Vijayanagar prevails

[Flocculencio]

The city of Vijayanagar was founded in 1336 and became the capital of the greatest South Indian Empire in history. It ruled directly and indirectly most of India South of the Deccan.
For much of its history, the Empire fought against the various Muslim sultanates which ruled the Deccan. These four sultanates finally made common cause and delivered a crushing defeat to Vijayanagar at the battle of Talikota in 1565. The empire finally collapsed in 1614, brought down by the combined weight of its Northern adversaries. However, the war against Vijayanagar weakened the Deccan sultanates to the extent that they were soon absorbed by the Mughal Empire.

Lets say that the Rajas of Vijayanagar manage to play the Sultanates off one against the other engaging in a constant game of brinkmanship ensuring that no one gets too powerful in the Deccan. Unlike many Hindu states, Vijayanagar had abandoned the reliance on elephants in favour of cavalry along the lines of the Muslims although good bloodstock was hard to obtain. Let's also say that Arab traders were able to import sufficient horses to fill the demand so that Vijayanagar's armies are powerful enough to maintain their edge in the constant skirmishing on the Northern front.

So what we have around the beginning of the 17th century is a growing Mughal Empire in North India, bickering sultanates in the Deccan and a reasonably strong Hindu Empire with a tradition of political manouvering. The Portugese are already on the scene and the Dutch and English aren't far behind.

What happens now?