Page:Historic Landmarks of the Deccan.djvu/28

Rh About the year 1550 Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar, in the course of his disputes with Ibrahim Adil Shah I of Bijapur, set the evil example of entering into an alliance with Vijayanagar against a brother Muslim. The strength which he thus acquired enabled him to capture the fortress of Sholapur, and Ibrahim was compelled to make peace. The death of Burhan Nizam Shah, who was succeeded by his son Husain, gave Ibrahim an opportunity of detaching Vijayanagar from Ahmadnagar and of following Burhan's example by entering into an alliance with the Hindus. On Ibrahim's death his son Ali Adil Shah I maintained the alliance, and in 1564 he invaded the dominions of Husain Nizam Shah in company with Sadashivaraya of Vijayanagar. The Hindus committed great excesses in the Ahmadnagar state and Husain Nizam Shah, in order to prevent the further desecration of mosques, was compelled to make peace on his enemy's terms. Almost immediately afterwards, Ali Adil Shah again declared war and invaded the kingdom of Ahmadnagar with his Hindu ally. The Hindus again took the opportunity of insulting the Musalmans by destroying copies of the Quran and desecrating mosques, until heavy rain compelled the allies to retire on Sholapur. Ali Adil Shah's position was now one of considerable difficulty. The conduct of his Hindu allies had exasperated not only the enemy, but all Musalmans in the Deccan, including his own troops, and Sadashivaraya, having been virtually the arbiter between the two most powerful Musalman kingdoms in the Deccan, now began to assume the position of their overlord, and openly treated Ali Adil Shah as his vassal, and demanded and received from him and from Ibrahim Qutb Shah, who had pursued a vacillating policy throughout the war, important cessions of territory. Sadashivaraya's next act was to issue a notice to the Muhammadan Sultans informing them that in future they would not be allowed to sit in his presence. This was more than could be borne, and Ali Adil Shah, who was primarily responsible for the indignity offered to himself and his co-religionists, exerted himself to form a confederacy against his late ally, and had no difficulty in persuading Ibrahim Qutb Shah of Golconda, Husain Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar, and Ali Barid Shah of Bidar to join him. The confederates marched from Bijapur at the end of 1564 and met the army of Vijayanagar on January 24, 1565,