Vijayanagara Empire
Hindu kingdom in Southern India (14th-17th century)
The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnāta Empire, was a late medieval Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty.
The empire rose to prominence in the aftermath of the invasion of the Delhi Sultanate in India by the end of the 13th century. At its peak in the early 16th century under Krishnadevaraya, it subjugated almost all of Southern India's ruling dynasties and pushed the Deccan sultanates beyond the Tungabhadra-Krishna River doab region, in addition to annexing the Gajapati Empire up to the Krishna River, becoming one of the most prominent states in India. The empire's territory covered most of the lands of the modern-day Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa, southern Kerala and some parts of Telangana and Maharashtra.
The empire lasted until 1646, although its power declined greatly after a major military defeat in the Battle of Talikota in 1565 by the combined armies of the Deccan sultanates. The empire is named after its capital city of Vijayanagara (modern-day Hampi) whose extensive ruins are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka. The wealth and fame of the empire inspired visits by and writings of European travelers such as Domingo Paes, Fernão Nunes, and Niccolò de' Conti. These travelogues, contemporary literature and epigraphy in the local languages, and modern archeological excavations at Vijayanagara have provided ample information about the history and power of the empire.
The empire's legacy includes monuments spread over Southern India, the best known of which is the group at Hampi.
The public source identifies “Vijayanagara Empire” as hindu kingdom in Southern India (14th-17th century). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Vijayanagara, Empire and Hindu.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q167639. Authority coordinates are 15.333, 76.467. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1336, 1646 and 1565.
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This entry incorporates text from “Vijayanagara Empire” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.