At the beginning of the fourteenth century the Deccan and south India had four kingdoms: the Yadavas of Devagiri, the Hoysalas of Dvarasamudra, the Kakatiyas of Warangal and the Pandyas of Madurai. The expeditions of the Delhi Sultanate general Malik Kafur (1304 and 1310) defeated them one after another. When Muhammad Tughluq (1325–51) shifted his capital back from Devagiri (renamed Daulatabad) to Delhi, his southern subordinates declared independence; Madurai became an independent Sultanate in 1333. Two rival states then rose – the Bahmani kingdom (1347–1527) and the Vijayanagar kingdom (1336) – which fought for two centuries over the rich Raichur doab and the west-coast ports of Goa and Honavar, the supply points of horses.
1. Sources of Study
- Sources are literary, epigraphical and archaeological.
- Persian accounts by Bahmani court historians are biased and exaggerated in parts but give rare eye-witness accounts of battles, palace intrigues and the people's sufferings.
- Kannada and Telugu works of the Vijayanagar court, like Manucharitram and Saluvabhyudayam, give genealogical, political and social information. The Telugu Rayavachakamu describes the Nayankara system under Krishnadevaraya.
- Thousands of inscriptions in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, Sanskrit copper-plate charters, temples, forts, mosques and abundant coins are also available.