son of Chaicha, minister of Bukka II. His name appears on a pillar
in a Jain temple near Kamalapura at Vijayanagar in an inscription
bearing date A.D. 1385; which proves that the king was tolerant in
religious matters. There seems also to have been a general named
Gunda living in his reign, but his date is uncertain.[76] According
to another inscription,[77] King Harihara early in his reign expelled
the Muhammadans from Goa; and the last inscription of his reign at
present discovered[78] mentions that one Bachanna Udaiyar was then
governor of that place.

The king's wife, or one of his principal wives, was Malladevi, or
Mallambika. The extent of his domination is shown by the fact that
inscriptions of his reign are found in Mysore, Dharwar, Conjeeveram,
Chingleput, and Trichinopoly.[79] He was a worshipper of Siva under
the form Virupaksha, but appears to have been singularly tolerant
of other religions. The latest actual date of the reign afforded by
inscriptions is October 15, A.D. 1399.[80]

Ghias-ud-din, a boy of seventeen, eldest son of the late Sultan Mahmud,
had succeeded his father on the throne of Kulbarga; but on June 14,
1397,[81] he was treacherously blinded during an entertainment by an
ambitious slave, after a reign of only one month and twenty days. His
younger brother, Shams-ud-din, was then placed on the throne, but after
a reign of five months was blinded and deposed by his cousin Firuz,
second son of the late Sultan Daud. Firuz was by birth undoubtedly of
the elder branch, and he became one of the most celebrated monarchs
of his line, ascending the throne on November 15, A.D. 1397.[82] He
must have then been well advanced in years, as Firishtah says he was
"old" in A.D. 1419.