The essence of Chapter 7, for last-minute revision: definitions, names, tables, a timeline and a recap. The full explanation lives separately in the detailed notes.
HampiMackenzieAmara-NayakaKrishnadeva RayaTalikotaMahanavami DibbaVirupakshaVitthalaRaya GopuramHindu Suratrana
1 The whole chapter in one frame
| Source |
What it tells us |
| Inscriptions |
royal and nayaka inscriptions recording temple donations and events |
| Traveller accounts |
Nicolo de Conti, Abdur Razzaq, Afanasii Nikitin, Duarte Barbosa, Domingo Paes, Fernao Nuniz |
| Literature |
Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit works, including Krishnadeva Raya’s own Amuktamalyada |
| Archaeology and mapping |
Mackenzie’s 1800 survey, temple-wall inscriptions from 1876, the 1980s grid-square documentation project |
2 Numbers worth remembering
4ruling dynasties: Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva, Aravidu
7lines of forts described by Abdur Razzaq
60+temples included in the royal centre
| Number |
What it refers to |
| 11,000 sq ft / 40 ft |
base area and height of the mahanavami dibba |
| ~30 |
palace complexes identified in the royal centre |
| 15-20 thousand |
labourers Paes saw at work building a tank |
| 25 |
lettered squares the site was divided into for the 1980s mapping survey |
| ~15 km |
(three leagues) distance water was piped to Krishnadeva Raya’s tank |
3 Dates at a glance
| Date |
Event |
| 1336 |
Vijayanagara Empire founded by Harihara and Bukka |
| to 1485 |
Sangama dynasty |
| 1485-1503 |
Saluva dynasty |
| from 1503 |
Tuluva dynasty (Krishnadeva Raya’s line) |
| 1498 |
Portuguese arrive on the west coast, enter the horse trade |
| 1509-29 |
Krishnadeva Raya’s reign: Raichur doab (1512), Orissa subdued (1514), Bijapur defeated (1520) |
| 1542 |
Aravidu dynasty holds the centre |
| 1565 |
Battle of Rakshasi-Tangadi (Talikota); city sacked and soon abandoned |
| 1800 |
Colin Mackenzie’s survey of Vijayanagara |
| 1856 |
Alexander Greenlaw’s first detailed photographs |
| 1876 |
J.F. Fleet begins documenting temple-wall inscriptions |
| 1902 |
Conservation begins under John Marshall |
| 1976 |
Hampi recognised as a site of national importance |
| 1986 |
Hampi declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site |
4 Every definition, in one place
| Term |
Meaning |
| Karnataka samrajyamu |
what contemporaries actually called the empire; “Vijayanagara Empire” is a later historians’ term |
| Ashvapati / narapati / Gajapati |
popular titles: “lord of horses” (Deccan Sultans) / “lord of men” (rayas) / “lord of elephants” (Orissa’s rulers) |
| Kudirai chetti |
local horse-merchant community |
| Amara-nayaka system |
military-revenue system, likely derived from the Delhi Sultanate’s iqta system; amara-nayakas governed territory, collected taxes, kept a military contingent, and sent tribute |
| Raya gopuram |
a royal gateway to a temple, often dwarfing the central shrine’s own tower |
| Mandapa |
an elaborate pillared pavilion within a temple complex |
| Hindu Suratrana |
“Hindu Sultan”; a Sanskritised royal title adapting the Arabic word Sultan |
| Yavana |
Sanskrit term for Greeks and other north-western peoples; used in Krishnadeva Raya’s title “establisher of the Yavana kingdom” |
| Mahanavami |
“the great ninth day” of the ten-day autumn festival (Dusehra / Durga Puja / Navaratri elsewhere in India) |
| Mahanavami dibba |
a massive ceremonial platform in the royal centre; its exact ritual use is disputed |
5 Virupaksha versus Vitthala temple
|
Virupaksha temple |
Vitthala temple |
| Earliest shrine |
ninth-tenth centuries, greatly enlarged under Vijayanagara |
its worship introduced into Karnataka under Vijayanagara |
| Principal deity |
Virupaksha, the kingdom’s guardian deity, a form of Shiva |
Vitthala, a form of Vishnu, imported from Maharashtra |
| Distinctive feature |
Krishnadeva Raya’s accession hall, credited eastern gopuram |
a unique shrine built in the shape of a stone chariot |
| Meaning |
royal orders were signed “Shri Virupaksha” |
shows Vijayanagara’s rulers blending regional traditions into an imperial culture |
6 The three zones of the city
| Zone |
What it held |
| Royal centre |
south-west; 60+ temples, ~30 palace complexes, the mahanavami dibba, Lotus Mahal, elephant stables, Hazara Rama temple |
| Sacred centre |
rocky northern end; Virupaksha temple, Pampadevi shrine, pre-Vijayanagara Jaina temples |
| Urban core |
bazaars, Muslim traders’ quarter (Chinese porcelain finds), ordinary housing (almost none survives) |
7 Who’s who
| Name |
What to remember them for |
| Colin Mackenzie |
first Surveyor General of India (1815); brought Hampi’s ruins to light in 1800 |
| Harihara and Bukka |
the two brothers who founded the empire in 1336 |
| Krishnadeva Raya |
most famous ruler (1509-29); wrote the Amuktamalyada; won Raichur doab, Orissa, Bijapur |
| Rama Raya |
chief minister; his shifting-alliance policy led to defeat at Rakshasi-Tangadi (1565) |
| Nicolo de Conti |
Italian trader, visited in the fifteenth century |
| Abdur Razzaq |
Persian ambassador; described the seven lines of forts |
| Afanasii Nikitin |
Russian traveller, fifteenth century |
| Duarte Barbosa |
Portuguese traveller; described ordinary housing |
| Domingo Paes |
Portuguese traveller; described the city’s size, the bazaar and tank-building |
| Fernao Nuniz |
Portuguese traveller; described the abundant markets |
| Alexander Greenlaw |
took the first detailed photographs of Hampi, 1856 |
| J.F. Fleet |
began documenting temple-wall inscriptions, 1876 |
| John Marshall |
began formal conservation of the site, 1902 |
| John M. Fritz, George Michell, M.S. Nagaraja Rao |
scholars who worked for years at the site; they reminded readers that its vanished wooden elements have to be imagined |
8 Quick Revision · read this the night before the exam
- Vijayanagara means both a city and an empire, founded in 1336, sacked in 1565, remembered locally as Hampi until Colin Mackenzie’s 1800 survey.
- Four dynasties ruled in turn: Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva (Krishnadeva Raya’s peak) and Aravidu (from 1542); after Talikota (1565) the Aravidu ruled from Penukonda and later Chandragiri.
- The battle of Rakshasi-Tangadi (Talikota) followed from Rama Raya’s own shifting alliances, not from permanent Hindu-Muslim conflict; relations between the rayas and the Sultans were not always or inevitably hostile.
- The amara-nayaka system, many features of which were probably derived from the Delhi Sultanate’s iqta system, tied military service and revenue collection together; its breakdown into independent nayaka kingdoms weakened the empire’s centre.
- The city fortified farmland inside its walls, an expensive alternative to granaries, to survive long sieges.
- Three zones: sacred centre (Virupaksha, Pampadevi), royal centre (60+ temples, mahanavami dibba, Lotus Mahal), urban core (bazaars, ordinary housing, mostly lost).
- Gopurams grew to imperial scale under the rayas; the mahanavami dibba’s exact ritual use is still genuinely disputed among scholars.
- Reconstructing Vijayanagara used inscriptions, traveller accounts (Paes, Nuniz, Abdur Razzaq, Nikitin) and, from the 1980s, an intensive grid-square mapping survey.
- Buildings answer questions about defence, technique and symbolism, but not about ordinary people’s lived experience or the labourers who actually built the city.
- The Virupaksha and Vitthala temples together show how Vijayanagara’s rulers used religious patronage both to affirm an old guardian cult and to import new ones (Vitthala, from Maharashtra) into one imperial religious culture.
- Krishnadeva Raya’s own advice in the Amuktamalyada, to encourage trade and attach foreign merchants to the crown, matches what the chapter’s sources describe: a wealthy, cosmopolitan city whose markets impressed every traveller who saw them.
9 Common mix-ups to avoid
| Easy to confuse |
Remember it this way |
| Karnataka samrajyamu vs Vijayanagara Empire |
the first is what contemporaries called it; the second is the historians’ later term |
| Kamalapuram tank vs Hiriya canal |
the tank fed fields and the royal centre; the canal watered the sacred-urban valley |
| Royal centre vs sacred centre |
royal centre held palaces and the mahanavami dibba; sacred centre held Virupaksha and Pampadevi |
| Talikota’s real cause |
Rama Raya’s own shifting alliances, not a permanent religious war between Vijayanagara and the Sultanates |
