The story of this terrible disaster travelled apace to the city of Vijayanagar.The inhabitants,unconscious of danger,were living in utter ignorance that any serious reverse had taken place;for their leaders had marched out with countless numbers in their train,and had been full of confidence as to the result.Suddenly,however,came the bad news.The army was defeated;the chiefs slain;the troops in retreat.But still they did not grasp the magnitude of the reverse;on all previous occasions the enemy had been either driven back,or bought off with presents from the overstocked treasury of the kings.There was little fear,therefore,for the city itself.That surely was safe!But now came the dejected soldiers hurrying back from the fight,and amongst the foremost the panic-stricken princes of the royal house.Within a few hours these craven chiefs hastily left the palace,carrying with them all the treasures on which they could lay their hands.Five hundred and fifty elephants,laden with treasure in gold,diamonds,and precious stones valued at more than a hundred millions sterling,and carrying the state insignia and the celebrated jewelled throne of the kings,left the city under convoy of bodies of soldiers who remained true to the crown.King Sadasiva was carried off by his jailor,Tirumala,now sole regent since the death of his brothers;and in long line the royal family and their followers fled southward towards the fortress of Penukonda.
Then a panic seized the city.The truth became at last apparent.This was not a defeat merely,it was a cataclysm.All hope was gone.The myriad dwellers in the city were left defenceless.No retreat,no flight was possible except to a few,for the pack-oxen and carts had almost all followed the forces to the war,and they had not returned.Nothing could be done but to bury all treasures,to arm the younger men,and to wait.Next day the place became a prey to the robber tribes and jungle people of the neighbourhood.Hordes of Brinjaris,Lambadis,Kurubas,and the like,[331]pounced down on the hapless city and looted the stores and shops,carrying off great quantities of riches.Couto states that there were six concerted attacks by these people during the day.