6_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History

5TH GLORIOUS EPOCH 347
and 'Panchadashi' are the most renowned. No other abler
Shankaracharya seems to have ascended the seat of Shringeri
or any other monastery after the First Shankaracharya f
Especially his arch diplomacy and political wisdom seen in
the rapid growth of the Hindu Empire of Vijaynagar in the
teeth of Muslim opposition bears no comparison !
867-A. Indeed the names of Vidyaranyaswami, of the
warrior kings, Harihar and Bukka, Harihar the second, who
took the proud title of Maharajarihiraj, and his Chief Minister
Sayanaoharya—the brother of Vidayaranyaswami, whose
critique of the Vedas is still accepted as an authority,
Maharajadhiraja Krishnadevray and the last but not the least,
Maharajadhiraja Ramrai also, who had inflicted crushing
defeats in rapid succession on all the five Muslim States in
Maharashtra viz., Adilshahi, Nizamshahi and others, but
who was in the end killed in the forefront of the bloody
battle against the combined Muslim forces, should really be
honoured in every home and be remembered by everybody
as are those of Rana Pratap, Raja Chhatrasal, Govind Sinh^
Chaitanya, Banda Bairagi and other great men of those
times.
But today North-Indian Hindus seem to have never
heard of them while in the South hardly one in a thousand
seems to know them but faintly, This is most shameful
for the Hindus and this state of things must be changed
forthwith.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BAHAMANI
KINGDOM
868. Seeing the disintegration of the sovereign power
of the Sultan of Delhi, set afoot by the Hindu State of
Vijaynagar in the south, Hassan Gangu, the Muslim Governor
of the Southern Muslim possessions, revolted against the
Delhi Sultanate and proclaimed himself Sultan of the so-
called Bahamani Kingdom in A.D. 1346. His domain spread
from the Narmada in the north to the Krishna in the soutyi.
The rulers of Delhi completely lost their hold on the south,.