Vijayanagar: A powerhouse of southern India poised either for conquest of the sub continent or trade with East Asia and around Africa to Europe.
At no point was Vijaynagar ever in a position to conquer the subcontinent. Ever. Of that I assure you.
Don't let its wealth, population or strategic position fool you. In the majority of Vijaynagar's tangles with the Gulbaraga Sultanate and its later Bahamani successor sultanates Vijaynagar was consistently defeated, it's army destroyed, land pillaged, and forced to pay tribute.
In fact there is an account of one of the Raya's (I think it was Rama Raya) of Vijaynagar whose name escapes me lamenting that very fact. He asks his councilors why despite having a wealthier land with many rich ports, despite his larger population, despite his larger army, that he has been defeated in his latest war and forced to pay tribute.
The reply is that the Sultanates have a large force of most excellent Muslim archers, they command a force of gunpowder artillery and musketmen (many imported from Central Asia which was famous for its cannons) lacked by Vijaynagar, and their superb cavalry is far superior to what Vijaynagar holds, who is by the way forced to import horses through Goa from Arab traders, and the port frequently switched hands between Vijaynagar and Bijapur before the Portugese finally established themselves in it. Also Vijaynagar commanders tended to err on the side of caution and restrained themselves from daring attacks while the more mobile Muslim forces and their commanders generally tended to be far more willing to take the offensive and launch risky attacks. The Vijaynagar forces would find themselves frequently being cut off by Muslim cavalry or having their camp attacked in a night assault or such similar situations. What often saved them from utter disaster was the sheer size of Vijaynagar armies which were quite massive numbering at least a 100,000 or more.
So in summation, while economics may appear to be on Vijaynagar's side don't make the mistake of thinking that translated into great military power. Vijaynagar in the majority of its wars was forced on the defensive, not the offense. And most of its wars was on a small scale, Vijaynagar never attempted grand conquests or advances, most fighting was restricted to a few key forts on the border like Raichur, and an area between the Krishna and Tungabadhra River known as the Doab.
Vijayanagar I guess, to keep away from European Bohemeths while I have little, but enough, spare time.
Another myth. At this point there was little to no gap with the Europeans, in fact the Indian kingdoms were more powerful. The Portuguese lost Goa several times to the forces of Bijapur, and had the Christians there massacred several times.
The Europeans will not be a serious existential threat to any Indian kingdom for several hundred years. The Indian kingdoms are wealthier, more populous, have larger armies, and so forth.
Any European trading posts that they will want to establish will need the permission of Indian kingdoms. Remember that British didn't take Bombay by force, it was leased to them by the Mughals, and a similar situation with the trading ports established in Bengal and so forth. If any Indian power at this point decides it no longer wants Europeans there's very little they could do about it.
