Vijayanagara (History of Legacy)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

From The Jacket The Vijayanagara empire represents an imported phase in Indian history. During its three hundred years of existence, it held sway over large parts of peninsular India from coast to coast covering Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa and substantial areas of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

The greatness of the Vijayanagara empire was however due not merely to its political strength but to the all-round contribution that it made and its rich religious and cultural legacy. The object of the present volume is to pay tribute to the rich culture legacy which the Vijayanagara empire has bequeathed. The volume has been so devised so as to bring out the political, literary, artistic and religious aspects of the History of the Empire.

It is hoped that this seminal work will enable the reader to have some glimpses of the rich culture achievements of the Vijayanagara empire and will also provide the necessary background to the ongoing researches on the different aspects of Vijayanagara.

Preface This volume is being published on the auspicious occasion of the Sexcentenary Celebrations of the Vijayanagara Empire.

The object of the celebrations is to remember with gratitude the rich culture legacy which the Vijayanagara Empire has bequeathed and the Volume has been so devised as to bring out in relief the political, literary, artistic and religious aspects of the History of that Empire. It is gratifying that the effort has evoked commendable response from scholars of all parts of the country.

This volume owes its existence to the initiative and organization of Mr. D.P. Karmarkar. All the articles of the volume were reviewed by distinguished orientalist Dewan Bahadur Dr. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, who made the work his own and even in the midst of ill-health has devoted precious labour and time to the revision of the manuscripts, and expert supervision of the Volume. It was in the fitness of things that this Volume should have been brought out under the guidance of a veteran scholar who has devoted the best of a whole life to the study of Vijayanagara History. Grateful thanks are due to the Director-General, Archaeological Survey of India in helping to make the Volume tastefully illustrated.

It is hoped that this volume will enable the reader to have some glimpses of the culture achievements of the Great Empire.

Introduction The Vijayanagara empire represent an important phase in Indian history. It came into existence in the second quarter of the fourteenth century, its rise coinciding with the decline of the Hoysalas. The transitional date of the foundation of the Vijayanagara empire is AD 1336 while some scholar date it to AD 1346. it continued to exists till about the middle of the seventeenth century when it finally collapsed.

During its nearly three hundred years existence, four dynasties, the Sangama, the Saluva, the Tuluva and the Aravidu held sway over large parts of peninsular India from coast covering Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa and substantial areas of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. It has rightly been stated that the Vijayanagara empire represent 'the last empire polity in peninsular India before the British' and is as important for 'clarifying India's culture evolution for this generation as the Harappan sites were for previous generation'.

The Vijayanagara rulers successfully resisted Muslims inroads into the south Indian and provided bulwark against their onslaught as is evident from their constant struggle against the Bahmanis, the Adil Shahis, the Nizam Shahis, the Qutb Shahis and the Barid Shahis. They were also involved in clashes with the Gajapatis of Orissa, the Reddis of Kondavidu, the Valamas of Rachakonda and other rulers far south; they also undertook successful expedition to Sri Lanka during the reign of Harihara II.

The greatness of the Vijayanagara empire was however due not merely to its political strength but to the all-round contribution that it made and its rich religious and culture legacy. Notwithstanding their almost continuous engagement in war with their belligerent neighbours, the Vijayanagara rulers bestowed their full attention to religious and cultural matters and architectural activities. Their capital – now represented by Hampi – on the bank of the Tungabhadra was founded by the brothers Harihara and Bukka under the orders of the great sage Vidyaranya, the head of the Srigeri-matha and was named Vidyanagara or Vijayanagara. This great city was spread over an area of more than twenty-five sq. Kms; the ruins of the city in the form of temples, shrines and other religious structures, palaces and other secular buildings, fortification walls and gateways, tank, aqueducts, system of water works and channels, large enclosures and platforms, roads and streets one of which was 50 meters wide, all its prosperity and magnificence. The fame of the Vijayanagara empire and its capital spread far and wide; its rulers had relations with European nations, Africa, West Asia as well as the neighbouring Burma and Sri Lanka. Trade and commerce flourished under the Vijayanagara rulers adding to the royal coffers and also contributed to the prosperity of the empire. Several foreigners have left detailed description of the city of Vijayanagara mentioning about its grandeur in glowing terms, the earliest among these was Nicolas dei Conti, the Italian, who visited Vijayanagara sometime in AD 1420 during the reign of Devaraya I. 'Abdu'r-Razzaq, the Persian ambassador visited Vijayanagara during the reign of Devaraya II(AD 1422-46). In 1504 an Italian, Ludovico di Varthema and later Duarte Barbosa and Domingo Paes Visited Vijayanagara respectively in 1518 and 1520 during the reign of Krishnadeva Raya (AD 1509-29). In circa 1535 came Fernao Nuniz and in 1567 Ceasaro Federici visited the city.

The extant remains at Hampi, comprising both religious as well as secular structures more or less match the description given by these foreign chroniclers. In recent years, these remains at Hampi have been subjected to detailed study and investigation as a national project.

The fame of Vijayanagara however does not rest on its strength as a great empire or its splendid art architecture. The all-round contribution that it made to the heritage of India is indeed amazing. Various religious sects like the Kalamukhas, Saivasiddhanta, Lakulisa Pasupatas, Sri Vaishnava, Madhva, the Virasaiva or the Lingayats as well as the Jains and others made much progress truly exemplifying spirit of tolerance and religious understanding. The rise of Vijayanagara gave great impetus to Saivisn and the early kings ruled as vice-regents of Virupaksha, their patron-deity. Later, the Vijayanagara rulers developed partiality for Vaishnava doctrines; Krishnadeva Raya in fact introduced the cult of Vithoba into Vijayanagara.

Creativity in literary as well as artistic pursuits made much headway as a result of the patronage given by the Vijayanagara rulers and one finds a large corpus of works ranging from commentaries on religious literature to lexicography, anthologies, philosophical literature, poetry, drama, music, etc. in Sanskrit, Kannada as well as Telugu. While the name of the great Vedic commentator Sayanacharya stands out for his Rg-veda Bhashya and the anthology Subhashita-sudhanidhi, equally important are: Vidyaranya or Vidyatirtha who wrote the biography of Sankara entitled Sanskara-vijaya, and Sangitasara, a treatise on music; Madhava the brother of Sayana who wrote Sarvadarsana-sangraha, Jaiminiya-nyaya-mala-vistara and Jivanamuktiviveka; Irupaga Dandadhinatha or Bhaskara, who lived under Harihara II prepared Nanartharatnamala, a work on lexicography; Divakara, who was at the court of Krishnadeva Raya composed Parijataharana, Devistuti, Rasamanjari and Bharatamrta, based on the stories of the Mahabharata. Lakminarayana, state musician in the court of Krishnadevaraya wrote Sangitasuryodaya. Timmanna, another poet in his court composed Parijatapaharanam, a Telugu work while Dhurjati and Mallana wrote Kalahastimahatmya and Rajasekharacharita respectively; during his reign the Mahabharata was translated into Kannada by Timmanna. Then these was the poetess Tirumalamba who composed the champu entitled Varadambika-parinaya.

But it was not merely patronage that the Vijayanagara rulers gave to scholars, poets and others, some of them also composed original works; for instance, Virupaksha, the son of Harihara II of the Sangama dynasty of Vijayanagara wrote two plays Narayanavilasa in five acts and Unmatta-Raghava, a one-act play. Gopendra Tippa Bhupala of the Saluva dynasty wrote Taladipika which is a work on the marga and desi talas. Krishnadeva Raya who was a great patron of arts and literature is believed is believed to have composed the work Amuktamalyada.

The present volume contains articles by scholars on the political, literary, religious, social and artistic aspects as well as the history of the Vijayanagara empire and provides glimpses of the rich, all-round achievements of this great empire. It is a seminal work providing the necessary background to the ongoing researches on different aspects of Vijayanagara.

Contents

	Preface	v
	Introduction – B.M. Pande	vii
	List of Illustrations	xiii
1.	The Character and Significance of the Empire of Vijayanagara in Indian History – S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar	1
2.	Vijayanagara Empire–A Synthesis of South Indian Culture – Rev. H. Heras, S.j., and V.K. Bhandarkar	29
3.	Hinduism under the Vijayanagara Kings – R. Rama Rao	39
4.	Telugu Literature under the Vijayanagara Empire – K. Iswara Dutt	53
5.	Vijayanagara and Jainism – Shirpad Rama Sharma	69
6.	Vijayanagara Paintings from the temple at Lepakshi – C. Sivaramamurti	75
7.	The Vijayanagara Painting : Late Vijayanagara Paintings in the Brahadisvara Temple at Tanjore – S. Paramasivan	87
8.	The Coinage of the Vijayanagara Dynasties – R.S. Panjwalker	101
9.	Shahaji's Relations with Vijayanagara – D.B. Diskalkar	119
10.	What Sivaji and the Maratha State owed to Vijayanagara – T.S. Shejwlker	125
11.	Theories Concerning the Origin of Vijayanagara – B.A. Salletor	139
12.	Vijayanagara and Vidyaranya – S. Shrikantaya	161
13.	Establishment of the Vijayanagara Rule in the Tamil Country – V. Venkatasubba Aiyar	169
14.	Krishna Raya, The Man – K. Raghavacharlu	181
15.	Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara and the Vitthala Image of Pandharapur – G.H. Khare	191
16.	Some Aspects of Art during the Reign of Krishnadevaraya, The Great – R.N. Saletore	197
17.	The Authorship and Importance of the Amuktamalyada as a source of History for the Reign of Sri Krishnadevaraya – V.S. Ramachandra Murty	207
18.	Economic Conditions in the Time of Krishnadevaraya – G.S. Dixit	213
19.	Krishnadevaraya and Literary Circle – Nidhathavolu Venkat Rao	231
20.	The Historical Importance of Parijatapaharanam – Bandhakavi kesava Rao	241
21.	The Battle of Talikota – Before and After – K.K. Basu	245
22.	The Nayakas of Keladi – N. Lakshminarayan Rao	255
23.	An Interesting Chapter in the History of Vijayanagara – N.K. Venkatesam Pantulu	271
24.	Rule of Vijayanagara over Kongu Country – Rao Sahib C.M. Ramachandra Chettiar	275
25.	The Vidyasankara Temple, Sringeri – M.H. Krishna	289
26.	Development of Sanskrit Litarature under Vijayanagara – S. Srikantha Sastri	295
27.	Geographical Notes on the Chief Capitals of the Vijayanagara Empire – N. Subrahmanyam	329
28.	Sri Vidyaranya and Music – P.S. Sundaram Iyer	333
29.	Lines of Future Research in Vijayanagara History – Rao Sahib C. Hayavadana Rao	343
30.	Kannada Literature under Vijayanagara – D.L. Narasimha Char	347
31.	Music under the Vijayanagara Empire – Kinnari Vidwan Hulugur Krishnachrya,	367
32.	The Brahma Sutra Vrtti of Praudhadevaraya – V. Raghavan	377