The Battle of Talikota (23 January 1565) was a watershed battle fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and an alliance of the Deccan sultanates. The defeat of Aliya Rama Raya led to the eventual collapse of the polity and reconfigured Deccan politics.The specific details of the battle and its immediate aftermath are notoriously difficult to reconstruct in light of the distinctly contrarian narratives present across primary sources. Defeat is usually blamed on the gap in relative military prowess. Orientalist and nationalist historians asserted of the battle to be a civilization-clash between Hindus and Muslims; this view has since penetrated into the Hindutva discourse. Contemporary scholars reject such characterizations as flawed.