Vijayanagar Empire was one of the last great kingdoms of India’s medieval period. The empire was born out of the political turmoil that followed Turkic and Afghan invasions in the early 1300’s. It lasted for more than 300 years and controlled much of the southern part of the Indian subcontinent’s peninsula. After a long period of decline, it effectively ended in the 1640’s.
Two brothers, Harihara and Bukka, founded the Vijayanagar kingdom. They were officials of the kingdom of Kampili, which fell to the armies of the sultan of Delhi in 1327. The brothers were taken to Delhi, converted to Islam, and then sent back to govern Kampili for their new masters. But the brothers proclaimed their independence from Delhi and reverted to Hinduism. In 1336, they set up a new capital, Vijayanagar (City of Victory), under Harihara.
In 1343, Bukka conquered and annexed the neighboring kingdom of the Hoysala Ballala. This gave Vijayanagar control of the peninsula from coast to coast. But in 1347, the Bahmani sultanate established itself on Harihara’s northern border and posed an enduring threat. Bukka succeeded his brother in 1356, and became Bukka I. He attempted to deal with the threat from the Bahmani sultanate. In costly wars, he succeeded only in stabilizing the boundary between the two states at the Krishna River. But he did absorb a newly established sultanate, Ma’bar (Madura), in 1370.
Harihara II, who reigned from 1377 to 1404, attempted to reinforce central authority by removing his cousins, who were provincial governors, and replacing them with his sons. The assassination of the sultan of Bahmani in 1378 gave Harihara the chance to capture Goa and other west coast ports. A Bahmani counterattack in 1388 and 1389 led to a siege of Vijayanagar. Harihara fended off further damage by making alliances with the sultans of Malawa and Gujarat.
After Harihara II’s death in 1404, his three sons fought each other for the throne. The survivor, Devaraya, became king in 1406. He also confronted the Bahmanis. This led to another siege of the capital and the loss of part of the disputed kingdom of Kondavidu in 1420. Devaraya realized that his rivals had a superior army and decided to reform his own forces by recruiting Turkic archers and importing fine horses from the Middle East.
Devaraya’s two sons, Ramchandra and Vijaya, reigned briefly but disastrously. As a result of their wars, they lost much territory and were forced to pay enormous compensation.
Devaraya II restored much of what had been lost and welcomed Muslims into his army. He extended his territory in the south and gathered tribute from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). But decline again set in under Mallikarjuna, who reigned from 1446 to 1465, and Virupaksha, who came to the throne in 1465. The kingdom suffered greatly from invasions by Orissa (a region that is now the state of Odisha) and the Bahmanis during this period.
In 1485, a provincial governor called Narasimha set up a semi-independent realm of his own and began to restore some of Vijayanagar’s losses. He pushed back Orissa, and when Virupaksha was murdered by his own son, Narasimha established Vijayanagar’s second dynasty. Narasimha’s chief minister, Narasa, was the real ruler from 1490 to 1503. Narasa completed the restoration of central power. In 1503, he placed his own son on the throne as Vira Narasimha, and so established the kingdom’s third dynasty.
Vira’s brother Krishna Deva Raya, who reigned from 1509 to 1529, was the most successful of Vijayanagar’s rulers. He intervened forcefully and successfully in the squabbles of his neighbors. He made a skillful alliance with the Portuguese, which brought him military and commercial benefit. Krishna Deva Raya was also a lavish and informed patron of learning and the arts.
Achyuta Deva Raya, who came to the throne in 1529, faced threats from both outside and inside his kingdom. Throughout his reign he struggled to hold his realm together. He was also forced to share power with Rama Raya, his rebellious chief minister. In 1542, Rama Raya placed his nephew, Sadasiva, on the throne as a puppet king. Rama Raya intervened so much in the quarrels of neighboring states that eventually he provoked the formation of a grand alliance against him. The alliance crushed the armies of Vijayanagar at the Battle of Talikota in 1565, sacked the capital, and killed Rama Raya.
Rama Raya’s brother Tirumala fled southward with King Sadasiva and set up a base at Penugonda. There he rebuilt his army but was forced to accept the independence of southern provinces. In 1570, ignoring Sadasiva, Tirumala had himself crowned, thus founding the kingdom’s fourth and final dynasty. He then retired in favor of his son Sriranga, who reigned from 1572 to 1585.
Sriranga struggled to hold off destructive invasions from Golconda, and to prevent the state from breaking up even more. His brother Venkata, who ascended to the throne in 1585, managed to stop the decline but could not reverse it. The next ruler, Sriranga II, was murdered after reigning for only four months. This event sparked a long civil war. When Rama Deva Raya came to the throne, his authority was little greater than that of his provincial governors. In 1642, an expedition from Golconda drove him from his capital at Vellore. His nephew Sriranga had himself crowned, but could not assert his authority and retired to Mysore. The empire effectively ended in the 1640’s, but Sriranga kept a court in exile until his death in 1672.
The Vijayanagar realm successfully united a region of many different languages. It established and benefited from widespread international trade. At its peak, it also sponsored many achievements in literature and the arts. The rulers of Vijayanagar were Hindus, and occasionally claimed to be strict defenders of the faith. But they allied themselves with Muslims and employed Muslim servants when it suited them. The realm’s key weakness lay in its inability to prevent local governors from claiming independent authority and power.
Today, Vijayanagar (Hampi) is a deserted ruin that attracts many tourists and archaeologists. At its height, the capital covered an area of 13 square miles (33 square kilometers). It was ringed by seven concentric lines of defense and had a population of up to 500,000 people.
