VIJAYANAGARA EMPIRE

1. Context 

2. About the Vijayanagara kingdom

• The Vijayanagara kingdom has long been a subject of historical and political interest.
• From their capital, now known as Hampi, on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, the Kings of Vijayanagara at the peak of their power ruled over a territory of more than 3, 60, 000 sq. km.
• Founded in 1336, the kingdom of Vijayanagara lasted for more than three centuries a period in which it withstood multiple political stresses and saw significant advances in art and economy.

3. Most powerful kingdoms in the sub-continent

• Throughout its existence from 1336 to 1646, the kingdom saw various ups and downs.
• Founded by Harihara I of the Sangama Dynasty, Vijayanagara expanded from a strategic position on the banks of the Tungabhadra River.
• By the 15th century, it had become a force to reckon with.
• The Kingdom reached its peak under Krishna Deva Raya (reign 1509-1529) a period in which it enjoyed military superiority over its rival kingdoms such as the Bahmani Sultanate, the Golconda Sultanate and the Gajapatis of Odisha.
• At its peak, the kingdom stretched from Goa on the Konkan coast to parts of southern Odisha in the east and to the very tip of the subcontinent in the south.

4. The economy of the kingdom

• The foundations of the kingdom rested on its thriving trade and a monetised economy.
  While the economy of the kingdom was largely dependent on agriculture, trade thrived in its many ports on either coast.
• Traveller Abd al-Razzaq Samarqandi chronicled how "the ports of Mangalore, Honavar, Bhatkal, Barkur, Cochin, Cannanore, Machilipatnam and Dharmadam saw traders from Africa, Arabia, Aden, the Red Sea, China and Bengal and also served as shipbuilding centres".

• Razzaq also chronicled the high degree of monetisation in the Vijayanagara kingdom.
• In his classic History of South India, K A Nilakanta Sastri wrote that coins were minted by the state as well as by merchant guilds using gold, silver, copper and brass and their value depended on material weight.

5. Vijayanagar's contributions to culture and architecture

• Vijayanagar's contributions to culture and architecture were very significant.
• This was a period when poetry and scholarship flourished, both in sacral and secular contexts.
• Literature in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, as well as Sanskrit, was produced in the kingdom, with new writing styles and methods emerging.
• In architecture, Vijayanagara saw various enduring constructions.
• According to art historian Percy Brown, Vijayanagara architecture is a vibrant combination and the blossoming of the Chalukya, Hoysala, Pandya and Chola styles, idioms that prospered in previous centuries.
• The Prasanna Virupaksha Temple of Bukka I and the Hazara Rama Temple of Krishna Deva Raya are striking examples of Vijayanagara's characteristic style and intricate artistry.

6. Vijayanagara's capital Hampi

• Vijayanagara's capital Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site today, known for its sophisticated fortifications as well as innumerable temples and other architectural marvels.
• From accounts of foreign travellers, by the beginning of the 16th century, Hampi-Vijayanagara was probably the second-largest urban settlement on the planet (after Beijing) and among the most prosperous.

7. The last bastion of Hindu rule in the South

• A lasting theme in Vijayanagara's historiography has been its characterisation as "a Hindu bulwark against Muhammadan conquests".
• From Robert Sewell's classic A Forgotten Empire (1900) to Nilakanta Sastri's 1955 magnum opus, this characterisation has persisted over the years and has been influential in the writing of the story of Vijayanagara.
• The dreaded invaders reached the Krishna River the Hindus to their south, stricken with terror, combined and gathered in haste to the new standard of Vijayanagara which alone seemed to offer some hope of protection.
• The decayed old states crumbled away into nothingness and the fighting kings of Vijayanagara became the saviours of the south for two and a half centuries.
• Vijayanagara has been remembered as an era of "cultural conservatism", when classical forms of Hinduism were preserved amidst the growing Islamization of the rest of the subcontinent, especially the North.

For Prelims & Mains