GIRISH KARNAD’S NEW DRAMA ‘RAKSHASA TANGADI’: A RETAKE ON THE FALL OF VIJAYANAGARA EMPIRE

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(This article was presented at the international seminar organized by Davangere University and originally published in ‘Literary Endeavour’- UGC approved international refereed journal. Vol. X-II April 2019. Edited by: Prof.P.Kannan)
(Reviewed by: Prof.Monica Ranjana, Principal, Government First Grade College, Hitnal, Koppal District)


INTRODUCTION:
Girish Karnad, a prominent name in Indian English literature, dramatist with his own new fresh ideas, actor, film director and Jnanapeetha awardee for his literature in Kannada, born in Matheran of Maharashtra and brought up and studied in Dharwad of Karnataka. He has the ability to surprise his readers with an immaculate way of presenting ideas and facts through his dramas. It has been proven in his earlier, especially historical dramas like Tughlaq, Taledanda and The Dreams of Tipu Sultan.
          Girish Karnad’s new drama “Rakshasa Tangadi’ was published on the eve of India’s independence in 2018. It is a two-act play with 12 scenes in it. The drama deals with the causes and consequences to the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, which was the wealthiest empire in the world at that time in all means. It is soon to be published in English under the title “Crossing to Talikota”

BACKGROUND OF THE DRAMA:
          Vijayanagara Empire- the wealthiest and the richest empire of the world in all means, and had the strongest army, fell in mere a day in the Battle of Talikota or Rakkasagi-Tangadagi Battle. There are many books to study this rich history of Vijayanagara Empire. Many of the historians including Indian historians followed the work- ‘A Forgotten Empire’ by the British historian Robert Sewell which was originally published in 1900. It has become a Bible for all of those who are interested in studying the history of Vijayanagara.

          But this drama is constructed on the basis of the works done by two major historians- Prof. Richard M. Eaton of Arizona USA and Dr. Krishna Kolhara Kulkarni of Vijayapura, who has done a great work in collecting and interpreting the original manuscripts written by Vijayanagara historians like Shiraji, Zubairi, and Harikare.  In this drama, Girish Karnad breaks the the stereotypic attitude of study towards the Vijayanagara Empire and that’s why I have given the title – A Retake on the Fall of Vijayanagara Empire.

INTRODUCTION TO THE TITLE OF THE DRAMA:
          Through the study of history it is believed that the final battle which led to the fall of Vijayanagara took place somewhere near Talikote on the banks of river Krishna. It is also believed that the exact place of battle is between the two villages namely Rakkasagi and Tangadagi which is also known as Rakshasa Tangadi.
          Girish Karnad, in an interview regarding the discussion of this drama, says about the uniqueness of the title Rakshasa Tangadi. The last battle of the Vijayanagara Empire was against the four sultanates of the north- Bidar, Golkonda, Vijayapura and Ahmed Nagar. It is glorified as a battle between Hindu-Muslim empires. The title of this drama also depicts the same meaning- Rakshasa is a Sanskrit word and Tangadi is an Urdu word.

ABOUT THE DRAMA- A RETAKE ON THE FALL OF VIJAYANAGARA EMPIRE:
          This drama is an eye-opener in many ways. Especially to those who still strongly believe that Muslims invaded over Hampi and it was a Hindu-Muslim battle. It is important for all of us to know the place of the battle before we come to the conclusion that the Sultans invaded Hampi.

COMPLEXITY OF THE BATTLE:
The Vijayanagara Empire situated to the south and five sultanates, which were predominantly ruling under the Vijayanagara Empire, Bijapur, Ahmednagar, Bidar, Golkonda and Birar are to the north. The river Krishna divides Vijayanagara from the Sultanates. The major question we have to ask ourselves through this drama is, if the Sultanates invaded over Vijayanagara, the battle should have taken place near Hampi or near the banks of river Tungabhadra. But the battle took place on the banks of river Krishna which clearly indicates that it is the emperors of Vijayanagara who invaded the Sultanates of the north. More than a Hindu vs. Muslim battle, it was a humanitarian battle between Aliya Ramaraya and the Sultans of the North. There are many reasons for this battle which led to the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, which are revealed to us by this drama.
                                                 Map courtesy: http://www.aarde.in/

UNION OF SULTANS:
Five years before the battle, Bijapur’s Ali Adil Shah visited Hampi and accepted Aliya Ramaraya as his stepfather, as Aliya Ramaraya loses his son in an untimely death. This soothes Aliya Ramaraya, who later, hands over the fort of Kalyana from Ahmadnagar’s Hussain Nizamshah to Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur. It is his game plan to control all the sultans of the North and Nizam Shah is furious about this. But Nizam Shah is helpless as he is suffering from a longtime illness and has no army power to face Vijayanagara. At this point, Begum of Ahmednagar gives an idea to Nizam Shah to save Kalyana fort from being handed over to Bijapur Sultan. The idea from Begum is- instead of handing over the fort, they can gift the fort to Ali Adil Shah by making him the son in law. Nizam Shah’s first daughter is beautiful and she is sure that Ali Adil Shah will not deny the offer. She also suggests to Nizam Shah that it is the right time to bring unity among all the sultans against Aliya Ramaraya- who is continuously playing games between all the sultanates and not allowing them to unite. Although Nizam Shah denies this idea initially, he accepts this later.

THE CHARACTER OF ALIYA RAMARAYA:
The central the character of this drama is Aliya Ramaraya who is never the king of Vijayanagara Empire but who has all the control over it. Ramaraya is the loving son in law of the great Krishnadevaraya, who recognized by understanding the administrative strengths of Ramaraya, gives his first daughter Satyabhama in marriage to him.

Though he gets married to Satyabhama Tuluva dynasty never allows him to the throne of Vijayanagara, which constantly haunts Ramaraya. After the death of Krishnadevaraya, Sadashivaraya comes to the throne and Ramaraya, the minister and the general of the Vijayanagara army, takes control over the empire and makes him the puppet king.

As always, great warriors keep their moves to themselves; Ramaraya becomes an enigmatic character to himself, to his family members, to his people, and to the Sultans. There is a constant battle in himself about the insults he is facing for being “the Aliya” of Krishnadevaraya and never becoming the emperor of Vijayanagara. He expresses that many times in the drama especially in scene 8 of act II.

Aliya Ramaraya is a great warrior and a great administrator. His never dying spirit to win wars for Vijayanagara Empire makes him even stronger and his enemies even weaker. In the battle of Talikota, he himself leads the army of Vijayanagara in the battlefield at the age of 82! But sometimes his over-enthusiasm makes him ignore the strengths of the ultimate warriors in his brothers Tirumala and Venkatadri.

Ramaraya always longs for his past as he believes that he belongs to the Chalukya Dynasty of Kalyana. That is why he is so possessive about the fort of Kalyana which is the central element of conflict among the Sultans. He always wants to take control over Kalyana fort and because it is outside his empire, he keeps rotating the possession of the fort between Sultans, which makes them angry and they all unite against him.

THE BATTLE:
          There are many reasons for the battle of Talikota between Vijayanagara and Sultanates of the north. Importantly the game is being played by Ramaraya between the Sultans in the issue of possession of Kalyana Fort. Ahmadnagar’s Nizam Shah never wants to hand over the key of the fort to Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur. Ramaraya interferes in the issue and beheads the general of Bidar army Zahangir Khan who was taking care of Ahmednagar in the absence of Nizam Shah on his request to Bidar Sultan which makes Nizam Shah even angrier and eventually as per his wife’s suggestion he agrees for the marriage of his first daughter with Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur and the second daughter with Ibrahim Kutub Shah of Golkonda. More than the marriage they plan to unite against Vijayanagar. These marriages eventually anger Ramaraya and he calls for the war against the Sultanates.

          In the war, at the age of 82, Aliya Ramaraya leads the army of Vijayanagar, even in the presence of Venkatadri and Tirumala. Ramaraya is so confident of winning the war; he did not even keep an army battalion to take care of Hampi in their absence when the battle is being waged at the banks of river Krishna. Vijayanagara army is an ancient one with elephants, horses. And sultans’ army is of modern weapons. All the sultans need to do is to allow Ramaraya to crossover the river Krishna which he eventually does. Ramaraya is not fighting the battle. Instead, he sits on a palanquin and encourages his soldiers to fight for the glory of the Vijayanagara. Tirumalaraya gets wounded in the battle and flees away from the battlefield which was the biggest setback to the Vijayanagara army. Ultimately, Roomi Khan, the commander of Ahmadnagar catches Ramaraya, who falls from the palanquin, and takes him to Nizam Shah. Nizam Shah beheads Ramaraya in front of his stepson Ali Adil Shah.

THE FALL OF VIJAYANAGARA EMPIRE- WHO STARTED THE LOOT?
          As soon as Tirumalaraya gets hurt and flees out of the battlefield, he runs back to Hampi, with the news of Ramaraya being killed by sultans. He initiates the collection of all the wealth of the empire on the backs of 1500 elephants and shifts to Penugonda, which is the next capital of Vijayanagara. The people of Hampi, who hears the news of the defeat of their army in the battle, start to roar and collects their wealth which is hidden the basements of their homes and run away from Hampi. Even before the Sultans’ army reaches Hampi, half of the Hampi is looted by their own people for the purpose of their security or for the fear of their insecurity.

CONCLUSION:
          After reading this drama, I am exposed to more than one dimension to the fall of Vijayanagara Empire. There are more facets to the battle, not just a battle between a Hindu empire and the Muslim Sultans. The battle starts when Ramaraya is denied an access to the throne by Tuluvas just because he belongs to the lower dynasty of all the dynasties who rule Vijayanagara. The battle is inside Ramaraya who is longing for the fort of Kalyana as he believes he belongs to Kalyana Dynasty. The battle begins when Begum of Ahmednagar gives ‘Lady Macbethish’ idea to Sultan Nizam Shah to arrange the marriage of their daughters with Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur and Ibrahim Barid Shah of Golkonda. The battle begins when Ramaraya doesn’t understand the offer of Ali Adli Shah to accept him as his stepson. The drama, in the end, holds the message that the battle is not merely between religions. It is between selfishness, untrustworthiness, insults, human disbeliefs, overconfidence, and betrayal.

 Eventually, it is the battle which ends the most the powerful and uncrowned king of Vijayanagara Empire Aliya Ramaraya because of: “The overwhelming confidence in his power, ignoring his enemies despite the fact that they are growing, nobody understands his politics, over-e nthusiastic to his probable source dynasty which made him forget his duty, disbelief in his own people; and believing those who are not worthy of believing… these are the causes to the fall of the unrivaled empire of the southern plateau - Vijayanagara and its last commander ‘Aliya Ramaraya'.

REFERENCES:
1. Karnad Girish, Rakshasa Tangadi, Dharwad, Manohara Granthamala, 2018, Print

2. Why I wrote Rakshasa Tangadi? Girish Karnad | ನಾನೇಕೆ ರಾಕ್ಷಸ ತಂಗಡಿ ಬರೆದೆ?-ಗಿರೀಶ್ ಕಾರ್ನಾಡ್, YouTube, TheState.News, 15-08-2018

4. My old blog post

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