On the third day he was compelled to quit the few guns he had, and to fly to Ahmudnuggur. In his retreat, however, he carried the umbrella of royalty over his head; and though attended only by a thousand horse, he made his way good through six thousand of the enemy. Being re­markably strict in his observance of prayers at stated hours, one afternoon, when closely pursued, his friends represented the danger of dismounting to pray, but he disregarded them; and the enemy were so struck with his dauntless courage, that they stopped at some distance to admire it. After prayers, on observing that he had on a girdle of gold, he recollected that it was unlawful to pray in it, and casting it off, he repeated his devotions. The enemy deeming it unnecessary to follow him farther resolved on giving over the pursuit. The King having thrown supplies into Ahmudnuggur retired to the fortress of Joonere. The allies again laid siege to Ahmudnuggur; and the Hindoos of Ramraj committed every species of indignity and atrocity on the persons and property of the faithful, polluting the mosques, and dishonouring the women. Ally Adil Shah, scandalised at these indignities, but unable to prevent them, advised Ramraj to raise the siege, and to pursue Hoossein Nizam Shah to Joonere, who upon this retired among the high mountains in the vicinity, and em­ployed Hoossein Roostoom Khan Deccany, Adhum Khan Hubshy, and Sabajee Coly, with their troops, to hover round the confederates, and to cut off their supplies; and so effectually did they lay waste the country as to prevent their advance. Hoossein Roostoom Khan met the enemy at the village of Canoor, and during the absence of Ally Adil Shah, who was hunting at the time, fell suddenly on the Beejapoor army. The uncle of Ally Adil Shah was killed on this occasion; but the Beejapoories were so successful in the end, as to leave Hoossein Roostoom Khan and two thousand of his men dead on the field of battle. At the approach of the rainy season, the allies returned to the siege of Ahmudnuggur. The army of Ram-raj encamped south of the fort, on the bank of the Sena river, when the rain having fallen very heavily in the hills, and the river swelling suddenly during the night, three hundred horses and a vast number of carriage cattle were drowned; besides which, no fewer than twenty officers of rank, and upwards of twenty-five thou­sand men of all descriptions, were swept away in the torrent. Ramraj, in consequence of this dis­aster, raised the siege, and moved towards the Carnatic; and Ally Adil Shah, following his ex­ample, marched to Nuldroog, to put that fort in a state of defence. When the allies reached the town of Ootgy, Ramraj, under the pretence of fo­raging, halted, and took that opportunity of plundering some of the Beejapoor and Golconda districts, and eventually obtained from both these princes a cession of territory before he retired to his capital.

Having placed Moortuza Khan Anjoo in the command of Nuldroog, Ally Adil Shah retreated to Beejapoor. His officers made frequent incur­sions into the Sholapoor district belonging to Hoossein Nizam Shah, who dreading an attack on the town sent thither one thousand bullock loads of grain, under a strong escort, to enable it to sustain a siege. Moortuza Khan of Nuldroog, obtaining intimation of this convoy, left his station with a large body of Bergy cavalry, and fell in with the Nizam Shahy detachment between Shola-poor and Purenda: an action ensued, in which the latter was defeated, with the loss of one hundred and fifty elephants. The Bergies, elated with success, began to plunder and spread over the country. Moortuza Khan sent the elephants to Beejapoor, and retired towards Nuldoorg. In the mean time the Nizam Shahies, having learnt from one of their own soldiers who had been taken and released by Moortuza Khan of the dispersed con­dition of his army, collected about two thousand horse, and pursuing the Adil Shahy troops, came suddenly upon Moortuza Khan, took him prisoner, and sent him to Ahmudnuggur. Hoossein Nizam Shah, still bent on supplying Sholapoor with the means of resistance, marched from Ahmudnuggur in person at the head of his army, and succeeded in throwing into the place twelve thousand loads of grain.

A. H. 972.
A. D. 1564. It was in the year 972 that the league was entered into by the four Maho-medan kings of Ahmudnuggur, Beeja-poor, Bidur, and Golconda, to crush the rising power of Ramraj, the Hindoo prince of Beeja-nuggur. The armies united and marched to the southward: they crossed the Krishna and en­camped on the Hookery river, situated twelve miles from the former. Ramraj marched to op­pose them at the head of seventy thousand cavalry and ninety thousand infantry, chiefly matchlock men, besides archers and artillery-men. The kings of the Deccan made overtures to him, promising the restitution of the districts they had taken from him on the march, in order to obtain peace, conceiving themselves unequal to cope with his formidable army. Ramraj, however, refused to listen to any accommodation; and having detached his brother Venkatadry, at the head of two hun­dred thousand infantry, twenty-five thousand ca­valry, and five hundred elephants, to oppose Ally Adil Shah on the left, and his other brother Yeltumraj, with twenty thousand horse, two hun­dred thousand infantry, and five hundred ele­phants, to oppose Ibrahim Kootb Shah and Ally Bereed on the right, himself remained in the centre with fifteen thousand chosen auxiliaries (supplied by the neighbouring rajas), one thousand ele­phants, and five hundred thousand infantry, to oppose the army of Hoossein Nizam Shah. He directed his soldiers to endeavour to take Ibrahim Kootb Shah and Ally Adil Shah prisoners, in order that he might keep them in iron cages during the rest of their lives; and he directed his own column, if possible, to bring him the head of Hoossein Ni­zam Shah.

The Mahomedan kings, despairing of coming to any terms with the enemy, resolved to fight desperately; and they thus disposed their troops: Ally Adil Shah was on the right, Hoossein Nizam Shah in the centre, and Ibrahim Kootb Shah and Ally Bereed on the left. Each of which divisions erected twelve standards in honour of the twelve Imams before proceeding to the attack. Hoossein Nizam Shah's front was covered by six hundred pieces of ordnance of different calibres. They were placed in three lines of two hundred each: in the first line were the heavy guns, in the second were the smaller, and the third line was composed of zumbooruks, or swivels; the whole commanded by Chuleby Roomy Khan, an officer of distinction from Asia Minor, who had served in Europe. In order to mask this disposition, two thousand foreign archers were thrown out in front, who kept up a heavy discharge on the enemy as he approached: these fell back as the Hindoos advanced, till they were close to the heavy battery, which opened upon them with such effect, that they retreated in confusion with dreadful loss. Recovering, however, from the panic, they rallied, and were induced to charge the guns a second time, after having received some money, and promises of more from Ramraj. The assault had now become general along the Maho-medan line, and the two flanks had already fallen back, when the guns in the centre were thus attacked. Chuleby Roomy Khan had provided bags of copper money to load with, should the enemy close; and these proved so destructive, that upwards of five thousand Hindoos were left dead close to the muzzles of the guns, before they retreated. The repulse of this charge seems to have decided the fate of the day: the confusion of the enemy was taken advantage of by Kishwur Khan Lary, an officer of the Beejapoor army attached to the centre, who, charging through the intervals of the guns with five thousand cavalry, pursued the enemy into the centre of Ramraj's line; where, in attempting to make his escape on foot, the Hindoo prince was overtaken by one of the Nizam Shahy elephants, which seized him in his trunk; and on being brought to Hoossein Nizam Shah, Ramraj was beheaded by that mo­narch's order, and his army fled to Beejanuggur. The details of the remaining events have been already related in the Adil Shahy history; suffice it to say, the country of Beejanuggur fell to the Mahomedan armies, and Hoossein Nizam Shah returned to Ahmudnuggur, where he died, shortly after, of a disorder brought on by excess. He left behind him four sons and four daughters. His death has been commemorated in the following words:—

“The sun of the Deccan has become obscured.”