The Vijayanagara Empire
The present states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, and certain areas of Telangana and Maharashtra were all under the dominion of the Vijayanagara Empire, which ruled over a large portion of South India. The brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, who belonged to a pastoralist cowherd group with Yadava ancestry, founded it in 1336.
By the end of the 13th century, attempts by the southern nations to repel Muslim invasions had culminated in the empire's rise to prominence. It became a significant force when, at its height, it drove the sultans of the Deccan beyond the Tungabhadra-Krishna River doab area, subdued nearly all of South India's leading families, and annexed the Gajapati Kingdom (Odisha) till the Krishna River.
It survived until 1646. However, its might waned after being soundly defeated by the combined troops of the Deccan sultanates in the Battle of Talikota in 1565. The empire is named after Vijayanagara, whose remains surround modern-day Hampi, now a World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India. Vijayanagara was the kingdom's capital city.
Domingo Paes, Ferno Nunes, and Niccol de' Conti were among the medieval European travellers who visited and wrote about the kingdom due to its richness and reputation.
The monuments left behind by the empire may be found all across South India, with the Hampi group being the most well-known. The Vijayanagara architectural style was created by combining several temple-building traditions from South and Central India. Hindu temples were built using innovative architectural designs as a result of this fusion.
Origin of the Vijayanagara Empire
According to the ancestry of the Vijayanagara Empire, two theories have been put forth. One of them claims that the Hoysala Empire's founders, Harihara I and Bukka I, were Kannadiga commanders stationed in the Tungabhadra area to fend off Muslim incursions from Northern India. Another story holds that following the collapse of the Hoysala Empire, the Telugu people known as Harihara and Bukkaraya acquired control of the northern regions. Originally connected to the Kakatiya Kingdom. They were thought to have been taken prisoner by Ulugh Khan's forces in Warangal.
But the commonly believed historical fact is that the Hoysala, Kakatiya, and Yadava Hindu kingdoms were succeeded by the Vijayanagara Kingdom, which was established in 1336 CE. This added another layer of opposition to the Muslim conquests of South India.
By 1336, the forces of Sultans Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad bin Tughluq of the Delhi Sultanate had conquered the upper Deccan area, which includes modern-day Maharashtra and Telangana.
Reign of the Vijayanagara Empire
Harihara I attained the title of "master of the eastern and western seas" in the first two decades following the establishment of the empire and took control over the majority of the region south of the Tungabhadra River.
Bukka Raya I, Harihara I's successor, conquered the Arcot chiefdom, the Reddys of Kondavidu, and the Sultan of Madurai by 1374. He also took control of Goa in the west and the Tungabhadra-Krishna River doab in the north. The principality of Anegondi, on the northern banks of the Tungabhadra River in present-day Karnataka, served as the empire's first capital. During the reign of Bukka Raya I, it was relocated to Vijayanagara where it was simpler to defend against the Muslim armies that were relentlessly attacking from the North.
The Vijayanagara Empire saw the rise and fall of 4 dynasties. These were the 4 dynasties that may be equally credited for the development and growth of the empire. These are:
- Sangama Dynasty
- Saluva Dynasty
- Tuluva Dynasty
- Aravidu Dynasty
During Krishna Deva Raya's reign, the empire attained its pinnacle of glory as Vijayanagara armies consistently prevailed. In addition to its already established position in the southern Deccan, the empire seized land in the northern Deccan that had previously belonged to the Sultanates. King Krishna Deva Raya oversaw the construction of a large number of significant monuments.
In 1529, Krishna Deva Raya was replaced by Achyuta Deva Raya, his younger half-brother. When Achyuta Deva Raya passed away in 1542, Rama Raya, Krishna Deva Raya's son-in-law, took over as caretaker. Sadashiva Raya, Achyuta Raya's teenage nephew, was subsequently crowned king. Rama Raya kept Sadashiva Raya almost a prisoner and took over as de facto king once he was mature enough to press his claim to the throne. He referred to himself as the "Sultan of the World" and recruited Muslim generals for his army through his prior diplomatic relationships with the Sultanates.
After coming together, the Deccan sultanates to the north of Vijayanagara assaulted Rama Raya's army at the Battle of Talikota in January 1565.
The Sultanate cavalry rode swift Persian horses, had fifteen to sixteen-foot-long spears that gave them more reach, and their archers used metal crossbows that let them shoot farther. In contrast, the Vijayanagara army relied on lumbering war elephants, a cavalry riding largely locally bred inferior horses, and archers using conventional bamboo bows with limited range.
Rama Raya was seized by the generals, who decapitated him, and Sultan Hussain filled the severed skull with straw so it could be shown. After Rama Raya was beheaded, the Vijayanagara army was in chaos and was completely defeated. Hampi was looted and degraded to the dilapidated state it is in today by the army of the Sultanates.
Following Rama Raya's demise, Tirumala Deva Raya established the Aravidu dynasty, established Penukonda as a replacement for the destroyed Hampi, and made an effort to rebuild the Vijayanagara Empire. The remainder of Tirumala's empire was divided among his three sons upon his abdication in 1572. The Aravidu dynasty's successors dominated the area, but the empire was destroyed in conflicts with the Bijapur sultanate and others, leading to its downfall in 1614 and the eventual dissolution in 1646. More South Indian kingdoms, such as the Nayakas of Chitradurga, Keladi Nayaka, Mysore Kingdom, Nayak Kingdom of Gingee, Nayaks of Tanjore, and Nayaks of Madurai, attained independence and split from Vijayanagara during this time.
Governance in Vijayanagara Empire
The Hoysala, Kakatiya, and Pandya kingdoms, who were the rulers of the Vijayanagara Empire at the time, continued to use the administrative techniques they had devised. The King served as the supreme power and was aided by the prime minister-led Pradhana cabinet of ministers.
The empire was split into five main provinces (Rajya), each of which was governed by a commander (Dandanayaka or Dandanatha) and had a governor in charge who frequently came from the royal family and conducted business in the local tongue.
A Rajya was further split into counties (Nadu), which were then further divided into municipalities (Vishaya, Vente, or Kottam).
The soldiers were commanded by the king's generals on the field of combat. Large-scale invasions were a rarity in the empire's military strategy; instead, forts were frequently attacked and destroyed on a smaller scale. The empire used long-range artillery, which was frequently manned by foreign gunners, among the first in India. Over 900 elephants, 20,000 cavalries, and 100,000 infantries made up King Krishnadevaraya's army. Over 1.1 million soldiers were said to make up the entire army, with estimates of up to 2 million. A Navigadaprabhu (commander of the navy) also oversaw the navy. The elephants had blades hooked to their tusks to deal the most damage possible in battle, and the horses and elephants were both completely armoured.
Water supply systems built to channel and store water were necessary for the capital city to maintain a steady supply throughout the year. Huge tanks built by workmen are described in modern documents and tourist notes from abroad. To channel river water into irrigation tanks, canals were created in the thriving agricultural regions close to the Tungabhadra River. Smaller tanks were supported by affluent persons to achieve social and religious honour, while large tanks in the capital city were built with royal sponsorship.
Views of the chroniclers
The Vijayanagara Empire also received chroniclers from all over the world and has been mentioned in various important chronicles and literature texts of the world.
According to Niccol de' Conti, an Italian trader and traveller who visited Hampi in the year 1420, the city had a fortified perimeter that was around 60 miles (97 km) in diameter, and it had villages and farms. Abdul Razzaq, a visitor from Persia in 1442, described it as a city with seven tiers of forts, with the outer layers being used for housing, agriculture, and crafts, and the third through seventh layers being extremely congested with stores and bazaars (markets).
Domingo Paes, a Portuguese traveller from Portuguese Goa, visited Vijayanagara in 1520 as part of a trading delegation. He described Vijayanagara as being "as large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight... the best-provided city in the world" in his autobiography ‘Chronica dos reis de Bisnaga’.
In his book Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, historian Will Durant recounts the capture and fall of Vijayanagara and describes it as a depressing narrative. "Its evident moral is that civilization is a precarious thing, whose delicate complex of order and liberty, culture and peace" may at any time be destroyed by conflict and fierce violence, the author argues.
The architecture of the Vijayanagara Empire
The renowned building style known as Vijayanagara architecture was built between 1336 and 1565 CE while the imperial Hindu Vijayanagara Empire was in power. In South India, the empire erected temples, monuments, palaces, and other buildings, with its capital having the greatest concentration. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hampi is in the Vijayanagara principality and is known for its structures.
The empire not only constructed new temples but also added new features and altered hundreds of existing temples throughout South India. Before the Vijayanagara era, the area around Hampi had long been a well-liked site of worship. The earliest records date to 689 CE, when it was known as Pampa Tirtha after the local river God Pampa.
In the centre of the capital city, there are hundreds of monuments. Of these, 56 are under UNESCO protection, 654 are under Karnataka government protection, and another 300 are awaiting protection.
Since no structures from the royal palaces have survived, most of what is currently known about the Vijayanagara dynasty palaces comes from excavations at Hampi. The majority of palaces are surrounded by high, tapering walls built of stone or layered earth. Palaces are accessed by a series of courtyards with doors and tunnels needing several direction changes. All palaces have an east or north-facing side. The structure is symmetrical because of the side additions on the bigger palaces.
Typically, Islamic influences can be seen in secular styles found in courtly architecture. The palace Lotus Mahal, the elephant stables, and the watchtowers are a few examples. Mortar mixed with stone shards was used to construct courtly constructions and dome-shaped buildings.
