematically destroyed. It was total destruction of the forces of Ahmadnagar, Golkonda and Berar, with only the forces of Bijapur remaining of any significant strength due to their flight from the battle of the orders of Adil Shah.
Vijaynagri forces gave no pursuit of the retreating Bijapuri men, and only a token force was sent to harass the retreating men, for the battle had taken a mighty toll on the victors too. Exhausted, the victors celebrated, and began the march home with the wealth of the Sultanate forces, along with the heads of their leaders - which would be spiked outside the city walls as a warning.
Aftermath[]
The Battle of Talikota is seen to be the decisive death knell of the Deccan Sultanates, and the continuation of Vijaynagri prominance within the region. Although Adil Shah escaped the battle with a somewhat coherent force still at his back, it would be Bijapur which would bear the brunt of Vijaynagri attacks over the next decade. Its survival into the 17th century would be rooted in the fact Vijaynagar would focus more extensively on claiming Golkonda lands, whose natives spoke the same language as that of the court of Vijaynagar - Telegu. Assimilation of Golkonda would also give Vijaynagar a direct border with (Hemu's Kingdom) and allow for the flourishing of trade and ideas that was sure to come in susequent decades.
With the spread of European ideas such as pikemen, the Deccan would become a testing ground of sorts for Vijaynagar, before finally coming under its influence after the Battle of <insert name>.