INDIA AS THE PORTUGUESE FOUND IN 1498
When the Portuguese arrived in India in 1498, the Indian Subcontinent was undergoing what was called the Era of Three Empires/Era of Three Emperors. The Era of Three Emperors stretch back all the way to the 1370s. In 1372, a Shia rebellion in Pashto Lands, led by Shah Jafar Al-Tahir defeated his regional lords, and carved out his own Shiite state in the region. Instead of focusing on the rich Persian lands to the west, Al-Tahir focused on the lush Indian Subcontinent, and with his martial prowess, began to carve out his own Shiite Empire in the region. In 1442, his great-grandson, Manzur II declared himself to be the Shia Caliph - in the likeness of the Fatimid Caliphate of old, establishing a new Caliphate again, thus founding the Tahirid Caliphate. In 1392, Raja Jayastithi Malla was on a campaign of reuniting Nepal under the banner of the Malla Dynasty and his own personal faith - Vajrayana Buddhism. The Battle of Pyalpa ended in resounding Malla victory, allowing Jayasthiti Malla to reunite Nepal under his banner in 1398. In the 1420s, Nepala and the Tahirids allied with one another to bring down the Delhi Sultanate, succeeding where the past enemies of the Delhi Sultanate had failed. But this alliance was starting to collapse as new interests took hold of both governments. In the south, the Vijayanagara Empire defeated the ascendant Bahmani Sultanate in the 1460s, sweeping its power to the north as well. By the 1480s, most of India was divided along the three empires, and their satellite states in the subcontinent. As Vasco de Gama said upon returning to Portugal, "
India is in the Age of 3 Empires."
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