NCERT Textbook - An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara | History Class 12 - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

 Page 1


 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II 170
An Imperial Capital
Vijayanagara
( ( ( ( (c c c c c. fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century)
Vijayanagara or “city of victory” was the name of
both a city and an empire. The empire was founded
in the fourteenth century. In its heyday it stretched
from the river Krishna in the north to the extreme
south of the peninsula. In 1565 the city was sacked
and subsequently deserted. Although it fell into
ruin in the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries, it
lived on in the memories of people living in the
Krishna-Tungabhadra doab. They remembered it
as Hampi, a name derived from that of the local
mother goddess, Pampadevi. These oral traditions
combined with archaeological finds, monuments
and inscriptions and other records helped scholars
to rediscover the Vijayanagara Empire.
1. The Discovery of Hampi
The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by
an engineer and antiquarian named Colonel Colin
Mackenzie. An employee of the English East India
Company, he prepared the first survey map of the
site. Much of the initial information he received was
based on the memories of priests of the Virupaksha
temple and the shrine of Pampadevi. Subsequently,
from 1856, photographers began to record the
monuments which enabled scholars to study them.
As early as 1836 epigraphists began collecting
several dozen inscriptions found at this and other
temples at Hampi. In an effort to reconstruct the
history of the city and the empire, historians collated
information from these sources with accounts of
foreign travellers and other literature written in
Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit.
Fig. 7.1
A part of the stone wall that was
built around the city of Vijayanagara
THEME
SEVEN
2024-25
Page 2


 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II 170
An Imperial Capital
Vijayanagara
( ( ( ( (c c c c c. fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century)
Vijayanagara or “city of victory” was the name of
both a city and an empire. The empire was founded
in the fourteenth century. In its heyday it stretched
from the river Krishna in the north to the extreme
south of the peninsula. In 1565 the city was sacked
and subsequently deserted. Although it fell into
ruin in the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries, it
lived on in the memories of people living in the
Krishna-Tungabhadra doab. They remembered it
as Hampi, a name derived from that of the local
mother goddess, Pampadevi. These oral traditions
combined with archaeological finds, monuments
and inscriptions and other records helped scholars
to rediscover the Vijayanagara Empire.
1. The Discovery of Hampi
The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by
an engineer and antiquarian named Colonel Colin
Mackenzie. An employee of the English East India
Company, he prepared the first survey map of the
site. Much of the initial information he received was
based on the memories of priests of the Virupaksha
temple and the shrine of Pampadevi. Subsequently,
from 1856, photographers began to record the
monuments which enabled scholars to study them.
As early as 1836 epigraphists began collecting
several dozen inscriptions found at this and other
temples at Hampi. In an effort to reconstruct the
history of the city and the empire, historians collated
information from these sources with accounts of
foreign travellers and other literature written in
Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit.
Fig. 7.1
A part of the stone wall that was
built around the city of Vijayanagara
THEME
SEVEN
2024-25
171
Colin Mackenzie
Born in 1754, Colin Mackenzie became famous as an
engineer, surveyor and cartographer. In 1815 he was
appointed the first Surveyor General of India, a post
he held till his death in 1821. He embarked on collecting
local histories and surveying historic sites in order to
better understand India’s past and make governance of
the colony easier. He says that “it struggled long under
the miseries of bad management … before the South
came under the benign influence of the British
government”. By studying Vijayanagara, Mackenzie
believed that the East India Company could gain “much
useful information on many of these institutions, laws
and customs whose influence still prevails among the
various Tribes of Natives forming the general mass of
the population to this day”.
2. Rayas, Nayakas and Sultans
According to tradition and epigraphic evidence two
brothers, Harihara and Bukka, founded the
Vijayanagara Empire in 1336. This empire included
within its fluctuating frontiers peoples who spoke
different languages and followed different religious
traditions.
On their northern frontier, the Vijayanagara kings
competed with contemporary rulers – including the
Sultans of the Deccan and the Gajapati rulers of
Orissa – for control of the fertile river valleys and
the resources generated by lucrative overseas trade.
At the same time, interaction between these states
led to sharing of ideas, especially in the field of
architecture. The rulers of Vijayanagara borrowed
concepts and building techniques which they then
developed further.
Fig. 7.2
Mackenzie and his assistants
This is a copy by an
unknown artist of an oil
painting by the portrait
painter Thomas Hickey.
It dates to c.1825 and belongs
to the collection of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Britain and
Ireland. On Mackenzie’s left
is his peon Kistnaji holding
a telescope, on his right are
Brahmana assistants –
a Jaina pandit (right) and
behind him the Telugu
Brahmana Cauvellery
Ventak Letchmiah.
Karnataka samrajyamu
While historians use the term Vijayanagara Empire,
contemporaries described it as the karnataka samrajyamu.
Ü How has the artist
portrayed Mackenzie
and his indigenous
informers? What ideas
about him and his
informants are sought to
be impressed upon the
viewers?
AN IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA
Source 1
2024-25
Page 3


 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II 170
An Imperial Capital
Vijayanagara
( ( ( ( (c c c c c. fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century)
Vijayanagara or “city of victory” was the name of
both a city and an empire. The empire was founded
in the fourteenth century. In its heyday it stretched
from the river Krishna in the north to the extreme
south of the peninsula. In 1565 the city was sacked
and subsequently deserted. Although it fell into
ruin in the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries, it
lived on in the memories of people living in the
Krishna-Tungabhadra doab. They remembered it
as Hampi, a name derived from that of the local
mother goddess, Pampadevi. These oral traditions
combined with archaeological finds, monuments
and inscriptions and other records helped scholars
to rediscover the Vijayanagara Empire.
1. The Discovery of Hampi
The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by
an engineer and antiquarian named Colonel Colin
Mackenzie. An employee of the English East India
Company, he prepared the first survey map of the
site. Much of the initial information he received was
based on the memories of priests of the Virupaksha
temple and the shrine of Pampadevi. Subsequently,
from 1856, photographers began to record the
monuments which enabled scholars to study them.
As early as 1836 epigraphists began collecting
several dozen inscriptions found at this and other
temples at Hampi. In an effort to reconstruct the
history of the city and the empire, historians collated
information from these sources with accounts of
foreign travellers and other literature written in
Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit.
Fig. 7.1
A part of the stone wall that was
built around the city of Vijayanagara
THEME
SEVEN
2024-25
171
Colin Mackenzie
Born in 1754, Colin Mackenzie became famous as an
engineer, surveyor and cartographer. In 1815 he was
appointed the first Surveyor General of India, a post
he held till his death in 1821. He embarked on collecting
local histories and surveying historic sites in order to
better understand India’s past and make governance of
the colony easier. He says that “it struggled long under
the miseries of bad management … before the South
came under the benign influence of the British
government”. By studying Vijayanagara, Mackenzie
believed that the East India Company could gain “much
useful information on many of these institutions, laws
and customs whose influence still prevails among the
various Tribes of Natives forming the general mass of
the population to this day”.
2. Rayas, Nayakas and Sultans
According to tradition and epigraphic evidence two
brothers, Harihara and Bukka, founded the
Vijayanagara Empire in 1336. This empire included
within its fluctuating frontiers peoples who spoke
different languages and followed different religious
traditions.
On their northern frontier, the Vijayanagara kings
competed with contemporary rulers – including the
Sultans of the Deccan and the Gajapati rulers of
Orissa – for control of the fertile river valleys and
the resources generated by lucrative overseas trade.
At the same time, interaction between these states
led to sharing of ideas, especially in the field of
architecture. The rulers of Vijayanagara borrowed
concepts and building techniques which they then
developed further.
Fig. 7.2
Mackenzie and his assistants
This is a copy by an
unknown artist of an oil
painting by the portrait
painter Thomas Hickey.
It dates to c.1825 and belongs
to the collection of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Britain and
Ireland. On Mackenzie’s left
is his peon Kistnaji holding
a telescope, on his right are
Brahmana assistants –
a Jaina pandit (right) and
behind him the Telugu
Brahmana Cauvellery
Ventak Letchmiah.
Karnataka samrajyamu
While historians use the term Vijayanagara Empire,
contemporaries described it as the karnataka samrajyamu.
Ü How has the artist
portrayed Mackenzie
and his indigenous
informers? What ideas
about him and his
informants are sought to
be impressed upon the
viewers?
AN IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA
Source 1
2024-25
 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II 172
Some of the areas that were incorporated within
the empire had witnessed the development of
powerful states such as those of the Cholas in Tamil
Nadu and the Hoysalas in Karnataka. Ruling elites
in these areas had extended patronage to elaborate
temples such as the Brihadishvara temple at
Thanjavur and the Chennakeshava temple at Belur.
The rulers of Vijayanagara, who called themselves
rayas, built on these traditions and carried them,
as we will see, literally to new heights.
2.1 Kings and traders
As warfare during these times depended upon
effective cavalry, the import of horses from Arabia
and Central Asia was very important for rival
kingdoms. This trade was initially controlled by Arab
traders. Local communities of merchants known as
kudirai chettis or horse merchants also participated
in these exchanges. From 1498 other actors appeared
on the scene. These were the Portuguese, who arrived
on the west coast of the subcontinent and attempted
to establish trading and military stations. Their
superior military technology, especially the use of
muskets, enabled them to become important players
in the tangled politics of the period.
In fact, Vijayanagara was also noted for its
markets dealing in spices, textiles and precious
stones. Trade was often regarded as a status symbol
for such cities, which boasted of a wealthy population
that demanded high-value exotic goods, especially
precious stones and jewellery. The revenue derived
Fig. 7.3
The gopuram or gateway of the
Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur
Elephants, horses
and men
Gajapati literally means lord
of elephants. This was the name
of a ruling lineage that was
very powerful in Orissa in the
fifteenth century. In the popular
traditions of Vijayanagara the
Deccan Sultans are termed as
ashvapati or lord of horses and
the rayas are called narapati or
lord of men.
2024-25
Page 4


 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II 170
An Imperial Capital
Vijayanagara
( ( ( ( (c c c c c. fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century)
Vijayanagara or “city of victory” was the name of
both a city and an empire. The empire was founded
in the fourteenth century. In its heyday it stretched
from the river Krishna in the north to the extreme
south of the peninsula. In 1565 the city was sacked
and subsequently deserted. Although it fell into
ruin in the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries, it
lived on in the memories of people living in the
Krishna-Tungabhadra doab. They remembered it
as Hampi, a name derived from that of the local
mother goddess, Pampadevi. These oral traditions
combined with archaeological finds, monuments
and inscriptions and other records helped scholars
to rediscover the Vijayanagara Empire.
1. The Discovery of Hampi
The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by
an engineer and antiquarian named Colonel Colin
Mackenzie. An employee of the English East India
Company, he prepared the first survey map of the
site. Much of the initial information he received was
based on the memories of priests of the Virupaksha
temple and the shrine of Pampadevi. Subsequently,
from 1856, photographers began to record the
monuments which enabled scholars to study them.
As early as 1836 epigraphists began collecting
several dozen inscriptions found at this and other
temples at Hampi. In an effort to reconstruct the
history of the city and the empire, historians collated
information from these sources with accounts of
foreign travellers and other literature written in
Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit.
Fig. 7.1
A part of the stone wall that was
built around the city of Vijayanagara
THEME
SEVEN
2024-25
171
Colin Mackenzie
Born in 1754, Colin Mackenzie became famous as an
engineer, surveyor and cartographer. In 1815 he was
appointed the first Surveyor General of India, a post
he held till his death in 1821. He embarked on collecting
local histories and surveying historic sites in order to
better understand India’s past and make governance of
the colony easier. He says that “it struggled long under
the miseries of bad management … before the South
came under the benign influence of the British
government”. By studying Vijayanagara, Mackenzie
believed that the East India Company could gain “much
useful information on many of these institutions, laws
and customs whose influence still prevails among the
various Tribes of Natives forming the general mass of
the population to this day”.
2. Rayas, Nayakas and Sultans
According to tradition and epigraphic evidence two
brothers, Harihara and Bukka, founded the
Vijayanagara Empire in 1336. This empire included
within its fluctuating frontiers peoples who spoke
different languages and followed different religious
traditions.
On their northern frontier, the Vijayanagara kings
competed with contemporary rulers – including the
Sultans of the Deccan and the Gajapati rulers of
Orissa – for control of the fertile river valleys and
the resources generated by lucrative overseas trade.
At the same time, interaction between these states
led to sharing of ideas, especially in the field of
architecture. The rulers of Vijayanagara borrowed
concepts and building techniques which they then
developed further.
Fig. 7.2
Mackenzie and his assistants
This is a copy by an
unknown artist of an oil
painting by the portrait
painter Thomas Hickey.
It dates to c.1825 and belongs
to the collection of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Britain and
Ireland. On Mackenzie’s left
is his peon Kistnaji holding
a telescope, on his right are
Brahmana assistants –
a Jaina pandit (right) and
behind him the Telugu
Brahmana Cauvellery
Ventak Letchmiah.
Karnataka samrajyamu
While historians use the term Vijayanagara Empire,
contemporaries described it as the karnataka samrajyamu.
Ü How has the artist
portrayed Mackenzie
and his indigenous
informers? What ideas
about him and his
informants are sought to
be impressed upon the
viewers?
AN IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA
Source 1
2024-25
 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II 172
Some of the areas that were incorporated within
the empire had witnessed the development of
powerful states such as those of the Cholas in Tamil
Nadu and the Hoysalas in Karnataka. Ruling elites
in these areas had extended patronage to elaborate
temples such as the Brihadishvara temple at
Thanjavur and the Chennakeshava temple at Belur.
The rulers of Vijayanagara, who called themselves
rayas, built on these traditions and carried them,
as we will see, literally to new heights.
2.1 Kings and traders
As warfare during these times depended upon
effective cavalry, the import of horses from Arabia
and Central Asia was very important for rival
kingdoms. This trade was initially controlled by Arab
traders. Local communities of merchants known as
kudirai chettis or horse merchants also participated
in these exchanges. From 1498 other actors appeared
on the scene. These were the Portuguese, who arrived
on the west coast of the subcontinent and attempted
to establish trading and military stations. Their
superior military technology, especially the use of
muskets, enabled them to become important players
in the tangled politics of the period.
In fact, Vijayanagara was also noted for its
markets dealing in spices, textiles and precious
stones. Trade was often regarded as a status symbol
for such cities, which boasted of a wealthy population
that demanded high-value exotic goods, especially
precious stones and jewellery. The revenue derived
Fig. 7.3
The gopuram or gateway of the
Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur
Elephants, horses
and men
Gajapati literally means lord
of elephants. This was the name
of a ruling lineage that was
very powerful in Orissa in the
fifteenth century. In the popular
traditions of Vijayanagara the
Deccan Sultans are termed as
ashvapati or lord of horses and
the rayas are called narapati or
lord of men.
2024-25
173
Kings and traders
Krishnadeva Raya (ruled 1509-29),
the most famous ruler of
Vijayanagara, composed a work
on statecraft in Telugu known
as the Amuktamalyada. About
traders he wrote:
A king should improve the
harbours of his country
and so encourage its
commerce that horses,
elephants, precious gems,
sandalwood, pearls and
other articles are freely
imported … He should
arrange that the foreign
sailors who land in
his country on account
of storms, illness and
exhaustion are looked after
in a suitable manner …
Make the merchants of
distant foreign countries
who import elephants and
good horses be attached
to yourself by providing
them with daily audience,
presents and allowing
decent profits. Then those
articles will never go to
your enemies.
from trade in turn contributed significantly to the
prosperity of the state.
2.2 The apogee and decline of the empire
Within the polity, claimants to power included
members of the ruling lineage as well as military
commanders. The first dynasty, known as the
Sangama dynasty, exercised control till 1485.
They were supplanted by the Saluvas, military
commanders, who remained in power till 1503
when they were replaced by the Tuluvas.
Krishnadeva Raya belonged to the Tuluva dynasty.
Krishnadeva Raya’s rule was characterised by
expansion and consolidation. This was the time
when the land between the Tungabhadra and
Krishna rivers (the Raichur doab) was acquired
(1512), the rulers of Orissa were subdued (1514) and
severe defeats were inflicted on the Sultan of Bijapur
(1520). Although the kingdom remained in a constant
state of military preparedness, it flourished under
conditions of unparalleled peace and prosperity.
Krishnadeva Raya is credited with building some
fine temples and adding impressive gopurams to
many important south Indian temples. He also
founded a suburban township near Vijayanagara
called Nagalapuram after his mother. Some of the
most detailed descriptions of Vijayanagara come from
his time or just after.
Strain began to show within the imperial structure
following Krishnadeva Raya’s death in 1529. His
successors were troubled by rebellious nayakas or
military chiefs. By 1542 control at the centre had
shifted to another ruling lineage, that of the Aravidu,
which remained in power till the end of the
seventeenth century. During this period, as indeed
earlier, the military ambitions of the rulers
of Vijayanagara as well as those of the Deccan
Sultanates resulted in shifting alignments.
Eventually this led to an alliance of the Sultanates
against Vijayanagara. In 1565 Rama Raya, the chief
minister of Vijayanagara, led the army into battle
at Rakshasi-Tangadi (also known as Talikota), where
his forces were routed by the combined armies
of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda. The victorious
armies sacked the city of Vijayanagara. The city was
totally abandoned within a few years. Now the focus
of the empire shifted to the east where the Aravidu
Ü Why do you think
the king was interested
in encouraging trade?
Which groups of people
would have benefited
from these
transactions?
Source 2
AN IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA
2024-25
Page 5


 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II 170
An Imperial Capital
Vijayanagara
( ( ( ( (c c c c c. fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century) . fourteenth to sixteenth century)
Vijayanagara or “city of victory” was the name of
both a city and an empire. The empire was founded
in the fourteenth century. In its heyday it stretched
from the river Krishna in the north to the extreme
south of the peninsula. In 1565 the city was sacked
and subsequently deserted. Although it fell into
ruin in the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries, it
lived on in the memories of people living in the
Krishna-Tungabhadra doab. They remembered it
as Hampi, a name derived from that of the local
mother goddess, Pampadevi. These oral traditions
combined with archaeological finds, monuments
and inscriptions and other records helped scholars
to rediscover the Vijayanagara Empire.
1. The Discovery of Hampi
The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by
an engineer and antiquarian named Colonel Colin
Mackenzie. An employee of the English East India
Company, he prepared the first survey map of the
site. Much of the initial information he received was
based on the memories of priests of the Virupaksha
temple and the shrine of Pampadevi. Subsequently,
from 1856, photographers began to record the
monuments which enabled scholars to study them.
As early as 1836 epigraphists began collecting
several dozen inscriptions found at this and other
temples at Hampi. In an effort to reconstruct the
history of the city and the empire, historians collated
information from these sources with accounts of
foreign travellers and other literature written in
Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit.
Fig. 7.1
A part of the stone wall that was
built around the city of Vijayanagara
THEME
SEVEN
2024-25
171
Colin Mackenzie
Born in 1754, Colin Mackenzie became famous as an
engineer, surveyor and cartographer. In 1815 he was
appointed the first Surveyor General of India, a post
he held till his death in 1821. He embarked on collecting
local histories and surveying historic sites in order to
better understand India’s past and make governance of
the colony easier. He says that “it struggled long under
the miseries of bad management … before the South
came under the benign influence of the British
government”. By studying Vijayanagara, Mackenzie
believed that the East India Company could gain “much
useful information on many of these institutions, laws
and customs whose influence still prevails among the
various Tribes of Natives forming the general mass of
the population to this day”.
2. Rayas, Nayakas and Sultans
According to tradition and epigraphic evidence two
brothers, Harihara and Bukka, founded the
Vijayanagara Empire in 1336. This empire included
within its fluctuating frontiers peoples who spoke
different languages and followed different religious
traditions.
On their northern frontier, the Vijayanagara kings
competed with contemporary rulers – including the
Sultans of the Deccan and the Gajapati rulers of
Orissa – for control of the fertile river valleys and
the resources generated by lucrative overseas trade.
At the same time, interaction between these states
led to sharing of ideas, especially in the field of
architecture. The rulers of Vijayanagara borrowed
concepts and building techniques which they then
developed further.
Fig. 7.2
Mackenzie and his assistants
This is a copy by an
unknown artist of an oil
painting by the portrait
painter Thomas Hickey.
It dates to c.1825 and belongs
to the collection of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Britain and
Ireland. On Mackenzie’s left
is his peon Kistnaji holding
a telescope, on his right are
Brahmana assistants –
a Jaina pandit (right) and
behind him the Telugu
Brahmana Cauvellery
Ventak Letchmiah.
Karnataka samrajyamu
While historians use the term Vijayanagara Empire,
contemporaries described it as the karnataka samrajyamu.
Ü How has the artist
portrayed Mackenzie
and his indigenous
informers? What ideas
about him and his
informants are sought to
be impressed upon the
viewers?
AN IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA
Source 1
2024-25
 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II 172
Some of the areas that were incorporated within
the empire had witnessed the development of
powerful states such as those of the Cholas in Tamil
Nadu and the Hoysalas in Karnataka. Ruling elites
in these areas had extended patronage to elaborate
temples such as the Brihadishvara temple at
Thanjavur and the Chennakeshava temple at Belur.
The rulers of Vijayanagara, who called themselves
rayas, built on these traditions and carried them,
as we will see, literally to new heights.
2.1 Kings and traders
As warfare during these times depended upon
effective cavalry, the import of horses from Arabia
and Central Asia was very important for rival
kingdoms. This trade was initially controlled by Arab
traders. Local communities of merchants known as
kudirai chettis or horse merchants also participated
in these exchanges. From 1498 other actors appeared
on the scene. These were the Portuguese, who arrived
on the west coast of the subcontinent and attempted
to establish trading and military stations. Their
superior military technology, especially the use of
muskets, enabled them to become important players
in the tangled politics of the period.
In fact, Vijayanagara was also noted for its
markets dealing in spices, textiles and precious
stones. Trade was often regarded as a status symbol
for such cities, which boasted of a wealthy population
that demanded high-value exotic goods, especially
precious stones and jewellery. The revenue derived
Fig. 7.3
The gopuram or gateway of the
Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur
Elephants, horses
and men
Gajapati literally means lord
of elephants. This was the name
of a ruling lineage that was
very powerful in Orissa in the
fifteenth century. In the popular
traditions of Vijayanagara the
Deccan Sultans are termed as
ashvapati or lord of horses and
the rayas are called narapati or
lord of men.
2024-25
173
Kings and traders
Krishnadeva Raya (ruled 1509-29),
the most famous ruler of
Vijayanagara, composed a work
on statecraft in Telugu known
as the Amuktamalyada. About
traders he wrote:
A king should improve the
harbours of his country
and so encourage its
commerce that horses,
elephants, precious gems,
sandalwood, pearls and
other articles are freely
imported … He should
arrange that the foreign
sailors who land in
his country on account
of storms, illness and
exhaustion are looked after
in a suitable manner …
Make the merchants of
distant foreign countries
who import elephants and
good horses be attached
to yourself by providing
them with daily audience,
presents and allowing
decent profits. Then those
articles will never go to
your enemies.
from trade in turn contributed significantly to the
prosperity of the state.
2.2 The apogee and decline of the empire
Within the polity, claimants to power included
members of the ruling lineage as well as military
commanders. The first dynasty, known as the
Sangama dynasty, exercised control till 1485.
They were supplanted by the Saluvas, military
commanders, who remained in power till 1503
when they were replaced by the Tuluvas.
Krishnadeva Raya belonged to the Tuluva dynasty.
Krishnadeva Raya’s rule was characterised by
expansion and consolidation. This was the time
when the land between the Tungabhadra and
Krishna rivers (the Raichur doab) was acquired
(1512), the rulers of Orissa were subdued (1514) and
severe defeats were inflicted on the Sultan of Bijapur
(1520). Although the kingdom remained in a constant
state of military preparedness, it flourished under
conditions of unparalleled peace and prosperity.
Krishnadeva Raya is credited with building some
fine temples and adding impressive gopurams to
many important south Indian temples. He also
founded a suburban township near Vijayanagara
called Nagalapuram after his mother. Some of the
most detailed descriptions of Vijayanagara come from
his time or just after.
Strain began to show within the imperial structure
following Krishnadeva Raya’s death in 1529. His
successors were troubled by rebellious nayakas or
military chiefs. By 1542 control at the centre had
shifted to another ruling lineage, that of the Aravidu,
which remained in power till the end of the
seventeenth century. During this period, as indeed
earlier, the military ambitions of the rulers
of Vijayanagara as well as those of the Deccan
Sultanates resulted in shifting alignments.
Eventually this led to an alliance of the Sultanates
against Vijayanagara. In 1565 Rama Raya, the chief
minister of Vijayanagara, led the army into battle
at Rakshasi-Tangadi (also known as Talikota), where
his forces were routed by the combined armies
of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda. The victorious
armies sacked the city of Vijayanagara. The city was
totally abandoned within a few years. Now the focus
of the empire shifted to the east where the Aravidu
Ü Why do you think
the king was interested
in encouraging trade?
Which groups of people
would have benefited
from these
transactions?
Source 2
AN IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA
2024-25
 THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART II 174
Bidar
Gulbarga
Golconda
Warangal
Bijapur
Ikkeri
Quilon
Tirunelveli
Vijayanagara
Chitradurga
Kolar
Kanchipuram
Gingee
Chidambaram
Thanjavur
Madurai
Ramanathapuram
Chandragiri
Mysore
Bay of Bengal
Indian Ocean
Arabian Sea
Sri Lanka
Bhima
Krishna
Tungabhadra
Pennar
Kaveri
Vaigai
Sketch map not to scale
dynasty ruled from Penukonda and later from
Chandragiri (near Tirupati).
Although the armies of the Sultans were responsible
for the destruction of the city of Vijayanagara, relations
between the Sultans and the rayas were not always
or inevitably hostile, in spite of religious differences.
Krishnadeva Raya, for example, supported some
claimants to power in the Sultanates and took pride
in the title “establisher of the Yavana kingdom”.
Similarly, the Sultan of Bijapur intervened to resolve
succession disputes in Vijayanagara following the
death of Krishnadeva Raya. In fact the Vijayanagara
kings were keen to ensure the stability of the
Sultanates and vice versa. It was the adventurous
policy of Rama Raya who tried to play off one Sultan
against another that led the Sultans to combine
together and decisively defeat him.
Map 1
South India,
c. fourteenth-eighteenth century
Yavana  is a Sanskrit word used
for the Greeks and other peoples
who entered the subcontinent
from the north west.
Ü Identify the present-day states
that formed part of the empire.
•
Cochin
Calicut
Cannanore
•
•
Mangalore
•
Basrur
(Barcelor)
•
Bhatkal
Goa
Hyderabad
•
Masulipatnam
•
Mylapore
2024-25