26 Facts About Vijayanagara Empire

Vijayanagara Empire, called the Karnata Kingdom, was based in the Deccan Plateau region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and Maharashtra.

These travelogues, contemporary literature and epigraphy in the local languages and modern archeological excavations at Vijayanagara has provided ample information about the history and power of the empire.

Vijayanagara Empire's legacy includes monuments spread over South India, the best known of which is the group at Hampi.

The Vijayanagara Empire created an epoch in the history of Southern India that transcended regionalism by promoting Hinduism as a unifying factor.

Karnata Rajya was another name for the Vijayanagara Empire, used in some inscriptions and literary works of the Vijayanagara times including the Sanskrit work Jambavati Kalyanam by King Krishnadevaraya and Telugu work Vasu Charitamu.

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Vijayanagara Empire created the Kampili kingdom near Gulbarga and Tungabhadra River in the northeastern parts of present-day Karnataka state.

One is that Harihara I and Bukka I, the founders of the empire, were Kannadigas and commanders in the army of the Hoysala Vijayanagara Empire stationed in the Tungabhadra region to ward off Muslim invasions from Northern India.

Vijayanagara Empire was possibly the most successful of the Sangama Dynasty rulers.

Vijayanagara Empire quelled rebelling feudal lords and the Zamorin of Calicut and Quilon in the south.

Vijayanagara Empire invaded Sri Lanka and became overlord of the kings of Burma at Pegu and Tanasserim.

Contemporary Persian ambassador Abdur Razzak attributes the war to the Bahamani Sultan capitalizing on the confusion caused by an internal revolt within the Vijayanagara Empire, including an attempt to assassinate the Raya by his brother.

These defeats reduced the Vijayanagara Empire's prestige, described by an inscription which described the Gajapati king as "a yawning lion to the sheep of the Karnatak King".

Vijayanagara Empire later defeated Bahmani forces and recovered most of the empire's earlier losses.

Vijayanagara Empire was an astute king who hired both Hindus and Muslims into his army.

Vijayanagara Empire hired Muslim generals in his army from his previous diplomatic connections with the Sultanates and called himself "Sultan of the World".

Vijayanagara Empire was keen interfering in the internal affairs of the various Sultanates and on playing off the Muslim powers against one another, while making himself the ruler of the most powerful and influential regional power.

Vijayanagara Empire made a commercial treaty with the Portuguese to stop the supply of horses to Bijapur, then defeated the Bijapur ruler and inflicted humiliating defeats on Golconda and Ahmednagar.

Rulers of the Vijayanagara Empire maintained the administrative methods developed by their predecessors, the Hoysala, Kakatiya and Pandya kingdoms.

Vijayanagara Empire was divided into five main provinces, each under a commander (Dandanayaka or Dandanatha) and headed by a governor, often from the royal family, who used the native language for administrative purposes.

Vijayanagara Empire kings were tolerant of all religions and sects, as writings by foreign visitors show.

The Vijayanagara empire was originally founded in Karnataka, with Andhra Pradesh serving as a province of the empire.

Contemporary Muslim writers who were either under the patronage of rival kingdoms or were visitors to Vijayanagara Empire and accomplished valuable works are Ziauddin Barani (Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, 1357), Isamy (Fatuhat us salatin), Syed Ali Tabatabai (Burhan-i-Maisar, 1596), Nisammuddin Bakshi, Firishta (Tarik-i-Firishta) and Rafiuddin Shirazi (Tazkirat ul Mulk, 1611).

Vijayanagara Empire's Prabhulinga Leele, later translated into Telugu and Tamil, was a eulogy of Saint Allama Prabhu.

Vijayanagara Empire architecture, according to art critic Percy Brown is a vibrant combination and blossoming of the Chalukya, Hoysala, Pandya and Chola styles, idioms that prospered in previous centuries.

An open-air theatre of monuments at its capital at Vijayanagara Empire is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Vijayanagara Empire art includes wall-paintings such as the Dashavatara and Girijakalyana in the Virupaksha Temple at Hampi, the Shivapurana murals (tales of Shiva) at the Virabhadra temple at Lepakshi, and those at the Kamaakshi and Varadaraja temples at Kanchi.