Vijayanagar — An Indian City that was historically significant but is unknown today
Vijayanagar (Translated as City of victory) is a town located in the Northern part of Karnataka state in Southern India and it lies on the banks of the Tungabhadra River.
It was the capital of the Vijayanagar Empire and was established in 1336 by two rulers Harihara — I and Bukka.
It was one of the greatest empires in Southern India and served as a barrier against Muslim Sultanates from the North and also it overthrew the short-lived Madurai sultanate which just lasted for 43 years in the down south.
This helped in the renaissance of Hindu way of life and administration which was destroyed in the 12th and 13th centuries caused by disunity and disorders.
It was the last empire that had entire south India united.
Some more facts about Vijayanagar city:
- It was one of the most prominent trade centres in the world in the 14th and 15th centuries.
- It was the 2nd largest city in the medieval world after Beijing with a population of 500,000 to 600,000.
- It has one of the oldest Temple called ‘Virupaksha Temple’ which was built by Lakkan Dandesha — A chieftain of the Vijayanagar Empire.
- It used to be one of the popular tourist destinations in the world.
- It is also told that pearls, jewels and diamonds were sold in roadside markets.
- Kannada and Telugu literature flourished during this period, Sanskrit was also promoted as a unifying language.
It reached its greatest extent under the rule of Sri Krishna Deva Raya after which it started to decline due to the internal civil war.
Battle of Talikota was the turning point where the city of Vijayanagar was completely ransacked by the enemy rulers.
About Battle of Talikota:
It was fought between Vijayanagar Empire and Deccan Sultanate — which was later split into 5 different sultanates namely Bidar sultanate, Bijapur Sultanate, Ahmednagar Sultanate, Golconda Sultanate, Berar Sultanate in the year 1518.
Deccan Sultanate was located in between Krishna River and Vindhya Range. These kingdoms became independent after their first battle with Vijayanagar Empire which they lost.
After the death of Sri Krishna Deva Raya, the glories of the Vijayanagar empire started diminishing.
In 1542, King Rama Raya ascends to control the empire due to which it started gaining its glories back. His strategy was to keep the 5 sultanates fight amongst themselves by allying with different sultanates at different times.
But in 1563, The sultanates finally realized the game played by King Rama Raya and decide to form a coalition to fight Vijayanagar Empire once and for all.
Small clashes took place between the 2 empires until Dec 1564, after which large scale war was initiated.
On January 23, 1565 a fierce battle took place. Initially, it seemed that Victory of Vijayanagar was confirmed until there was a twist in the war where 2 Muslim army generals (Gilani Brothers) of Vijayanagar Empire took side of Deccan sultanate. Those Gilani Brothers of Vijayanagar Empire earlier made a deal with Deccan Sultanate and they helped them in providing logistics. At this point, Gilani Brothers launched an attack on their own empire and after a long bloodshed battle it led to the defeat of the Vijayanagar army.
The Vijayanagar King — Rama Raya was captured by the sultanates and later beheaded.
Aftermath, The Sultanate army looted, plundered and eventually ransacked the city. The people were killed, houses were burnt and temples destroyed.
Later on, They shifted their kingdom to Chandragiri and the empire eventually collapsed in 1646.
Even today it is the most respected kingdom in the South.
