History
The story of Vijayanagara
For two hundred years the ruins around you were one of the largest cities in the world. Here is how it began, how it grew, how it fell, and how it was found again.
Scroll down through the eras, or jump to one. Each moment links to the monuments you can still see from it.
The Sangama dynasty
1336 to 1485
Two brothers found a city on the Tungabhadra, and their family makes it the capital of an empire.
Harihara and Bukka found the city
The brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya, of the Sangama family, found Vijayanagara, the City of Victory, on the south bank of the Tungabhadra. Tradition links its founding to the sage Vidyaranya. The Virupaksha Temple was already old when they came.
A Jain temple with a date on it
Irugappa, a minister of King Harihara II, builds a Jain temple to Kunthunatha. The inscription on its tall lamp pillar gives the year, which makes it one of the earliest dated buildings in the city.
Deva Raya I takes the throne
The Hazara Rama Temple, the royal family's own temple in the heart of the royal centre, is generally credited to his reign. Its walls show processions of horses, elephants and dancers.
A Persian envoy is amazed
Abdur Razzaq, an envoy from Persia, visits the court of Deva Raya II. He writes of rings of walls around the city and of markets full of jewels, and says he has seen no place like it.
The Saluva dynasty
1485 to about 1505
A powerful general takes the throne and holds the empire together.
Saluva Narasimha takes over
The last Sangama kings are weak, and the empire is breaking up. Saluva Narasimha, a strong general, takes the throne and brings it back under one rule.
The Tuluva dynasty
About 1505 to 1570
The city's greatest years, under Krishnadevaraya and his brother, and then its fall.
Around 1505
The Tuluva family comes to power
Vira Narasimha, son of the general Tuluva Narasa Nayaka, takes the throne. His family will rule through the city's best years.
Krishnadevaraya is crowned
He rules until 1529 and is remembered as the empire's greatest king, a winner of wars and a patron of poets. Much of the work at the Vittala Temple is credited to his time, and the great Narasimha statue was carved in his reign.
A new hall for Virupaksha
To mark his coming to the throne, Krishnadevaraya adds the pillared hall in front of the sanctum of the Virupaksha Temple. The inner gateway tower is dated to the same year and is believed to be his as well.
Victory in the east
Krishnadevaraya takes the fort of Udayagiri from the Gajapati kings. An inscription of 1513 at the Krishna Temple records his victories, and a market street grows in front of the temple.
The battle of Raichur
Krishnadevaraya defeats Ismail Adil Shah of Bijapur and takes the fort of Raichur. It is one of the great victories of his reign.
Around 1520
Domingo Paes watches Mahanavami
The Portuguese traveller Domingo Paes describes the city and its nine-night Mahanavami festival, with processions of elephants and horses. The king watched it from the great stone platform in the royal centre.
Achyuta Deva Raya succeeds his brother
After Krishnadevaraya dies, his brother Achyuta Deva Raya rules until 1542. Building in the city goes on.
The Achyutaraya Temple
In his reign a large temple to Tiruvengalanatha, a form of Vishnu, rises in a valley near Matanga Hill. A long market street leads up to it.
Rama Raya rules in the king's name
Sadashiva Raya is king, but the real power is with Aliya Rama Raya, Krishnadevaraya's son-in-law, who governs for more than twenty years.
The battle of Talikota
In January the sultanates of the Deccan join forces and defeat the Vijayanagara army. The battle is also called Rakkasa-Tangadi. Rama Raya is captured and killed.
The city is sacked
For months after the battle the city is plundered and burnt, and it is never the capital again. The Narasimha statue is badly broken. Some buildings come through almost whole, like the Lotus Mahal and the Elephant Stables.
The Aravidu dynasty
1570 to the mid-1600s
The empire goes on, but from a new capital far to the south-east.
A new capital at Penukonda
Tirumala Deva Raya, Rama Raya's brother, takes the throne and rules from Penukonda. His Aravidu family keeps the empire going, but by the middle of the 1600s it has broken up.
After the empire
1800 to today
The ruins are mapped, photographed, dug and protected.
The first map of the ruins
Colin Mackenzie, an engineer and surveyor, makes the first survey map of the site. Much of what he learned came from the priests of the Virupaksha Temple.
The first photographs
In 1855 and 1856 Alexander Greenlaw photographs the ruins on waxed paper negatives. His pictures show what the monuments looked like before any repair, and some are on show in Hampi Bazaar.
Mid-1970s
Digging begins in earnest
The Archaeological Survey of India and Karnataka's archaeology department start a joint project. Clearing and digging begin in front of the Mahanavami platform. Many finds are now in the museum at Kamalapura.
A World Heritage Site
UNESCO lists the Group of Monuments at Hampi as a World Heritage Site.
World Heritage in Danger
UNESCO puts Hampi on its list of World Heritage in Danger, because two large road bridges were being built inside the protected area. Work on them is halted.
Off the danger list
With the bridge work stopped and steps taken to protect the site, UNESCO takes Hampi off the danger list.
See it yourself
Every stone on this page is still standing somewhere in Hampi. Take a ready-made route, or make a day plan around the places you want to see.
Dates and builders follow the Archaeological Survey of India, UNESCO and published histories. Where they disagree, we say "around" or "generally credited".