History · Ch 7 — An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara
The apogee and decline of the empire
The apogee and decline of the empire
The empire reached its peak under Krishnadeva Raya of the Tuluva dynasty, but the seeds of its decline were present in the very structure of its polity. Power was never concentrated in a single line of kings; claimants included both members of the ruling family and powerful military commanders. This internal competition for the throne shaped the empire’s entire history.
The first ruling house, the Sangama dynasty, held power from the empire’s founding until 1485. They were overthrown by the Saluvas, who were military commanders. The Saluvas ruled until 1503, when they were in turn replaced by the Tuluvas. Krishnadeva Raya, the greatest of the Vijayanagara rulers, belonged to this Tuluva dynasty.
Krishnadeva Raya’s reign (1509–1529) was a period of both expansion and consolidation. His military campaigns were highly successful:
- He acquired the Raichur doab, the fertile land between the Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers, in 1512.
- He subdued the rulers of Orissa in 1514.
- He inflicted severe defeats on the Sultan of Bijapur in 1520.
Despite this constant state of military preparedness, the kingdom flourished under conditions of unparalleled peace and prosperity. Krishnadeva Raya is also remembered for his architectural contributions. He built fine temples and added impressive gopurams (towering gateways) to many important south Indian temples. He also founded a new suburban township near Vijayanagara called Nagalapuram, named after his mother. Some of the most detailed descriptions of the city of Vijayanagara come from his time or the period immediately after.
Krishnadeva Raya’s rule represents the apogee of the Vijayanagara Empire — a high point of military success, economic prosperity, and cultural patronage.
Strain began to show within the imperial structure after Krishnadeva Raya’s death in 1529. His successors were troubled by rebellious nayakas (military chiefs). By 1542, control at the centre had shifted to yet another ruling lineage, the Aravidu dynasty, which remained in power until the end of the seventeenth century.
During this period, the military ambitions of both the Vijayanagara rulers and the Deccan Sultanates led to shifting alliances. This eventually resulted in a united front of the Sultanates against Vijayanagara. 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, and the city was totally abandoned within a few years.
After the fall of the capital, the focus of the empire shifted eastward. The Aravidu dynasty ruled from Penukonda and later from Chandragiri (near Tirupati).
It is a common mistake to assume that the Vijayanagara kings and the Deccan Sultans were always at war due to religious differences. This was not the case. …
Source 1 — Krishnadeva Raya on trade. Krishnadeva Raya (ruled 1509–29), the most famous ruler of Vijayanagara, composed a work on statecraft in Telugu known as the Amuktamalyada. About traders he wrote:
A king should improve the harbours of his country and so encourage its commerce that horses, elephants, precious gems, sandalwood, pearls and other articles are freely imported … He should arrange that the foreign sailors who land in his country on account of storms, illness and exhaustion are looked after in a suitable manner … Make the merchants of distant foreign countries who import elephants and good horses be attached to yourself by providing them with daily audience, presents and allowing decent profits. Then those articles will never go to your enemies. …
Map 1 is a sketch map of South India, covering roughly the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries. It is not drawn to scale, so distances and relative sizes are approximate. The map’s purpose is to show the major political centres, rivers, and coastal ports that shaped the history of the Vijayanagara Empire and its neighbours.
At the heart of the map is Vijayanagara, marked on the Tungabhadra River. Around it, the five Deccan Sultanate capitals are shown: Bidar, Gulbarga, Golconda, Bijapur, and Warangal. These sultanates were Vijayanagara’s main rivals. To the northeast, the Gajapati kingdom (the rulers of Orissa) is indicated, reflecting the empire’s conflicts in that direction.
The map also labels several important rivers: the Krishna, Tungabhadra, Kaveri, Pennar, Bhima, and Vaigai. The Raichur doab — the fertile land between the Krishna and Tungabhadra — is a key region that Krishnadeva Raya captured in 1512, as mentioned in the textbook.
Coastal ports are marked along both the western and eastern seaboards. On the west coast: Goa, Mangalore, Basrur, Bhatkal, Cannanore, Calicut, and Cochin. On the east coast: Masulipatnam, Mylapore, and Hyderabad (inland but a major trade centre). These ports highlight the empire’s involvement in Indian Ocean trade, especially in spices, textiles, and horses.
Other important towns and temple centres are shown: Ikkeri, Chitradurga, Kolar, Kanchipuram, Gingee, Chidambaram, Thanjavur, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Chandragiri, Mysore, Tirunelveli, and Quilon. The map also includes Sri Lanka to the south, and the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean, and Arabian Sea as water bodies. …