Some time afterwards, when the confederates returned from Ahmudnuggur, they marched to­wards Tulingana, and encamped at the village of Tarpully, situated at the distance of thirty-two miles from Golconda. From thence they detached Jugdew Row, Ein-ool-Moolk Geelany, and Ven-katadry, to lay waste the country. Ibrahim Kootb Shah deputed Mujahid Khan with a force to oppose them; and an action took place in the neighbourhood of Torkul, which lasted for several days without being decisive. Ramraj, at the same time, detached Sidraj Timapa, the Raja of Condbeer, with fifty thousand horse, against Condapilly and Masulipatum, and his son-in-law, Jotumraj, with twenty thousand horse, against Dewurconda and Indraconda, while his own forces were employed in plundering the neighbourhood of Golconda. Several skirmishes took place near the gardens of Ibrahim Shah and the village of Beejwara. Four months were occupied in these operations, till Jugdew Row induced the Naig-waries of Pangul, Kovilconda, and Gunpoora, to deliver up those forts to Ramraj. At the same time Kasy Row made over the keys of Indraconda.

On the south Sidraj Timapa attacked Conda-pilly, and Seetaputty and Vidiadry, from Raj-mundry, attacked the fort of Ellore. The King, thus confined to his capital, resolved to march out in person, and attack the confederates at Tarpully, when a messenger most opportunely arrived from Ally Bereed Shah, one of the confederates, propos­ing that Ibrahim Kootb Shah should send his mi­nister, Moostufa Khan, to camp, in order to nego­tiate a peace. Moostufa Khan received secret instructions to conciliate Jugdew Row, without whose good will he despaired of obtaining terms. Through his means Moostufa Khan obtained a conference with Ally Adil Shah, after which he accompanied that monarch to the tents of Ramraj, who agreed with reluctance to retreat to Beeja-nuggur, on condition of being allowed to retain the forts of Gunpoora and Pangul. The confede­racy now broke up, and the allies returned to their capitals.

When the King had thus gotten rid of his ene­mies, and reflected on the awkward situation in which he would have been placed if they had be­sieged him in his capital, which was incapable of defence, he resolved to rebuild the fort of Gol­conda with stone and mortar. The nobles were invited to construct palaces within the walls, and the King resolved in future to hold his court therein.

It has been already related that, during the late war, Jugdew Row had induced Kasy Row, the chief Naigwary of the fort of Indraconda, to seize it; on which occasion he placed Mowlana Ma-homed Momin, the governor, in confinement. The King, therefore, deputed Moostufa Khan, with ten thousand cavalry, and twenty thousand infantry, to retake that place. The besiegers were, in the first instance, compelled to cut away the woods by which Indraconda was surrounded, after which they carried on regular approaches; but it was two months before practicable breaches were effected, when it was stormed and carried. Kasy Row, being taken prisoner, was beheaded on the spot, and the imprisoned governor released; after which, Moostufa Khan returned to the capital, and was honoured with titles, and raised to the office of peshwa. The King resolved, by degrees, to reduce the power of the Naigwaries, who, it ap­peared, had been concerned in the late rebellion with Kasy Row. Sooria Row, the commandant of the Naigwaries in the fort of Golconda, discovering the King's intention, entered into a plot with the Naigwary chiefs intrusted with the command of the different garrisons; by whom it was resolved that, on a concerted signal, when the King should go out to hunt in the country, they should secure all the forts, and Sooria Row seize the treasure at the capital, and put all the Mahomedans to the sword. This plot was communicated to Ramraj, who engaged to send a force to aid in the project. Accordingly, when the hunting season came on, the King gave orders for his troops and camp to be pitched on the plain, and left Golconda, about two o'clock in the morning, to proceed to his camp, and make his first movement. As soon as he had quitted the fort, the gates were closed, and the Naigwaries began to attack the Mahomedans. Two of the latter made their escape, and informed the King of the circumstance, who ordered the troops with him to invest the fort. The mutineers at daylight, seeing the whole of the army around the fort, appeared upon the ramparts, and said that they were willing to return to their duty, if the King would give up his minister, Moos-tufa Khan, whom they accused of maltreating the Naigwaries of the out-garrisons ever since his accession to power, saying they were afraid that the same treatment might fall to their own lot. The King sent for Moostufa Khan, and related to him the state of affairs brought on during his ad­ministration. The minister replied, that if the King thought his death necessary for the good of the state, he was ready to surrender himself into the hands of the mutineers. The King refused to accede to the demand of the Naigwaries, who after some days, with Sooria Row at their head, were compelled to give in; on which occasion every one of them was executed, as an example to the dis­affected Naigwaries in the other garrisons.

During the period that the confederate armies were encamped at Tarpully, the fort of Ellore had been attacked by Vidiadry; but Dilawur Khan the governor resisted all the efforts of the enemy, and reported his situation to court. The King now sent a reinforcement of two thousand infantry to his assistance, and authorised him, after repulsing the besiegers, to build a fort at the town of Neerdole.

Sometime after its completion, Dilawur Khan wrote to court, recommending that troops might be employed against Rajmundry, a town situated only eight miles distant. The King ordered Ruf-fut Khan Lary, entitled Mullik Naib, with ten thousand horse, to march to Ellore, in order to be ready to attack Rajmundry. On hearing of his arrival at Neerdole, Vidiadry and Seetaputty sent to summon the rajas of Cosimcota and others in the neighbourhood to their aid. These, collecting two thousand cavalry, one hundred thousand in­fantry, and two thousand musketeers and rocket-men, marched against the Mahomedans. An ac­tion ensued, which terminated in the death of the Raja of Oorconda, and the defeat of the Hin-doos, who with Vidiadry and Seetaputty fled to the fort of Rajmundry, whither they were pur­sued by the Mahomedans as far as Dhowly-swur, within four miles of that fort. Dhowly-swur * was shortly after taken by storm; and the heavy baggage of the army being left therein, the Mahomedans proceeded to reduce the fort of Tatpak†, * then in possession of Nursing Row, a powerful zemindar in that part of the country. In consequence of the depth of the ditch a whole month was employed in the attack of this place, when Nursing Row, at the head of two or three thousand cavalry, and ten thousand infantry, sal­lied out, and attacked the Mahomedans, but he was taken prisoner, and his party totally routed. When the King heard of the capture of Nursing Row, he sent orders to the army to fall back, and to remain during the rains at Dhowlyswur; after which Ruffut Khan again proceeded to the attack of Tatpak, which was reduced, as well as all the surrounding districts of Rajmundry, when the army received orders to return to the capital, and to leave trusty Naigwaries in charge of the several forts which were taken.

Ibrahim Kootb Shah now took into consider­ation the danger which threatened the Mahomedan kings by the frequent interference of Ramraj. During the late wars he had not only laid waste the country of Hoossein Nizam Shah, and pol­luted the musjids by appropriating them to the use of his cattle and of his soldiers, but on his return he had plundered the districts of both his allies. Ibrahim Kootb Shah, therefore, thought the present a favourable moment to rouse the other kings of the Deccan, and by a confederacy against Ramraj, either to destroy his power, or to curtail it so as to leave no cause for future apprehension from him. The greatest difficulty in this plan was to persuade the kings of Ahmudnuggur and Beejapoor to unite for this purpose. To this end Ibrahim Kootb Shah deputed his prime minister, Moostufa Khan, to the court of Hoossein Nizam Shah, and from thence directed him to proceed to the court of Ally Adil Shah, at Beejapoor. The avowed object of the mission was, in the first instance, to effect a recon­ciliation between those princes, and, if possible, to form some family connection between them: at the same time the ambassador was directed to ascertain how a confederacy against Ramraj would be viewed by these kings. Moostufa Khan succeeded so well, that he not only brought about the reconciliation, but it was agreed, that Hoossein Nizam Shah should give his daughter, Chand Beeby, in marriage to Ally Adil Shah, with the fort of Sholapoor as her dowry; and the latter consented to give his sister, Hudeea Sooltana to the Prince Moortuza, the eldest son of Hoossein Nizam Shah; after which it was resolved that the three kings should meet at the fort of Sholapoor, and from thence proceed with their united forces against Ramraj. Accordingly, on

Jumad-ool-
Awul 20.
A. H. 972.
Dec. 26.
A. D. 1564.

the 20th of Jumad-ool-Awul, A. H. 972, the combined armies moved to the south, and arrived without opposition at the town of Talikote, near the river Krishna; while Ramraj, summoning all his dependents and rajas from the banks of the Krishna, as far as the island of Ceylon, brought together a force consisting of one hundred thou­sand horse, and three hundred thousand in­fantry, and marched to oppose the confederates.