Anila Verghese
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Foundation and Growth of the Capital The Vijayanagara empire takes its name from its capital on the Tungabhadra River. The founders of the Vijayanagara state did not build their capital in uninhabited desert land. The discovery of neoliths and hand-made pottery at the site proves that the history of the Vijayanagara region dates back to the Neolithic times. Epigraphical evidence shows that this area was under the control of various successive dynasties that ruled this region prior to the establishment of the Vijayanagara empire. Two local princes, Hukka and Bukka, sons of a chieftain named Sangama, founded the Vijayanagara state in the mid-fourteenth century. The earlier Hindu kingdoms of South India and the Deccan had been swept away by the irresistible might of the forces of the Delhi sultans in the early fourteenth century. However, their control over the peninsula lasted very briefly. Successful revolts resulted in the emergence of the Vijayanagara empire around 1336 and of the Bahmani sultanate in the upper Deccan in 1347, with its capital first at Gulbarga and later at Bidar. The Vijayanagara state established a new political and moral order based on traditional Hindu cultural values. There are two conflicting viewpoints about the origins of the Vijayanagara empire: the Telugu origin theory and the Kannada origin theory. According to the former, Hukka and Bukka, who had served as treasury officers at the court of the Kakatiya ruler Prataparudra, fled to Kampili in 1323 after the fall of Warangal, the Kakatiya capital. They were taken as prisoners to Delhi and converted to Islam in 1327 when Muhammad Tughluq, the Delhi sultan, conquered Kampili. They were later sent back by the sultan to the lower Deccan to put down the rebellion of the Hoysala chief Ballala III, and appointed as governors of Karnataka. Soon they raised the standard of revolt. One day while the two brothers were out hunting in the area around Hampi, a tirtha or holy spot on the Tungabhadra, their hunting dogs, while in pursuit of a hare, were suddenly attacked and chased away by the hare. Hukka and Bukka were intrigued by the role reversal of the
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hare and the hounds; they asked for an interpretation of this strange phenomenon from the great sage Vidyaranya (Forest of Learning) who was seated in meditation at the spot. The saint informed them that this was a sign that the place was very auspicious, for here the weak would become strong; hence it was the ideal spot for a capital city. Vidyaranya then reconverted the two brothers to Hinduism, and with his help and blessing they established the Vijayanagara state, with the elder brother, Hukka, becoming its first king under the new name of Harihara. On the south bank of the river Tungabhadra, he founded a new capital city, which were given the significant names of Vijayanagara (City of Victory) and Vidyanagara (City of Learning), the second name commemorating the role of Vidyaranya in these momentous events. According to the Kannada origin theory, Harihara and Bukka were feudatory chiefs of the Hoysala kings Ballala III and Ballala IV. Vidyaranya played no part in the foundation of the empire, and the story of the conversion to Islam has no basis. The leading historians of South Indian history of the earlyand mid-twentieth century were divided in support of the two theories about the origins of the Vijayanagara state. However, some inscriptions recently discovered in Anegondi conclusively set to rest the controversy and prove the local origins of the founders of Vijayanagara. These epigraphs describe Harihara and Bukka as treasury officials of Kampiladeva, whose family ruled in the Anegondi-Hampi area in the early fourteenth century and whose territory, including his stronghold of Kummata-durga, was conquered in 1327 by the Delhi sultan. Gradually asserting their independence from the tenuous control of Delhi over the Deccan, Harihara, with the help of his brothers, asserted sovereignty over this area in the Deccan in the second quarter of the fourteenth century. The choice of Hampi as the capital by the early Sangamas is quite understandable if this theory is accepted. No doubt the choice of Hampi as the seat of their power by the founders of this empire was not accidental. Military considerations and the strategic location of the site influenced their decision. The Tungabhadra afforded a
Job No:03-02933 Title:Vijayanagara #175SQ DTP:183 Page:24
4/24/08
8:20:15 AM