Vijayanagara was a city at the modern location of Hampi, in the Indian state of Karnataka. Vijayanagara was the capital city of the historic Vijayanagara Empire. Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included sites in the Vijayanagara district, the Ballari district, and others around these districts. A part of Vijayanagara ruins known as the Group of Monuments at Hampi has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Vijayanagara Empire or the Karnata Kingdom was a late medieval Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, members of a pastoralist cowherd community that claimed Yadava lineage.
The history of southern India covers a span of over four thousand years during which the region saw the rise and fall of a number of dynasties and empires.
The Reddi kingdom or Kondavidu Reddi kingdom was a kingdom established and ruled by Prolaya Vema Reddi from 1325 to 1448 CE in southern India. Most of the region that was ruled by the kingdom is now part of modern-day Rayalaseema, coastal and central Andhra Pradesh.
BukkaRaya I was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire from the Sangama Dynasty. He was a son of Bhavana Sangama, claimed by Harihara II to be of Yadava lineage. The first Bahmani-Vijayanagar War occurred during the reign of Bukka Raya I, in which he was besieged, and sued for peace.
Deva Raya I was an Emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire. After Harihara II died, there was a dispute among his sons over succession, in which Deva Raya I eventually emerged victor. He was a very capable ruler noted for his military exploits and his support to irrigation works in his Empire. He modernized the Vijayanagara army by improving the cavalry, employed skilled archers of the Turkic clans and raised the fighting capacity of his bowmen and imported horses from Arabia and Persia.
Deva Raya II was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire. The greatest of the Sangama dynasty rulers, he was an able administrator, warrior, and scholar. He authored well-known works in Kannada and Sanskrit. He was patron to some of the most noted Kannada poets of the medieval period, including Chamarasa and Kumara Vyasa, the Sanskrit poet Gunda Dimdima, and the noted Telugu language poet Srinatha, whom the king honored with the title Kavisarvabhauma. He supported development in secular literature as well as the noted South Indian mathematician Parameshvara, from the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics in his empire.
The Sangama dynasty was a dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire founded in the 14th century by two brothers: Harihara I and Bukka Raya I. They were the sons of Bhavana Sangama.
The Saluva dynasty was the second dynasty to rule the Vijayanagara Empire and was created by the Saluvas, who by historical tradition were natives of the Kalyani region of northern Karnataka in modern India. The Gorantla inscription traces their origins to this region from the time of the Western Chalukyas and Kalachuris of Karnataka. The term "Saluva" is known to lexicographers as "hawk" used in hunting. They later spread into the east coast of modern Andhra Pradesh, perhaps by migration or during the Vijayanagara conquests during the 14th century.
Bukka Raya II was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire from the Sangama Dynasty.
Harihara I, also called Hakka and Vira Harihara I, was the founder of the Vijayanagara Empire, in present-day Karnataka, India, which he ruled from 18 April 1336 to 20 November 1355. He and his successors formed the Sangama dynasty, the first of four dynasties to rule the empire. He was the eldest son of Bhavana Sangama.the chieftain of a cowherd pastoralist community, who claimed Yadava descent.
The origin of the Vijayanagara Empire is a controversial topic in South Indian history, with regard to the linguistic affiliation of the founding dynasty, the Sangama family. The Vijayanagara Empire rose to power in southern India in the 14th century CE. Over the past decades historians have expressed differing opinions on whether the empire's founders, Harihara I and Bukka I, were of Kannada people or Telugu origin. There are various opinions about role of the Vidyaranya, the Hindu saint and guru of Harihara I and Bukka I in the founding of the Vijayanagara empire.
Vijayanagara literature was produced in the Vijayanagara Empire during a golden age of literature in South India in general. The rulers patronised Kannada, Telugu, Sanskrit and Tamil scholars who wrote in the Jain, Virashaiva and Vaishnava traditions. The period produced hundreds of works on all aspects of Indian culture, religion, biographies, prabhandas (stories), music, grammar, poetics and medicine. An attempt is made in this section to list the various poets and saints and their most famous works.
The city of Vijayanagara was the urban core of the imperial city and the surrounding principalities of the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire during the 14th to 16th centuries. Notes by foreign travellers such as Abdur Razzak, the Persian who visited Vijayanagara in 1440, mention seven fortifications before the gates to the royal palace. The large area between the first and third fortifications contained agricultural fields, gardens and residences. The notes of Robert Sewell describe countless shops and bazaars (markets) filled with people from different nationalities between this fortification and the palace.
The History of Karnataka goes back several millennia. Several great empires and dynasties have ruled over Karnataka and have contributed greatly to the history, culture and development of Karnataka as well as the entire Indian subcontinent. The Chindaka Nagas of central India Gangas, Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta, Chalukyas of Vengi, Yadava Dynasty of Devagiri were all of Kannada origin who later took to encouraging local languages.
Chamaraja Wodeyar I was the second raja of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1423, after his father's death, until his own in 1459. He was the elder son of Yaduraya.
Chamarajara Wodeyar II was the fourth raja of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1478 until 1513.
Chamaraja Wodeyar III was fifth raja of the Kingdom of Mysore and the last one to rule as feudal king under the Vijayanagara Empire. He reigned after his father's demise in 1513 until his death in 1553.
Hamvira Deva was an Odia prince of the Gajapati Empire in India and Gajapati ruler for a brief period. He was the eldest son of Kapilendra Deva, founder of the Gajapati Empire. He played a vital role in the military expansion of the Gajapati Empire but was bypassed in the succession order in favour of his younger half-brother Purushottama Deva.
The Deccani–Vijayanagar wars were a series of conflicts between the Deccan Sultanates and the Vijayanagar Empire that took place from 1495 to 1678.
