Overview
The Battle of Talikota, also called the Battle of Rakshasi-Tangadi, was fought on 23 January 1565 between the Vijayanagara Empire and an alliance of the Deccan Sultanates of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golconda and Bidar. The Vijayanagara army, led by the regent Aliya Rama Raya, was routed near the Krishna river, and Rama Raya was captured and beheaded. The allied armies then plundered the capital, Vijayanagara (modern Hampi), which was soon abandoned. The empire itself survived. Rama Raya's brother Tirumala withdrew to Penukonda and became the first crowned king of the Aravidu dynasty, and his successors held a shrinking kingdom from Penukonda, Chandragiri and Vellore until the mid-seventeenth century. Meanwhile the nayakas, its military governors, and the Wodeyars of Mysore turned their provinces into kingdoms of their own. Talikota therefore ended Vijayanagara's dominance of the south, not its existence.
Causes of the Battle of Talikota: Rama Raya's Deccan Policy
Aliya Rama Raya, Regent of Vijayanagara from 1542 to 1565
Strain within the empire began after Krishnadevaraya died in 1529. His younger half-brother Achyuta Deva Raya succeeded him, and when Achyuta died in 1542 the throne passed to his teenage nephew, Sadasiva Raya, the last king of the Tuluva dynasty. By 1542 control at the centre had shifted to another ruling lineage, the Aravidu.
Rama Raya (1484‑1565) belonged to that lineage. He and his younger brother Tirumala were sons-in-law of Krishnadevaraya, and Kannada tradition calls him Aliya Rama Raya, "aliya" meaning son-in-law. He had made his name as a general and administrator, and in 1542 he became regent for Sadasiva. When Sadasiva came of age, Rama Raya kept him a virtual prisoner and ruled as the de facto king.
Rama Raya lacked royal descent and looked for other sources of standing. He presented himself as heir to the Chalukyas, revived their festivals and fought to hold Kalyana, the old Chalukya capital. He also hired Muslim generals, both Deccanis and soldiers from beyond the Persian Gulf, and took the title "Sultan of the World".
Rama Raya's Policy of Balancing the Deccan Sultanates
The five Deccan Sultanates that had grown out of the Bahmani kingdom fought one another almost without pause, and more than once they asked Rama Raya to mediate. He used their quarrels to push Vijayanagara's power north of the Krishna. His method was to ally with one sultanate against another and then change sides, so that no single sultanate could rise above the others. The policy worked for about 20 years.
The relationship had not always been hostile. Krishnadevaraya had backed claimants to power in the sultanates and called himself "establisher of the Yavana kingdom", and the Sultan of Bijapur had in turn intervened in the succession disputes at Vijayanagara after his death. Each side had an interest in the other's stability, and Rama Raya's adventurous policy ended this understanding.
Three episodes show how far his interference went:
- Horse trade: He made a commercial treaty with the Portuguese, who had taken Goa from Bijapur in 1510, to stop the supply of horses to Bijapur. He then defeated the Bijapur sultan and inflicted humiliating defeats on Golconda and Ahmadnagar.
- Siege of Ahmadnagar: In 1561 Rama Raya joined Bijapur in a war against Ahmadnagar and laid siege to its capital. Vijayanagara troops were reported to have desecrated mosques around Ahmadnagar, which angered even their ally, Ali Adil Shah I of Bijapur.
- Plunder of Bijapur: During the campaign Rama Raya's army reportedly looted several districts of its ally Bijapur under the pretext of foraging, and he withdrew south only after Ali Adil Shah offered him Yadagiri and Bagalkot.
Rama Raya's diplomacy was also laden with insulting gestures towards the sultans. His constant changing of sides at last drove them into an alliance against him.
Marriage Alliances and the League of Four Sultanates
The sultans settled their own differences through marriage. Husain Nizam Shah I of Ahmadnagar gave his daughter Chand Bibi in marriage to Ali Adil Shah I of Bijapur, and another daughter, Bibi Jamila, to Ibrahim Qutb Shah of Golconda. Ibrahim had himself lived at Vijayanagara as Rama Raya's guest during his exile from 1543 to 1550, yet he joined the league against his former host.
Four sultanates combined in the alliance. Ahmadnagar and Bijapur lay to the west, Bidar in the centre and Golconda to the east. Berar, the fifth sultanate, did not join the battle. NCERT names Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda; other accounts add Bidar.
| Side | State | Dynasty | Ruler or commander | Part in 1565 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alliance | Ahmadnagar | Nizam Shahi | Husain Nizam Shah I | Leading figure of the coalition; Rama Raya beheaded by him or on his orders |
| Bijapur | Adil Shahi | Ali Adil Shah I | Ally whose kingdom gained most after the battle | |
| Golconda | Qutb Shahi | Ibrahim Qutb Shah | Ally who took the hill forts of Adoni and Udayagiri after the battle | |
| Bidar | Barid Shahi | Ali Barid Shah I | Ally who played a key logistical role | |
| Stayed out | Berar | Imad Shahi | Burhan Imad Shah, with power held by his minister Tufail Khan | Did not join the battle |
| Vijayanagara | Vijayanagara Empire | Tuluva king, Aravidu regent | Aliya Rama Raya, with his brothers Tirumala and Venkatadri | Defeated; Rama Raya captured and beheaded |
The Battle of Talikota (Rakshasi-Tangadi), 23 January 1565
Site and Date of the Battle
The battle takes its usual name from Talikota, a town in present-day Karnataka, but the field lay near the villages of Rakshasi and Tangadi (in Kannada, Rakkasagi and Tangadigi); some accounts place it at Banahatti. All three lie near the Krishna. The allies gathered there to attack Rama Raya in late January 1565.
The battle is usually dated 23 January 1565; the chronicles differ on the exact day. They also disagree on how long it lasted, from a few hours to several days, and on the formations and manoeuvres of the two armies. The main contemporary accounts are the chronicles of the Ahmadnagar and Bijapur court historians, including Firishta, the Portuguese records of Diogo do Couto and the letters of the governor of Goa, and poems written in the Deccan.
Course of the Battle and the Death of Rama Raya
Some accounts hold that the Vijayanagara army had the upper hand at first. The turning point came when Rama Raya was captured. He was beheaded either by Husain Nizam Shah I himself or on his orders, although Ali Adil Shah I, who had friendly relations with Rama Raya, had not wanted his death. Husain had the severed head stuffed with straw and displayed.
The death of their commander threw the Vijayanagara army into confusion, and it was routed. Rama Raya's brother Tirumala left the field with what remained of the army, tried and failed to regroup at Vijayanagara, and withdrew. His other brother, Venkatadri, was blinded and probably killed in the fighting. The capital now lay open to the victors.
Why Vijayanagara Lost: Defection or Military Technology
Two explanations are given for the defeat. In one, two Muslim generals of the Vijayanagara army, identified as the Gilani brothers, changed sides during the battle and turned it against Rama Raya; Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund hold this view. Many scholars reject the story of treachery. It goes back to the Venetian merchant Cesare Federici, who wrote after the battle, and was later taken up by some nationalist historians. The scholars who reject it place the cause in the gap in military strength between the two armies.
The sultanates' armies, though smaller in number, were better equipped and better trained.
| Arm of the army | Deccan Sultanates | Vijayanagara |
|---|---|---|
| Artillery | Guns manned by expert Turkish gunners | Outdated guns served by European mercenaries |
| Mounts | Fast Persian horses | Slow-moving war elephants, and mostly locally bred, weaker horses |
| Cavalry weapon | Spears 15 to 16 feet long (about 4.6 to 4.9 m) | Javelins of shorter reach |
| Archers | Metal crossbows of longer range | Traditional bamboo bows of shorter range |
The historian Richard Eaton traces this weakness back to the Battle of Raichur in 1520, when Krishnadevaraya inflicted a severe defeat on the Sultan of Bijapur. Having beaten a better-armed enemy, he underrated the value of military technology and did not invest in it in the years after Raichur.
Sack of Vijayanagara and the Ruin of Hampi
Plunder of the Capital After the Battle
The allied armies marched on Vijayanagara unopposed. By 1500 it was, by one estimate, the second-largest city in the world after Beijing, and probably the richest in India. The city was pillaged for several months, six by one account. In the traditional account, houses, shops, buildings, palaces and most of its temples were destroyed, and much of its civilian population was massacred. Archaeologists have found evidence of the burning in quantities of charcoal, heat-cracked basements and burnt architectural pieces.
Recent historians and archaeologists question how complete the ruin was. They find little evidence of damage beyond the Royal Centre, and the sites linked with royal power and sovereignty suffered most. Yet the political break was final. The Royal Centre was never rebuilt, patronage of its monuments and temples ceased, and the city was totally abandoned within a few years. Federici, who visited the city after its fall, found that "the houses stand still, but emptie, and there is dwelling in them nothing, as is reported, but Tygres and other wild beasts". The site is still called Halu Hampi, Kannada for "ruined Hampi".
Hampi Rediscovered: From Mackenzie to World Heritage Site
More than two centuries passed before the ruins were surveyed. In 1800 Colonel Colin Mackenzie, an engineer and antiquarian employed by the English East India Company, brought them to light and prepared the first survey map of the site. Much of what he first learnt came from the memories of the priests of the Virupaksha temple and the shrine of Pampadevi.
Photographers began to record the monuments from 1856, and conservation began under John Marshall in 1902. Through the twentieth century the Archaeological Survey of India and the Karnataka Department of Archaeology and Museums preserved the site. In 1976 Hampi was recognised as a site of national importance, and in 1986 UNESCO inscribed the Group of Monuments at Hampi as a World Heritage Site. The site lies today in Vijayanagara district of Karnataka, carved out of Bellary (Ballari) district in 2020.
Gains of the Deccan Sultanates After Talikota
Bijapur and Golconda Expand South, and the League Breaks Up
Bijapur reaped the largest gains. Its southern frontier was carried up to the city of Vijayanagara, and by the end of Ali Adil Shah I's reign in 1580 the kingdom reached the port of Honavar on the west coast, with its southern boundary along the Varada and Tungabhadra rivers. Golconda under Ibrahim Qutb Shah took the hill forts of Adoni and Udayagiri, which commanded a wide territory and had been prized possessions of Vijayanagara.
The alliance did not last. Husain Nizam Shah I died on 6 June 1565, a few months after his victory, and the sultanates soon returned to their own rivalries. Ahmadnagar annexed Berar in 1574, and Bijapur annexed Bidar in 1619. The larger sultanates then fell to the Mughals one by one:
- Ahmadnagar: Its capital fell after the death of Chand Bibi in 1600, and the last of the kingdom was taken in 1636.
- Bijapur: Aurangzeb conquered it in 1686.
- Golconda: Aurangzeb's army besieged and took it in 1687.
Decline of the Vijayanagara Empire Under the Aravidu Dynasty
Tirumala Deva Raya and the Move to Penukonda
Tirumala Deva Raya, Rama Raya's younger brother, withdrew from Talikota with what remained of the army. He rescued the Tuluva king, Sadasiva, and made Penukonda the new seat of the empire.
Sadasiva died at Penukonda in 1570, and Tirumala was then crowned as the first Aravidu emperor. The Aravidu dynasty, the fourth and last dynasty of Vijayanagara, thus took the throne in 1570, although Rama Raya had held real power for the family since 1542. Tirumala abdicated in 1572 and divided what remained of the empire among his three sons. Over the next decades the capital moved further south:
- Penukonda: Capital from 1565 to 1592.
- Chandragiri: Capital from 1592, near the Tirupati hills; the later emperors are often called the rulers of Chandragiri.
- Vellore: A second capital from 1604, alongside Chandragiri; the last emperor, Sriranga III, ruled from it.
Venkata II and the Last Revival, 1586‑1614
Venkata II (Venkatapati Raya), a son of Tirumala, came to the throne in January 1586 and ruled for nearly three decades. His reign was the last period of strength. He held his own against the sultans of Bijapur and Golconda and subdued rebellious nayakas. He crushed a rising by the nayaka of Gingee in 1586, and in 1601 his forces defeated the nayaka of Vellore and brought Vellore under his direct rule. Farming in the northern territories was revived by easy terms on taxes.
In 1608, in Venkata II's reign, the Dutch East India Company was allowed to trade at Pulicat, almost 60 km north of present-day Chennai, and in 1613 it was allowed to build a fort there, Geldria. In his time, too, the Wodeyars of Mysore made themselves independent. Venkata II had no son, and his death in October 1614 plunged the empire into a succession crisis.
Succession War, Toppur and the End of the Empire
Venkata II named his nephew Sriranga II as heir, but the queen Bayamma put forward a boy said to be the king's son, and her brother Jagga Raya took up his cause. Jagga Raya had Sriranga II and his family murdered; only one son, Rama Deva Raya, survived. In the civil war that followed, Raghunatha Nayaka of Thanjavur and the general Yachama Nayaka defeated Jagga Raya and his allies, the nayakas of Madurai and Gingee, at the Battle of Toppur in late 1616, and Rama Deva Raya was crowned. During the crisis some nayakas stopped sending tribute and Bijapur and Golconda pressed further into the empire.
The later emperors were rulers in name over powerful vassals. In 1639 the English East India Company, through negotiations led by Francis Day with the ruler of Chandragiri, obtained a strip of coast from the local nayakas, the Damarla brothers. There it began Fort St. George, the first English fortress in India, around which the city of Madras grew.
The last emperor, Sriranga III, came to power in 1642. In 1645 the nayakas of Madurai, Thanjavur and Gingee formed a league against him, and Bijapur and Golconda agreed to divide the conquests between themselves. In April 1646 Golconda's forces defeated Sriranga III, and 1646 is taken as the end of the empire. He lived on as an emperor without an empire, recognised in name by the ruler of Mysore, until his death in 1678 or 1681.
| Ruler | Reign | Capital and main event |
|---|---|---|
| Aliya Rama Raya | 1542‑1565 (regent) | Vijayanagara; killed at Talikota |
| Tirumala Deva Raya | 1565‑1572 (crowned 1570) | Penukonda; tried to rebuild the empire after the sack |
| Sriranga I | 1572‑1586 | Penukonda; succeeded his father Tirumala |
| Venkata II | 1586‑1614 | Penukonda, Chandragiri and Vellore; last revival; Mysore independent |
| Sriranga II | 1614 | Vellore; murdered in the succession war |
| Rama Deva Raya | 1617‑1632 | Vellore; crowned after the Battle of Toppur |
| Venkata III | 1632‑1642 | Chandragiri and Vellore; Madras grant of 1639 |
| Sriranga III | 1642‑1646 (died 1678 or 1681) | Vellore; empire lost to Bijapur, Golconda and the nayakas |
Successor States: The Nayakas and the Kingdom of Mysore
Nayaka Kingdoms of the Tamil and Kannada Country
The nayakas were military chiefs who controlled forts and armed followers, usually speaking Telugu or Kannada. Under the empire many of them served as amara-nayakas, and even then they often rebelled. Their power had been rising since Rama Raya's regency.
After Talikota the empire fragmented, and over the following decades it split into smaller kingdoms ruled by the nayakas. In the Tamil country the nayakas of Madurai, Thanjavur and Gingee became independent; Raghunatha Nayaka of Thanjavur decided the succession war at Toppur, where Gingee fought with Madurai against him. In the Kannada country the nayakas of Keladi and Chitradurga did the same.
These kingdoms fought one another as well as the emperor. In the 1640s their league against Sriranga III opened the way for Bijapur and Golconda, and they then had to cede large territories to the two sultanates. They also carried the Vijayanagara tradition forward. The nayakas of Madurai, for example, went on building gopurams, the gateway towers that Krishnadevaraya had added to many important south Indian temples.
Rise of the Kingdom of Mysore Under Raja Wodeyar I
The Wodeyars of Mysore had ruled as vassals of Vijayanagara, and by 1565 their kingdom covered only 33 villages, protected by a force of 300 soldiers. As the empire declined they asserted themselves. Bola Chamaraja IV, the first Wodeyar of political note, withheld tribute from the Vijayanagara court. Raja Wodeyar I, who ruled from 1578 to 1617, then took Srirangapatna from its Vijayanagara governor, another Tirumala of the Aravidu family. Venkata II, ruling from Chandragiri, gave his tacit approval after the event.
Raja Wodeyar I is credited with starting the Mysore Dasara celebrations in 1610, marking the kingdom's independence from Vijayanagara, and by 1612‑1613 Mysore had stopped sending tribute to Chandragiri. It still acknowledged the emperor in name. The nayakas of the Tamil country, by contrast, kept paying the Chandragiri emperors into the 1630s. In the seventeenth century Mysore annexed much of southern Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu, and in the eighteenth century Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan fought four wars with the British.
Significance of the Battle of Talikota
Political Consequences for South India and the Deccan
Talikota was a watershed in the politics of the south. It ended the long contest in which the kings of the Vijayanagara Empire had competed with the sultans of the Deccan for control of the fertile river valleys and the profits of overseas trade. Its consequences ran in four directions:
- The empire: Vijayanagara lost its capital and its dominance, survived as a smaller kingdom and ended in 1646.
- The sultanates: Bijapur and Golconda gained territory to the south, but their league broke up, and they remained rivals until the Mughals absorbed them.
- The successor states: The nayaka kingdoms of the Tamil and Kannada country and the kingdom of Mysore became independent powers.
- The capital: Vijayanagara was abandoned, and its ruins at Hampi are now a World Heritage Site.
The cultural tradition of Vijayanagara outlived its political power. The Hindu temples of the Mysore kingdom, for example, were built in a modest version of the Vijayanagara building idiom.
Previous Year UPSC‑CSE Questions
Each question is explained option by option.
- UPSC Prelims 2022With reference to Indian history, consider the following statements :
- The Dutch established their factories/warehouses on the east coast on lands granted to them by Gajapati rulers.
- Alfonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate.
- The English East India Company established a factory at Madras on a plot of land leased from a representative of the Vijayanagara empire.
Which of the statements given above are correct ?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test each statement against the ruler who held the coast at the time.
- Statement 1: The Dutch post at Pulicat on the east coast was permitted in 1608, in the reign of Venkata II of Vijayanagara, not by the Gajapati rulers of Orissa; incorrect.
- Statement 2: Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from the Sultanate of Bijapur in 1510; correct.
- Statement 3: In 1639 the English, through Francis Day's negotiations with the ruler of Chandragiri, obtained land from the Damarla brothers, nayakas under the Vijayanagara emperor, and built Fort St. George there; correct.
Trap to watch: The Gajapatis ruled Orissa on the east coast, so statement 1 sounds plausible; the Dutch post at Pulicat lay in Vijayanagara territory and was permitted in Venkata II's reign.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 and 2 only: Wrong. Statement 1 is incorrect, because the Dutch held Pulicat by permission given in Venkata II's reign, and statement 3 is correct.
- (b) 2 and 3 only: Correct. Albuquerque took Goa from Bijapur in 1510, and the English site at Madras came from a nayaka under the Vijayanagara ruler at Chandragiri.
- (c) 1 and 3 only: Wrong. Statement 1 is incorrect, and statement 2, Albuquerque's capture of Goa from Bijapur, is correct.
- (d) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Statement 1 is incorrect, because the Gajapatis did not grant the Dutch their east-coast posts.
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only. Goa was taken from Bijapur in 1510, and the Madras grant of 1639 came from a nayaka of the Vijayanagara ruler at Chandragiri.
- UPSC Prelims 2021With reference to Indian history, which of the following statements is/are correct?
- The Nizamat of Arcot emerged out of Hyderabad State.
- The Mysore Kingdom emerged out of Vijayanagara Empire.
- Rohilkhand Kingdom was formed out of the territories occupied by Ahmad Shah Durrani.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test each statement by asking what territory the state was carved from and whether that parent existed first.
- Statement 1: The Carnatic, ruled from Arcot, was a Mughal province from 1692, when Zulfiqar Khan was appointed its governor, while Hyderabad State dates from 1724; the nawabs later came under the Nizam's legal authority, but the state did not emerge out of Hyderabad; incorrect.
- Statement 2: The Wodeyars ruled Mysore as vassals of Vijayanagara and became independent as the empire declined after 1565; correct.
- Statement 3: Rohilla Afghans settled in Katehar under orders of Aurangzeb, and their dynasty in Rohilkhand dates from 1721, before Ahmad Shah Durrani became king in 1747; the land was Mughal territory, not his; incorrect.
Trap to watch: The Nawabs of Arcot sat under the Nizam of Hyderabad in law, so students take statement 1 as true; the Carnatic province was in fact older than Hyderabad State and did not grow out of it.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 and 2: Wrong. Statement 1 is incorrect, because the Carnatic was a Mughal province from 1692, older than Hyderabad State of 1724.
- (b) 2 only: Correct. Mysore grew out of the Vijayanagara Empire, while Arcot and Rohilkhand did not grow out of Hyderabad or Durrani's lands.
- (c) 2 and 3: Wrong. Statement 3 is incorrect, because Rohilkhand was carved from Mughal territory in Katehar before Ahmad Shah Durrani's rise in 1747.
- (d) 3 only: Wrong. Statement 3 is incorrect, and statement 2, the Mysore link, is correct.
Answer: (b) 2 only. Only the Mysore kingdom emerged out of an older power named in the question, the Vijayanagara Empire.
- UPSC Prelims 2006When Raja Wodeyar founded the kingdom of Mysore, who was the ruler of the Vijayanagar Empire?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Fix the date of Mysore's independence and then place it in the list of Aravidu kings. Raja Wodeyar I ruled Mysore from 1578 to 1617; he took Srirangapatna from the Vijayanagara governor with the tacit approval of Venkatapati Raya (Venkata II), and the Mysore Dasara of 1610 marked the kingdom's independence. Venkata II reigned from 1586 to 1614, so the founding falls in his reign. Sadasiva had died in 1570, Tirumala abdicated in 1572, and Sriranga II reigned only in 1614, after the break of 1610.
Trap to watch: Students who link Mysore's rise directly with the Battle of Talikota pick Tirumala, the first Aravidu king after 1565, although Mysore broke away more than 40 years later.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) Sadasiva: Wrong. Sadasiva, the last Tuluva king, died at Penukonda in 1570, before Raja Wodeyar I came to the throne of Mysore in 1578.
- (b) Tirumala: Wrong. Tirumala Deva Raya was crowned in 1570 and abdicated in 1572, long before Mysore became independent.
- (c) Ranga II: Wrong. Ranga II, that is Sriranga II, reigned in 1614 after the death of Venkata II, four years after the Mysore Dasara of 1610 had marked Mysore's independence.
- (d) Venkata II: Correct. Venkata II reigned from 1586 to 1614, and Raja Wodeyar I took Srirangapatna with his tacit approval.
Answer: (d) Venkata II. Venkata II reigned from 1586 to 1614, and Mysore became independent in his reign, in 1610.
Sources
- NCERT: Themes in Indian History Part II, Class 12, Chapter 7, An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara (Reprint 2026‑27)
- NCERT: Exploring Society: India and Beyond Part I, Class 8, Chapter 2, Reshaping India's Political Map (Reprint 2026‑27)
- NCERT: Understanding Society: India and Beyond Part II, Class 9, Resistance and Resilience (Reprint 2026‑27)
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Group of Monuments at Hampi
- Wikipedia: Battle of Talikota
- Wikipedia: Rama Raya
- Wikipedia: Vijayanagara Empire
- Wikipedia: Aravidu dynasty
- Wikipedia: Tirumala Deva Raya
- Wikipedia: Sadasiva Raya
- Wikipedia: Venkatapati Raya
- Wikipedia: Battle of Toppur
- Wikipedia: Sriranga III
- Wikipedia: Siege of Ahmednagar (1561‑1562)
- Wikipedia: Deccan sultanates
- Wikipedia: Ahmadnagar Sultanate
- Wikipedia: Husain Nizam Shah I
- Wikipedia: Ali Adil Shah I
- Wikipedia: Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali
- Wikipedia: Ali Barid Shah I
- Wikipedia: Berar Sultanate
- Wikipedia: Hampi
- Wikipedia: Kingdom of Mysore
- Wikipedia: Raja Wodeyar I
- Wikipedia: Dutch Coromandel
- Wikipedia: Fort St. George
- Wikipedia: Damarla Chennapa Nayaka
- Wikipedia: Portuguese conquest of Goa
- Wikipedia: Carnatic Sultanate
- Wikipedia: Hyderabad State
- Wikipedia: Rohilkhand
- Wikipedia: Ahmad Shah Durrani
- Vijayanagara District, Government of Karnataka: History
- Tiruvallur District, Government of Tamil Nadu: Pulicat
- UPSC: Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination question papers
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