Vijayanagara

This article is about a ruined city in India. For the 14th to 16th century empire, see Vijayanagara Empire. For the district in Karnataka, see Vijayanagara district. For the city in Coastal Andhra, see Vizianagaram. For other uses, see Vijaynagar (disambiguation).

Vijayanagara
City
Virupaksha Temple, Vijayanagara, Karnataka
Virupaksha Temple, Vijayanagara, Karnataka
Vijayanagara is located in Karnataka
Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara
Location in Karnataka, India
Vijayanagara is located in India
Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara (India)
Coordinates: 15°16′08″N 76°23′27″E / 15.2689°N 76.3909°E / 15.2689; 76.3909
Country India
StateKarnataka
DistrictVijayanagara
Founded byHarihara I and Bukka
Named forCity of Victory
Groups of Monuments at Hampi
UNESCO World Heritage Site
LocationHampi (City), Vijayanagara district, Karnataka, India[1]
IncludesVirupaksha Temple
CriteriaCultural: i, iii, iv
Reference241
Inscription1986 (10th Session)
Endangered1999–2006
Area4,187.24 ha
Buffer zone19,453.62 ha
WebsiteArchaeological Survey of India – Hampi
Coordinates15°20′04″N 76°27′44″E / 15.33444°N 76.46222°E / 15.33444; 76.46222
Vijayanagara is located in Karnataka
Vijayanagara
Location of Hampi
Vijayanagara is located in India
Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara (India)

Vijayanagara (transl. 'City of Victory') was a city at the modern location of Hampi, in the Indian state of Karnataka.[2] Vijayanagara was the capital city of the historic Vijayanagara Empire.[2] Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included sites in the Vijayanagara district, the Ballari district, and others around these districts. A part of Vijayanagara ruins known as the Group of Monuments at Hampi has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[3]

Hampi, an ancient human settlement mentioned in Hindu texts, houses pre-Vijayanagara temples and monuments.[4] In the early 14th century, the dominant Kakatiyas, Seuna Yadavas, Hoysalas, and the short-lived Kampili kingdom, who inhabited the Deccan region, were invaded and plundered by armies of Khalji and later Tughlaq dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate.[5]

Vijayanagara was founded from these ruins by the Sangama brothers, who were working as soldiers in the Kampili Kingdom under Kampalidevaraya.[2][5][6] The city grew rapidly. The Vijayanagara-centred empire functioned as a barrier to the Muslim sultanates in the north, leading to the reconstruction of Hindu life and scholarship, multi-religious activity, rapid infrastructure improvements, and economic activity.[2][7][8] Along with Hinduism, Vijayanagara accepted communities of other faiths such as Jainism and Islam, leading to multi-religious monuments and mutual influences.[9][10] Chronicles left by Persian and European travellers state Vijayanagara to be a prosperous and wealthy city.

By 1500 CE, Hampi-Vijayanagara was the world's second largest medieval era city (after Beijing) and probably India's richest at that time, attracting traders from Persia and Portugal.[11][12]

Wars between nearby Muslim Sultanates and Hindu Vijayanagara continued, however, through the 16th century. In 1565, the Vijayanagara leader Aliya Rama Raya was captured and killed,[13][14] and the city fell to a coalition of Muslim Sultanates of the Deccan Plateau. The conquered capital city of Vijayanagara was looted and destroyed for 6 months, after which it remained in ruins.[3][15][16]

  1. ^ Buradikatti, Kumar (19 November 2020). "Ballari set to lose Hampi and more". The Hindu.
  2. ^ a b c d Vijayanagara, Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. ^ a b Anila Verghese 2002, pp. 1–18
  4. ^ Fritz & Michell 2016, pp. 12–33, 66–69.
  5. ^ a b David M. Knipe (2015). Vedic Voices: Intimate Narratives of a Living Andhra Tradition. Oxford University Press. pp. 38–39. ISBN 978-0-19-026673-8.
  6. ^ Burton Stein (1989). The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara. Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0-521-26693-2.
  7. ^ Verghese, Anila; Eigner, Dieter (1998). "A Monastic Complex in Vithalapura, Hampi Vijayanagara". South Asian Studies. 14 (1): 127–140. doi:10.1080/02666030.1998.9628555.
  8. ^ Fritz, John M. (1986). "Vijayanagara: Authority and Meaning of a South Indian Imperial Capital". American Anthropologist. 88 (1): 44–55. doi:10.1525/aa.1986.88.1.02a00030. S2CID 143926888.
  9. ^ Fritz & Michell 2016, pp. 77–81, 97.
  10. ^ Catherine B Asher (1985), Islamic Influence and the Architecture of Vijayanagara, in A. L. Dallapiccola et al (Eds), Vijayanagara: City and Empire— New Currents of Research, Weisbaden: Steiner Verlag, pp. 188-95
  11. ^ Michael C. Howard (2011). Transnationalism and Society: An Introduction. McFarland. pp. 77–78. ISBN 978-0-7864-8625-0.
  12. ^ Nicholas F. Gier (2014). The Origins of Religious Violence: An Asian Perspective. Lexington. pp. 11–14. ISBN 978-0-7391-9223-8., Quote: "In its peak of glory, ca. 1500, with a population of about 500,000 and sixty square miles in area, Vijayanagara was the second largest city in the world behind Beijing."
  13. ^ Hermann Kulke; Dietmar Rothermund (2004). A History of India. Routledge. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-415-32920-0., Quote: "When battle was joined in January 1565, it seemed to be turning in favor of Vijayanagara - suddenly, however, two Muslim generals of Vijayanagara changes sides. Rama Raya was taken prisoner and immediately beheaded."
  14. ^ Eaton 2006, pp. 98, Quote: "Husain (...) ordered him beheaded on the spot, and his head stuffed with straw (for display).".
  15. ^ Fritz & Michell 2016, pp. 11–23.
  16. ^ Lycett, Mark T.; Morrison, Kathleen D. (2013). "The Fall of Vijayanagara Reconsidered: Political Destruction and Historical Construction in South Indian History 1". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 56 (3): 433–470. doi:10.1163/15685209-12341314.