Raichur doab

Topic: Vijayanagara and the Deccan · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara"

Meaning

The Raichur doab was the fertile land between the river Krishna in the north and the river Tungabhadra in the south. Doab means "land between two rivers". Vijayanagara and its northern neighbours (first the Bahmani Sultanate, later the Sultans of Bijapur) fought over it for about two centuries. It matters because it explains why the Deccan wars happened: the fighting was mainly over land and money, not only over religion. NCERT says Krishnadeva Raya won it in 1512.

Explanation

Background: why the doab was worth fighting for

• Doab is a Persian word: do = two, ab = water. So a doab is the strip of land between two rivers.
• The Raichur doab lay just north of the Vijayanagara capital. The capital stood on the south bank of the Tungabhadra, at today's Hampi [2][3].
• The doab therefore sat between Vijayanagara and its northern rival:
• To the south of it was Vijayanagara.

• To the north of it was the Bahmani Sultanate, set up in 1347 by Alauddin Bahman Shah [5].

• It was one of the fertile river valleys that all the Deccan powers wanted. Such land gave three things:

• grain, to feed armies and towns;
• tax (land revenue), to pay for war and building;

• manpower, meaning soldiers and farm workers.

• Fertile valleys were one of the two big prizes in the Deccan. The other was revenue from overseas trade, above all the horse trade.

The long contest: Sangama period and Bahmani wars

• Vijayanagara was founded by Harihara and Bukka of the Sangama family in 1336 (the accepted date, though NCERT marks it as uncertain) [4].
• The Bahmani state came only eleven years later (1347). Both states grew out of revolts against Delhi, and both pushed outwards to fill the gap Delhi left behind.
• Their borders met along the Krishna–Tungabhadra belt, so the doab became the main battleground. It changed hands many times.
• Bahmani capitals were Gulbarga (1347–1425) and then Bidar [5]. Both lay north of the doab, so for both sides it was a frontier zone.
• The Sangama dynasty ruled till about 1485, when Narasimha of the Saluva family took power [4]. The fight over the doab went on all through these changes.

The Bahmani break-up and Krishnadeva Raya's success

• Between 1490 and 1518 the Bahmani state broke up into five Deccan Sultanates [5]: Bijapur, Golconda, Berar, Ahmednagar, Bidar.
• The breakaway rulers were tarafdars (provincial governors of the Bahmani state who turned their provinces into their own kingdoms).
• Bijapur lay closest to the doab, so it became Vijayanagara's new rival for it.
• Krishnadeva Raya (AD 1509–30), of the Tuluva dynasty, is described by the ASI as the greatest ruler of the empire [2].
• According to NCERT, his reign was a time of expansion and consolidation (growing bigger and then holding on firmly):
• 1512: the Raichur doab was acquired (won).
• 1514: the rulers of Orissa (the Gajapatis) were defeated.
• 1520: severe defeats were inflicted on the Sultan of Bijapur. This is often called the Battle of Raichur.

Results

• Holding the doab pushed Vijayanagara's power up to the river Krishna. Contemporaries described the empire as running from the Krishna in the north to the extreme south of the peninsula.
• The extra land and revenue helped pay for the temple building and the growth of the capital under Krishnadeva Raya.
• But the north kept threatening Vijayanagara. In 1565, at Rakshasi-Tangadi (also called Talikota), the combined armies of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda defeated Vijayanagara's forces, led by the chief minister Rama Raya. After this, Vijayanagara lost its hold on the north and the capital was abandoned. The Hampi monuments stop at about 1570 [2].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: from the mid-14th century (after the Bahmani state appeared in 1347) to the 16th century. The key date is 1512.
• Place: northern Karnataka, between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra. The town and fort of Raichur gave the doab its name.
• Key people and states:
• Vijayanagara: Harihara and Bukka (founders); Krishnadeva Raya (won the doab in 1512); Rama Raya (defeated in 1565).

• Rivals: the Bahmani Sultanate, then Bijapur among the five Deccan Sultanates.

• How we know:

• NCERT Class 12, Ch 3 gives the dates 1512, 1514 and 1520.
• Inscriptions (writing carved on stone or copper plates) of the rayas record conquests and grants.
• Foreign visitors' accounts: travellers from Arabia, Italy, Portugal and Russia wrote about the city [2]. Portuguese writers such as Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz described Krishnadeva Raya's time.
• The ruins at Hampi (a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986) show how rich the empire was at its peak [2].

Don't confuse with

• Ganga–Yamuna doab: the land between the Ganga and Yamuna in north India, central to the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals. The Raichur doab is the Krishna–Tungabhadra land in the Deccan.
• Battle of Raichur (1520) vs Battle of Rakshasi-Tangadi / Talikota (1565): in 1520 Krishnadeva Raya beat Bijapur. In 1565 Vijayanagara under Rama Raya was crushed by a combined army of three Sultanates.
• Acquisition of the Raichur doab (1512) vs victory over the Gajapatis of Orissa (1514): the first was a win against the northern Sultans, the second a win against the eastern Gajapati kings. Do not swap the years.
• Tungabhadra as the capital's river: Hampi stands on the south bank of the Tungabhadra, so it lies outside and just south of the doab, not inside it.

Prelims Hooks

• Raichur doab = land between the Krishna (north) and Tungabhadra (south).
• According to NCERT, it was acquired by Krishnadeva Raya (Tuluva dynasty) in 1512.
• Right order under Krishnadeva Raya: Raichur doab (1512) → Orissa subdued (1514) → Bijapur defeated (1520).
• Main rivals for the doab: the Bahmani Sultanate (founded 1347) and later Bijapur, one of the five Deccan Sultanates [5].
• Trap: the Vijayanagara capital (Hampi) is on the south bank of the Tungabhadra [2], not on the Krishna.
• The Bahmani state broke into five Sultanates (Bijapur, Golconda, Berar, Ahmednagar, Bidar) between 1490 and 1518 [5].

Mains Points

• The doab shows that the Deccan wars were about resources, not faith.
• Vijayanagara and the Sultanates wanted the same fertile valleys and the same trade income.
• The rival states also shared architectural ideas while they were at war.

• So a simple "Hindu versus Muslim" reading of these wars is weak.

• Frontier land decided the balance of power.

• Holding the doab gave Vijayanagara grain, tax and soldiers, and pushed its border up to the Krishna under Krishnadeva Raya.

• When the Sultanates united in 1565, Vijayanagara lost this northern frontier, and the capital itself fell soon after.

• Continuity of conflict across dynasties.

• The contest outlasted the Sangama and Saluva rulers [4] and the break-up of the Bahmani state [5].
• This shows it came from geography and economics, not from the ambition of any one ruler.

Related concepts

• Vijayanagara Empire
• Harihara and Bukka
• Vidyaranya
• Bahmani Sultanate
• Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah
• Afaqis and Dakhnis
• Mahmud Gawan
• Bahmani madrasa, Bidar
• Deccan sultanates
• Adil Shahi dynasty

Read more

• Foundation and the Deccan political setting