The mutual quarrels, jealousies and dissension of the Deccan Muslim rulers had been fully exploited by the Vijayanagar ruler. Both Ahmadnagar and Golkonda had to cede some of their territories to appease him.
The prestige and power of the Vijayanagar ruler was greatly enhanced and he enjoyed a unique position in Deccan which rankled in the minds of the Muslim rulers of the region.
All of them were agreed that they should close their ranks and curb the power of the Hindu ruler. It seems that Ibrahim Qutb Shah and his minister Mustafa Khan played the role of intermediaries. Nizam Shah married his daughter Chand Bibi to Ali Adil Shah and gave the fort of Sholapur in dowry.
Ali Adil Shah married his sister to the son of Nizam Shah and gave another daughter in marriage to Ibrahim Qutb Shah. Thus the mutual relations were cemented by matrimonial alliances before they made preparations to face the Vijayanagar ruler.
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An easy excuse for the war was found when Ramaraj refused to return the forts of Yadgi, Bagalket, Raichur and Mudgul to Ali Adil Shah.’The combined armies of the four sultans reached Talikota about 22 miles north of Krishna and after negotiations for 33 days the rival forces fought the fateful battle on the open grounds of Bannhatti.
Ramaraj was defeated and taken prisoner. His head was cut off. Vijayanagar forces fled in panic. About one hundred thousand men lost their lives in the battle. According to Firishta, “the plunder was so great that every private man in the allied army became rich in gold, jewels, tents, arms, horses and slaves, the kings permitting every person to retain what acquired reserving the elephants only for their use”.
Roberts Swell in his “The Forgotten Empire” refers to the terrible sack of this magnificent city. “The third day saw the beginning of the end. . . .for a space of five months Vijayanagar had no rest.
The enemy had come to destroy, and they carried out the object relentlessly… .Never perhaps in the history of the world has such havoc been wrought, and wrought so suddenly, on so splendid a city, teeming with a wealthy and industrious population in the full plenitude of prosperity one day, and on the next, seized, pillaged and reduced to ruins, amid scenes of savage massacre and horrors beggaring description”. Husain had no doubt avenged his defeat.