Most of the generals and officers of the Sultan of Delhi had been defeated and driven away from the South. But some of them had remained behind and they were trying to build for themselves independent kingdoms. One such adventurer was Allauddin Hassan Bahamani. He founded a New Kingdom in 1346 at Kalburgi (Gulburga of today), north of the river Krishna. It became famous as the Bahamani Kingdom.

The Bahamani kings were adventurous. Their ambition was to capture the whole of 
South India. Particularly ambitious was Mohammed Shah, one of the Bahamani kings. Bukkaraya was wise enough to understand the danger from this king and developed friendship with the King of Warangal. Mohammed Shah invaded Vijayanagar thrice and all the three times, ran away completely defeated. But he and his successors put up a continuous struggle to capture and land between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra.

The war with Mohammed Shah taught Bukka a lesson; these was that he should always be alert and ready and that he should expand his army and equip it well. There were some kings under him who made a show of faithfulness towards him but were really unfaithful. Bukka had to bring them under his control. In the South, the Sultan's officers were again raising their heads after the death of Veera Ballala. They had to be checked. Madurai was to be saved. Bukkaraya planned to achieve all these things at one stroke. He decided to build a very huge army, unheard of in the South at any time.