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• Vijayanagara was characterised by a distinctive physical layout and building style.
• Vijayanagara was located on the natural basin of the river Tungabhadra which
flows in a North-Easterly direction.
• As this is one of the most arid zones of the Peninsula, many arrangements were
made to store rain water for the city. For e.g. water from Kamalapuram tank and
Hiriya canal was used for irrigation and communication.
• Abdur Razzaq, an ambassador of Persia, was greatly impressed by the
fortification of the city and mentioned seven lines of forts. These encircled city as
well as its agricultural hinterland and forests.
• The arch on the gateway leading into the fortified settlement and the dome over
the gate were the architectures introduced by the Turkish Sultans and this was
known as Indo-Islamic style.
• There was little archaeological evidence of the houses of ordinary people. We find
description of the houses of ordinary people from the writings of Portuguese
traveller Barbosa.

Hampi:The Historical City:

• The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by Colonel Colin Mackenzie. To
reconstruct the history of the city, sources like the memories of priests of the
Virupaksha temple and the shrine of Pampadevi, several inscriptions and temples,
accounts of foreign travellers and other literature written in Telugu, Kannada,
Tamil and Sanskrit played a very important role in discovering of Hampi.

The Royal Centre of Hampi:

• The royal centre was located in the South-Western part of the settlement which
had more than 60 temples. Thirty building complexes were identified as palaces.
The king’s palace was the largest of the enclosures and had two platforms viz. the
‘audience hall’ and the ‘Mahanavami dibba’.
• Located on one of the highest points in the city, the ‘Mahanavami dibba’ is a
massive platform rising from a base of about 11,000 sq ft to a height of 40 ft.
Different ceremonies like worship of the image, worship of the state horse and the
sacrifice of buffaloes and other animals were performed in Vijayanagara. Some
beautiful buildings in the royal centre are Lotus Mahal, Hazara Rama temple, etc.

Temples of Hampi:

• Temple building in this region had a long history. Pallavas, Chalukyas, Hoysalas,
Cholas, all the rulers encouraged temple building. Temples were developed as
religious, social, cultural, economic and learning centres. Shrines of Virupaksha
and Pampadevi w’ere very significant sacred centre.
• The Vijayanagara kings claimed to rule on behalf of the God Virupaksha. They
also indicated their close links by using the title ‘Hindu Suratrana’ (Sanskritisation
of the Arabic term Sultan) meaning ‘Hindu Sultan’. In terms of temple architecture,