AN IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA

The Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara (c. fourteenth to sixteenth century)

  • Vijayanagara means “city of victory”; name used for both a city and an empire founded in the 14th century.
  • Geographic extent: at its height stretched from the Krishna river in the north to the southern tip of the peninsula.
  • 1565: City sacked and abandoned; later ruins in the 17th–18th centuries.
  • Legacy and memory: remembered as Hampi among Krishna–Tungabhadra doab communities; name derives from Pampadevi (local mother goddess).
  • Reconstructing history: oral traditions + archaeological finds + monuments + inscriptions + travel accounts in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Sanskrit were synthesized by scholars.

1. The Discovery of Hampi

  • 1800: Ruins at Hampi brought to light by Colonel Colin Mackenzie (engineer, antiquarian, East India Company employee).
  • Mackenzie produced the first survey map of the site; relied on memories of Virupaksha temple priests and Pampadevi shrine.
  • 1856: Photographers began recording monuments, aiding scholarly study.
  • 1836: Epigraphists began collecting several dozen inscriptions from Hampi temples.
  • Historians integrated inscriptions with foreign traveller accounts and literature in multiple languages.
  • Visual: Fig. 7.1 shows a portion of the city wall (fortifications around Vijayanagara).
  • Mackenzie’s role: helped frame imperial pasts; viewed Vijayanagara as source of institutional knowledge for governance.
  • Quote context: Mackenzie suggested studying Vijayanagara could yield information on institutions, laws, and customs still influencing native populations.

2. Rayas, Nayakas and Sultans

  • Founding tradition: Harihara and Bukka are traditionally credited with founding Vijayanagara in 1336.

  • Empire’s frontiers: multilingual, multi-religious; interacted with Deccan Sultans and Gajapati rulers of Orissa on the northern frontier.

  • Interaction and exchange: cross-pollination in architecture and building techniques.

  • Contemporary description: known as the karnataka samrajyamu (the imperial Kannada kingdom).

  • Question to consider: How have contemporary vs. scholarly labels shaped our understanding of the empire?

  • 2.1 Kings and traders

    • Warfare and cavalry: horses imported from Arabia and Central Asia; initial control over this trade by Arab traders; local merchant communities (kudirai chettis) participated.
    • 1498 onward: Portuguese arrival on the western coast; established trading/military stations; superior military tech (muskets) changed regional politics.
    • Vijayanagara’s markets: dealt in spices, textiles, precious stones; trade seen as a status symbol for wealthy urban societies demanding exotic goods.
    • Krishnadeva Raya’s Amuktamalyada (Telugu): advocacy for harbor development, pro-commerce policies, and engaging foreign sailors and merchants to benefit the state; measures to attach distant traders to the king to deter enemies.
    • Translation/summary of Amuktamalyada quote: trade prosperity supported by harbor improvement, humane treatment of sailors stranded by storms, and ensuring merchants importing elephants and horses receive audience, gifts, and profits to prevent loss to enemies.
    • Implication: trade revenue underwrote prosperity and power, shaping imperial policies.

  • 2.2 The apogee and decline of the empire

    • Dynastic chronology of power centers: Sangama dynasty governing until 1485; supplanted by the Saluvas (military commanders) until 1503; followed by the Tuluvas (Krishnadeva Raya belonged to this line).
    • Krishnadeva Raya (ruled 1509 ext{-}1529) oversaw expansion: territory to Raichur doab (between Tungabhadra and Krishna, acquired in 1512), subjugation of Orissa rulers (1514), defeats of Bijapur sultans (1520).
    • Prosperity during Krishnadeva Raya’s reign; temple-building and gopurams enhanced south Indian sacred architecture; he founded Nagalapuram near Vijayanagara after his mother.
    • Post–Raya crisis: after 1529, internal strains with nayakas (military chiefs) challenging central authority.
    • 1542: center shifts to Aravidu dynasty; power remains until end of 17th century.
    • External dynamics: Deccan sultanates’ military ambitions caused shifting alignments; later, an alliance of sultanates defeated Rama Raya at Rakshasi-Tangadi (Talikota) in 1565; Vijayanagara city sacked and abandoned soon after.
    • Aftermath: political focus shifts eastward to the Aravidu line.

  • 2.3 The rayas and the nayakas

    • Nayakas: military chiefs who controlled forts and attracted peasant settlers; often Telugu or Kannada speakers.
    • Relationship with the raya: many submitted to imperial authority; periodic subjugation via military action when rebellious.
    • Amara-nayaka system: key political innovation; akin to iqta system of the Delhi Sultanate.
    • Roles of amara-nayakas: military commanders granted territories to govern; collected taxes from peasants, artisans, traders; retained revenue for personal use and maintaining horses/elephants; contributed to temple and irrigation maintenance.
    • Annual tribute and courtly submission: nayakas presented gifts to the king.
    • Central control dynamics: rulers could transfer nayakas between regions to assert control; seventeenth-century saw many nayakas establish independent kingdoms, contributing to central collapse.
    • Discussion prompt (from the source): locate major nayaka centers on Map 1 (Chandragiri, Madurai, Ikkeri, Thanjavur, Mysore) and assess how rivers/hill geography affected communication with Vijayanagara.
    • Etymology note: amara derives from Sanskrit samara (battle); resembles Persian amir (noble).

3. Vijayanagara: The Capital and its Environs

  • City layout and planning: distinctive civic layout with several zones; students are asked to identify three major zones on the plan; consider canal connections to the river and fortification walls; sacred center fortified? Paes’s observations of gardens and water bodies.

  • Paes’s description (excerpt): vivid depiction of a sprawling, tree-filled city with numerous water conduits, lakes, and a royal palm-grove near the king’s palace; water infrastructure central to urban life.

  • Sources for city knowledge: inscriptions of kings and nayakas; traveler accounts (Nicolo de Conti, Abdur Razzaq, Afanasii Nikitin, Duarte Barbosa, Domingo Paes, Fernao Nuniz).

  • 3.1 Water resources

    • Location: Tungabhadra forms a natural basin; surrounding granite hills create a girdle; streams descend to the river.
    • Water management: embankments along streams to create reservoirs; arid climate necessitated elaborate rainwater storage and conveyance to the city.
    • Kamalapuram tank: important early 15th-century tank used for irrigation and supplying water to the royal center.
    • Hiriya canal: major waterworks drawing water from a dam on the Tungabhadra to irrigate the valley between sacred center and urban core; attributed to Sangama rulers.

  • 3.2 Fortifications and roads

    • Fortification system: Abdur Razzaq notes seven lines of forts encircling the city and hinterlands; outermost wall linked to surrounding hills.
    • Construction: massive masonry, little mortar; wedge-shaped stone blocks; inner wall filled with earth and rubble; square/rectangular bastions projecting outwards.
    • Agricultural belt included within fortifications: Razzaq observed fields, gardens, and houses between first and third walls.
    • Road network: Paes notes roads connecting through gateways and bazaars; roads often curved along valleys to avoid rocky terrain; temple gateways as focal points of major roads.
    • Architectural influence: Indo-Islamic features (arched gateways, domes) emerging in fort gates and overall fortification style.
    • Tank irrigation: Paes described tank-fed gardens and rice fields; tank networks connected to canal systems.

  • 3.3 The urban core

    • Relative scarcity of everyday houses: archaeology finds indicate presence of rich traders (Chinese porcelain in NE corner of urban core; Muslim residential quarter).
    • Muslim quarters: tombs and mosques with architecture resembling temple mandapas, indicating synthesis of cultural forms.
    • Everyday life: Paes’s description of a city with well-built houses, markets, and diverse religious shrines; wells, rainwater tanks, and temple tanks supplied water to ordinary residents.

4. The Royal Centre

  • The royal centre lies in the SW part of the city; it contains over 60 temples and about 30 major palace complexes (large, masonry structures with perishable upper stories).

  • Temple patronage and royal authority: rulers used temples and cults to legitimate power; royal orders branded with Shri Virupaksha and Kannada script; rulers styled as Hindu Suratrana (a Sanskritized form of Sultan).

  • 4.1 The mahanavami dibba

    • The “king’s palace” complex features two major platforms: audience hall and mahanavami dibba; enclosed by double walls with a street in between.
    • Audience hall: high platform with closely spaced wooden pillar slots; staircase to an upper floor; unclear function due to dense pillar arrangement.
    • Mahanavami dibba: massive platform rising from a base of about 11{,}000 ext{ sq ft} to a height of 40 ext{ ft}; evidence of a wooden superstructure; base adorned with relief carvings (Fig. 7.12).
    • The Mahanavami festival (Mahanavami) involved royal worship, state ceremonies, sacrifices, dances, wrestling, processions, and gifts to the king and nayakas; the festival showcased imperial power and suzerainty.
    • Scholarly note: the space around the mahanavami dibba may not have sufficed for grand processions, raising questions about its use as the central ritual hub.
    • Paes’s description of “House of Victory”: two adjacent platforms with ornate carvings; an upstairs room and a dais with a throne; linked ecclesiastical ritual imagery to state ritual.

  • 4.2 Other buildings in the royal centre

    • Lotus Mahal: notable for Indo-Islamic-inspired arches and nine towers (one central, eight along the sides); architectural dialogue with secular and religious buildings.
    • Architectural comparisons: Lotus Mahal arches vs. other royal arches; potential misinterpretations about functions (ej. elephant stables or council chambers).
    • Hazara Rama temple: lavish central shrine with Ramayana panels; likely reserved for royal use; many central images missing but wall panels preserved.
    • Palace complexes and other temple buildings often reveal a blend of ritual and secular use, with perishable upper stories contrasted with masonry temples.
    • Nayakas continued building traditions: several structures linked to Vijayanagara architectural style were continued by later authorities.

  • 5. The Sacred Centre

    • 5.1 Choosing a capital

    • The northern, sacred hills near Tungabhadra housed Virupaksha temple and Pampadevi shrines; legend ties the sites to the Ramayana (Vali–Sugriva) and to the marriage of Pampadevi with Virupaksha.

    • Virupaksha temple as political-religious axis: Vijayanagara rulers claimed rule on behalf of Virupaksha; royal orders signed “Shri Virupaksha” in Kannada script.

    • Rulers used Hindu suratrana title (Sanskritized Hindu version of Sultan) to signal sovereignty within a Hindu-imperial framework.

    • Temple patronage by rulers, with royal visits to temples treated as state occasions; significance of temple networks in legitimizing authority.

    • 5.2 Gopurams and mandapas

    • Temple architecture features: monumental raya gopurams (royal gateways) that often dwarf central shrine towers, signaling imperial power and visibility from afar.

    • Mandapas (pavilions) and long pillared corridors around shrines; structural spaces for ritual, music, dance, and processional activities.

    • Case studies: Virupaksha temple and Vitthala temple; Virupaksha enlarged during Vijayanagara; Krishnadeva Raya attributed with widening the eastern gopuram.

    • Vitthala temple: dedicated to Vitthala (a form of Vishnu, often worshipped in Maharashtra); a chariot shrine within the temple complex; chariot streets radiated out from temple gopurams, lined with shops and merchant stalls.

    • The chariot streets reveal the integration of ritual architecture with urban commerce.

    • Q: How and why did rulers adopt and adapt earlier ritual architecture traditions? (discussion prompts in the source)

  • 6. Plotting Palaces, Temples and Bazaars

    • Documentation effort: after Mackenzie’s initial survey, later travelers plus inscriptions built a composite understanding; in 20th century, the site was preserved by the Archaeological Survey of India and Karnataka state archaeology.
    • 1976: Hampi recognized as a site of national importance; 1980s onward: extensive documentation through surveys using diverse recording techniques.
    • 25-square mapping system: the site divided into 25 squares (A–Z with certain letters unused); each square subdivided into smaller units; further granularity within those units.
    • Findings: thousands of structures recovered, from tiny shrines to elaborate temples; traces of roads, bazaars, and other livelihoods.
    • Scholarly note: wooden elements (columns, beams, ceilings, eaves, towers) have mostly disappeared; travelers’ descriptions help reconstruct aspects of life and construction techniques.
    • A practical exercise: measure distances on the plan, identify temple plans within map squares, and trace routes from gate to central shrine.

  • 7. Questions in Search of Answers

    • Buildings reveal space usage, building materials, techniques, defense needs, and cultural exchange; yet they do not reveal ordinary people’s perspectives.
    • Questions raised: access to royal/sacred centers; the experiences of masons, laborers, architects; wages; planning and supervision during construction; sources of stone and timber; transport of materials.
    • The text invites critical reflection on perspective, power, and material culture in Vijayanagara.
    • Krishnadeva Raya portrait and Paes’s description: juxtaposition of ruler’s self-representation with external eyewitness accounts.

  • Timeline snapshots (major political and landmark events)

    • Major Political Developments (approximate century ranges):
    • c. 1200–1300: Delhi Sultanate established (1206) // Vijayanagara Empire تأسس (1336?); Bahmani kingdom (1347); Jaunpur, Kashmir, Madura Sultanates emerge (c. 14th–15th c.).
    • c. 1400–1500: Gajapati kingdom of Orissa (1435); Gujarat and Malwa Sultanates; new Sultanates (Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Berar) emerge (~1490).
    • c. 1500–1600: Goan-Portuguese conquests (1510); Bahmani collapse; Golconda emerges (1518); Mughal consolidation under Babur (1526).
    • Landmarks in discovery and conservation
    • 1800: Mackenzie visits Vijayanagara.
    • 1856: Greenlaw photographs Hampi.
    • 1876: Fleet documents temple inscriptions.
    • 1902: Conservation begins under John Marshall.
    • 1986: UNESCO World Heritage status for Hampi.

Comparative and interpretive prompts

  • The sources emphasize the synthesis of architectural evidence with travelers’ narratives and inscriptions to reconstruct Vijayanagara’s history.
  • The architecture demonstrates a deliberate blending of earlier temple traditions with Indo-Islamic features, reflecting imperial aspirations and cosmopolitan exchanges.
  • The amara-nayaka system reveals a sophisticated fiscal-miscal policy that balanced centralized authority with local autonomy; its eventual erosion contributed to central collapse.
  • Water management and agriculture within fortified belts reflect strategic preparation for siege scenarios, as well as long-term food security and urban resilience.
  • The sacred centre and temple patronage reveal how legitimacy was projected through religious symbolism, divine sanction, and ritual display.
  • The bazaar and chariot-street networks illustrate the integration of commerce and ritual life in urban form.
  • Ethnographic questions raised by the text invite reflection on how social classes, artisans, masons, and laborers experienced monumental projects and urban spaces.

Real-world relevance and connections

  • Vijayanagara provides a case study in large-scale urban planning under imperial rule, including water infrastructure, fortifications, and integrated religious-monumental complexes.
  • The exchange with Deccan sultanates and later European traders (Portuguese) demonstrates early globalization dynamics and how technology (e.g., muskets) affected regional power structures.
  • The legacy of architectural styles shows how cross-cultural interactions produced hybrid forms (Indo-Islamic features in temple architecture, ceremonial spaces for royal ritual).
  • The archaeological mapping project illustrates early modern conservation and mapping methodologies that underpin contemporary heritage management.

Key terms and concepts (glossary)

  • Vijayanagara empire: ext{1336} ext{– } ext{1565} (location, polity, culture).
  • Rayas: the ruling kings of Vijayanagara; later associated with royal symbols and titles.
  • Nayakas: military chiefs who governed frontier lands; part of the amara-nayaka system.
  • Amara-nayaka system: a revenue-and-mervice-based feudal-like structure; derived from the ext{iqta} system of the Delhi Sultanate.
  • Yavana: Sanskrit term used for Greeks and other northwestern entrants; used in context of external influences.
  • Hindu Suratrana: title used by Vijayanagara rulers signaling Hindu sovereignty; Sanskritized form of Sultan.
  • Mahanavami dibba: large raised platform within the royal complex used for imperial ritual celebrations (nine-day festival).
  • Gopuram: monumental gateway to a temple complex; often larger than the central shrine and signaling imperial presence.
  • Indo-Islamic architecture: architectural synthesis observed in Vijayanagara fortifications and gateways.
  • Vitthala temple: temple dedicated to Vitthala (Vishnu form); features chariot shrine and chariot streets; indicates cross-regional cult integration.
  • Paes: Domingo Paes, a 16th-century Portuguese traveler whose accounts provide details on urban layout and rituals.
  • Kamalapuram tank and Hiriya canal: water-management structures central to Vijayanagara’s urban system.
  • Raichur doab: land between the Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers; strategic zone acquired during Krishnadeva Raya’s reign.

Notes on figures and maps referenced in the source

  • Fig. 7.1: Part of the city wall around Vijayanagara.
  • Fig. 7.2: Mackenzie and assistants (portrayal of the survey team).
  • Fig. 7.3: The gopuram of the Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur.
  • Fig. 7.4–7.30: Various architectural plans, elevations, and sections of Vijayanagara structures (audience halls, mahanavami dibba, Lotus Mahal, Hazara Rama, Vitthala, Virupaksha, etc.).
  • Fig. 7.26–7.30: Mapping methodology and temple investigations.
  • Fig. 7.31–7.33: Krishnadeva Raya portrait; temple-related sculptures; classroom discussion prompts.

Suggested activities for exam preparation

  • Map labeling: identify major centres (Chandragiri, Madurai, Ikkeri, Thanjavur, Mysore) and track river and hill barriers influencing communication.

  • Compare Vijayanagara’s fortifications with contemporaneous Indian and Islamic fortification traditions; discuss the use of multiple defense lines and bazaar-linked gateways.

  • Analyze the role of temple patronage in legitimizing kingship; discuss the significance of the Royal Centre’s scale and the peopling of sacred spaces.

  • Reflect on what inscriptions, traveler accounts, and material remains collectively reveal about daily life in the city’s ordinary areas vs. royal precincts.

  • Short essay prompts (as provided in the source):

    • 1) Methods used to study Hampi’s ruins; complementarities with priestly accounts.
    • 2) Water supply strategies in Vijayanagara.
    • 3) Advantages/disadvantages of enclosing agricultural land within fortified areas.
    • 4) Significance of Mahanavami rituals.
    • 5) Description and interpretation of a pillar (Fig. 7.33); floral motifs and animals observed.
    • 6) Is the term “royal centre” appropriate for the described area? Why or why not?
    • 7) What do Lotus Mahal and elephant stables reveal about rulers’ agendas?
    • 8) Architectural influences and transformations in Vijayanagara’s buildings.
    • 9) Inferences about ordinary Vijayanagara inhabitants from the text.

  • Timeline synthesis: prepare a concise timeline of major political events and conservation milestones from c. 1200 ext{–}1600 onwards.

  • Further reading suggestions (from the source): Vasundhara Filliozat (Vijayanagara, 2006), George Michell (Architecture and Art of Southern India, 1995), K. A. Nilakanta Sastri (A History of South India, 1955), Burton Stein (Vijayanagara, 1989).