numerous army and the extent of his dominions, was the greatest and
most powerful of all the rulers of Telingana and Vijayanagar," and who
"had established himself in the midst of the countries of Kanara and
Telingana, and taken possession of most of the districts of the coast
and interior of Vijayanagar."

While at Malur the Sultan was informed that "at a distance of fifty
farsakhas from his camp was a city called Ganji," containing temples,
&c., to which he promptly marched, arriving before the place on 13th
March A.D. 1481.[162] He sacked the city and returned.

After this the Sultan went to Masulipatam, which he reduced, and thence
returned to Kondapalle. This was his last success. His cold-blooded
murder of the celebrated Mahmud Gawan, his loyal and faithful servant,
in 1481, so disgusted the nobles that in a short time the kingdom
was dismembered, the chiefs revolted, the dynasty was overthrown,
and five independent kingdoms were raised on its ruins.

Muhammad Shah died on 21st March. A.D. 1482. Shortly before his death
he planned an expedition to relieve Goa from a Vijayanagar army which
"Sewaroy, Prince of Beejanuggur," had sent there (Firishtah); but
the Sultan's death put a stop to this (BURHAN-I MAASIR).

We have some further information on the affairs of Kulbarga during
the reign of Muhammad Shah in the writings of the Russian traveller
Athanasius Nikitin, but it is very difficult to fix the exact date
of his sojourn there. Nikitin was a native of Twer, and set out on
his wanderings by permission of the Grand Duke Michael Borissovitch,
and his own bishop, Gennadius. This fixes the time of his start so
far that it must have taken place subsequent to 1462, and the author