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The Forgotten Empire - Introduction

An event that marked the beginning of a radical change in the political landscape of South India took place in India in AD 1336 during the reign of Edward III, of Britain. Since then a new chapter has been written in the pages of history. The trumpet of a new age was blowing, throwing the old into the dustbin of history. That great event was the rise of the Vijayanagara Empire. Prior to 1336 AD, South India was ruled by the ancient Hindu empires of the Pandya kings of Madurai and the Chola kings of Thanjavur. There is no enough evidence of its origin as it is very ancient. But there are some clues in the pre-sixteenth century Buddhist inscriptions. With the rise of the Vijayanagara Empire, the kings of the new kingdoms became the rulers of the region between Ceylon and Deccan. There was nothing surprising in this. This was the result of the constant efforts of Islamic aggressors to invade and conquer South India. When the brutal and cruel invaders reached the banks of the Krishna River, the Hindus of South India rallied against the terror and gave hope that they would become the guardians of Dharma. For two and a half centuries, when the old states fell one by one, the brave kings of the Vijayanagara Empire were the guardians and custodians of the culture and heritage of South India. But an empire that had been hailed as the "City of Victory" and its valiant rulers had disappeared from the pages of Indian history and even from the minds of Indians. The relics of this great empire became the ruins of temples, royal palaces and defensive walls scattered on the outskirts of the village of Hampi.
 According to Western visitors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Vijayanagara Empire, which was larger than Austria, amazed and surpassed any other Western capital in terms of prosperity and majesty. Goa, which had been under Portuguese occupation on the west coast for many seaborne trades, fell into disrepair with the decline of the Vijayanagara Empire in 1565. One of the sources of limited knowledge available to us about the Vijayanagara Empire and its historical events are the random notes written by European travelers about the cities and their people. In addition, historians Barros, Couto and Correa have written brief accounts of immigrant Europeans, although interested in the general state of the empire, to the knowledge of European readers. Among the source, are the writings of a few Islamic historians who feared of being disliked by their own lords. Along with the written records of the land allotted to Hindu religious institutions and places of worship; can be considered to be the only authentic document of about the empire, but with some random number, names and dates, the Hindu scriptures seldom contain detailed historical references to the city
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