Medieval city of Vijayanagara
Notes by foreign travellers such as Abdur Razzak, the Persian who visited Vijayanagara in 1440, mention seven fortifications before the gates to the royal palace.
The notes of Robert Sewell describe countless shops and bazaars (markets) filled with people from different nationalities between this fortification and the palace.
The capital city of the Vijayanagara Empire was founded on the banks of the Tungabhadra River by Harihara I and Bukka Raya I in the early 14th century.
[7] Recent excavations have unearthed archaeological artifacts dating from the 3rd century BC to early in the 2nd millennium, documenting evidence from over seven hundred important sites.
Starting at its outermost fortifications, the principality of Vijayanagar spans from Anegondi in the north to Hosapete in the south and covers a total area of 650 km².
[8][9] Vijayanagara's core, an area of 25 km², includes the Tungabhadra River flowing through rocky terrain with huge boulders piled in massive formations.
[10] The rocky hillocks made excellent sentinel points for watch towers and granite boulders provided the raw material for temple construction.
South of the river the rocky landscape disappears, replaced by flat cultivable land where large and small temples complexes were built.
One legend describes a Goddess, Pampa, who married Virupaksha (Lord Shiva) on the Hemakuta Hill and was thereafter considered to be an incarnation of Parvati.
The other legend draws on the Hindu epic Ramayana in which Lord Rama and his brother, Lakshmana, searched for Sita in the vicinity of the ancient capital of Kishkindha and met Hanuman on Rishyamuka Hill.
[13] Archaeology traces the history of Hampi to neolithic settlements while inscriptional evidence confirms that in more recent times the area came under the rule of the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas and finally the tiny kingdom of Kampili.
Additional defensive features were watch posts and bastions located along roads, gates and hilltops that provided maximum visibility.
Envoys from other kingdoms, merchants, pilgrims, soldiers and ordinary people all travelled about in the great city on its extensive network of roads.
[19] The greater metropolitan region of the city was inhabited by royalty, imperial officers, soldiers, agriculturists, craftsman, merchants, labourers among others.
Numerous canals were dug to provide a perennial water supply to the narrow strip of fertile land bordering the Tungabhadra River.
[21] As well as being a bustling commercial and military encampment, the metropolitan area had over one hundred and forty sacred sites, making it an important centre of religion and religious pilgrimage.
