Chapter 7 — An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara

Vijayanagara means 'city of victory'. According to tradition and epigraphic evidence, two brothers, Harihara and Bukka, founded the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336.

Colonel Colin Mackenzie, an engineer and antiquarian employed by the English East India Company, brought the ruins to light in 1800 and prepared the first survey map of the site. From 1856, photographers began recording the monuments, and from 1836 epigraphists had begun collecting inscriptions found at the temples.

The first dynasty was the Sangama dynasty, which exercised control till 1485. They were supplanted by the Saluvas (military commanders) who remained in power till 1503, when the Tuluvas replaced them. Krishnadeva Raya belonged to the Tuluva dynasty. By 1542, the Aravidu dynasty took control and remained in power till the end of the seventeenth century.

Krishnadeva Raya of the Tuluva dynasty ruled from 1509 to 1529. During his reign, the Raichur doab was acquired (1512), the rulers of Orissa were subdued (1514), and the Sultan of Bijapur was severely defeated (1520). He built fine temples, added impressive gopurams to many important south Indian temples, founded the township of Nagalapuram after his mother, and composed the Amuktamalyada — a work on statecraft written in Telugu.

The amara-nayaka system was a major political innovation of the Vijayanagara Empire, likely derived from the iqta system of the Delhi Sultanate. Amara-nayakas were military commanders given territories to govern by the raya. They collected taxes from peasants, craftspersons and traders, retained part of the revenue for personal use, and maintained a stipulated contingent of horses and elephants for the king. They sent tribute annually and appeared in the royal court to express loyalty. Over the course of the seventeenth century, many nayakas established independent kingdoms, hastening the collapse of the central imperial structure.

The city lay in one of the most arid zones of the peninsula, so elaborate arrangements were made to store and supply water. Embankments were built along streams to create reservoirs. The most important was the Kamalapuram tank, built in the early years of the fifteenth century, which also conducted water through a channel to the royal centre. The Hiriya canal drew water from a dam across the Tungabhadra and irrigated the cultivated valley between the sacred centre and the urban core; it was apparently built by kings of the Sangama dynasty.

Medieval sieges aimed to starve defenders into submission and could last several months or even years. Rulers normally built large granaries within fortified areas. The rulers of Vijayanagara adopted the more expensive and elaborate strategy of protecting the agricultural belt itself within the fortification, ensuring a food supply during prolonged sieges. Abdur Razzaq noted cultivated fields and gardens between the first, second and third walls, and this has been corroborated by present-day archaeologists.

In 1565, Rama Raya, the chief minister of Vijayanagara, led the army into battle at Rakshasi-Tangadi (also known as Talikota). His forces were routed by the combined armies of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda. The victorious armies sacked the city of Vijayanagara, which was totally abandoned within a few years. The focus of the empire then shifted east, where the Aravidu dynasty ruled from Penukonda and later from Chandragiri (near Tirupati).

The mahanavami dibba is a massive platform rising from a base of about 11,000 sq. ft to a height of 40 ft, located on one of the highest points in the city. Rituals associated with it coincided with Mahanavami (the great ninth day) of the ten-day Hindu festival during autumn months of September and October. Ceremonies included worship of the state horse, sacrifice of buffaloes and other animals, dances, wrestling matches, and processions of caparisoned horses, elephants, chariots and soldiers. On the last day, the king inspected his army and the armies of the nayakas, and the nayakas brought rich gifts and stipulated tribute.

Several foreign travellers visited and wrote about the city. Nicolo de Conti (an Italian trader), Abdur Razzaq (an ambassador sent by the ruler of Persia), and Afanasii Nikitin (a merchant from Russia) all visited in the fifteenth century. Duarte Barbosa, Domingo Paes, and Fernao Nuniz from Portugal visited in the sixteenth century. Paes, for instance, compared the city's size to Rome and described its markets as stocked with abundant provisions. Nuniz described the markets as 'overflowing with abundance of fruits' and listed a wide variety of meats sold there.

Raya gopurams, or royal gateways, were massive towering structures that often dwarfed the towers on the central shrines of temples and signalled the presence of a temple from a great distance. They were marks of imperial authority, reminding viewers of the power of kings who could command the resources, techniques and skills needed to construct such towering gateways. The Virupaksha temple's eastern gopuram, for example, was built by Krishnadeva Raya to mark his accession.

The Virupaksha temple was at the heart of the sacred centre. The Vijayanagara kings claimed to rule on behalf of the god Virupaksha, and all royal orders were signed 'Shri Virupaksha', usually in the Kannada script. The earliest shrine at the temple dated to the ninth-tenth centuries, but it was substantially enlarged with the establishment of the Vijayanagara Empire. Krishnadeva Raya built the hall in front of the main shrine to mark his accession and is also credited with the construction of the eastern gopuram.

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