Wehn Muhammad turned his attention towards Vijayanagar. He provoked a war by asking Raja Bukka to pay for the wages of 300 singers who had come all the way from Delhi at the marriage of Sarf-ud-din Ghuri’s daughter. Bukka was greatly infuriated at this insult and invaded the Bahmani kingdom, defeated their army and captured Mudkal.

But the Sultan mustered courage and with fresh reinforcements compelled the Vijayanagar forces to leave his dominions. He advanced further to the capital but had to retreat as guerilla forces intercepted his line of communication. Eventually peace was concluded and the Raja agreed to pay the wages of the singers.

The wars between the Bahmanis and Vijayanagar, as mentioned earlier were not prompted by religion as observed by some historians but were due to “political and economic factors which led even in the Hindu period the age­long struggles between the powers who occupied the two sides of the Krishna-Tungabhadra line such as the Chalukyas and the Pallavas, the Rashtrakutas and the Cholas, etc.” After the termination of this war, Muhammad ruled in peace till his death on 21 April 1375.