[7] The empire's territory covered most of the lands of the modern-day Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, and some parts of Telangana and Maharashtra.

The empire's patronage enabled fine arts and literature to reach new heights in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Sanskrit with topics such as astronomy, mathematics, medicine, fiction, musicology, historiography and theater gaining popularity.

[12][13] Further south in the Deccan region, Hoysala commander, Singeya Nayaka-III, declared independence after the Muslim forces of the Delhi Sultanate defeated and captured the territories of the Yadava Empire in 1294.

[25] In the first two decades after the founding of the empire, Harihara I gained control over most of the area south of the Tungabhadra River and earned the title of "master of the eastern and western seas" (Purvapaschima Samudradhishavara).

By 1374 Bukka Raya I, successor to Harihara I, defeated the chiefdom of Arcot, the Reddys of Kondavidu, and the Sultan of Madurai, and had gained control over Goa in the west and the Tungabhadra-Krishna River doab in the north.

The Persian visitor Firishta attributes Deva Raya II's war preparations, which included augmenting his armies with Muslim archers and cavalry, to be the cause of the conflict.

Contemporary Persian ambassador Abdur Razzak attributes the war to the Bahamani Sultan capitalizing on the confusion caused by an internal revolt within the Vijayanagara Empire, including an attempt to assassinate the Raya by his brother.

[35] Mallikarjuna's successor Virupaksha Raya II led a life of pleasure perusing wine and women leading to the loss of Goa and much of Karnataka to the Bahmani Sultanate.

[37] Saluva Narasimha left his two adolescent sons under the care of general Tuluva Narasa Nayaka who ably defended the empire from their traditional enemies, the Gajapati king and the Bahamani Sultan.

In comparison, the Vijayanagara army depended on slow-moving war elephants, a cavalry riding mostly locally bred weaker horses wielding shorter-reach javelins, and their archers used traditional bamboo bows with a shorter range.

[o] The army recruited from all classes of society, supported by the collection of additional feudal tributes from feudatory rulers, and consisted of archers and musketeers wearing quilted tunics, shieldmen with swords and poignards in their girdles, and soldiers carrying shields so large that armour was not necessary.

Betel leaves, areca (for chewing), and coconut were the principal cash crops, and large-scale cotton production supplied the weaving centers of the empire's vibrant textile industry.

[73] Exports to China intensified and included cotton, spices, jewels, semi-precious stones, ivory, rhino horn, ebony, amber, coral, and aromatic products such as perfumes.

The ports of Mangalore, Honavar, Bhatkal, Barkur, Cochin, Cannanore, Machilipatnam, and Dharmadam were important for they not only provided secure harbors for traders from Africa, Arabia, Aden, the Red sea, China and Bengal but some also served as ship building centers.

The empire's principal exports were pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, myrobalan, tamarind timber, anafistula, precious and semi-precious stones, pearls, musk, ambergris, rhubarb, aloe, cotton cloth and porcelain.

Chief imports from Palestine were copper, quicksilver (mercury), vermilion, coral, saffron, coloured velvets, rose water, knives, colored camlets, gold and silver.

According to Talbot, caste was more importantly determined by occupation or the professional community people belonged to, although the family lineage (Gotra) and the broad distinction described in sacred Hindu texts were also factors.

The Tottiyans were shepherds who later gained marginal ruling status (poligars), Saurashtrans were traders who came from present-day Gujarat and rivalled the Brahmins for some benefits, the Reddys were agriculturists and the Uppilia were salt farmers.

[84] The separation of the priestly class from material wealth and power made them ideal arbiters in local judicial matters, and the nobility and aristocracy ensured their presence in every town and village to maintain order.

By this time South Indian women had crossed most barriers and were actively involved in fields hitherto considered the monopoly of men such as administration, business, trade and the fine arts.

[z] The arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century and their connections through trade with the empire, the propagation of the faith by Francis Xavier (1545) and later the presence of Dutch settlements fostered the growth of Christianity in the south.

[132][133] During the rule of the Vijayanagara Empire, poets, scholars and philosophers wrote primarily in Kannada, Telugu and Sanskrit, and also in other regional languages such as Tamil and covered such subjects as religion, biography, Prabandha (fiction), music, grammar, poetry, medicine and mathematics.

[134] Other writers were famous Dvaita saints of the Udupi order such as Jayatirtha (earning the title Tikacharya for his polemical writings), Vyasatirtha who wrote rebuttals to the Advaita philosophy and of the conclusions of earlier logicians, and Vadirajatirtha and Sripadaraya both of whom criticized the beliefs of Adi Sankara.

[135] The Kannada poets and scholars of the empire produced important writings supporting the Vaishnava Bhakti movement heralded by the Haridasas (devotees of Vishnu), Brahminical and Veerashaiva (Lingayatism) literature.

Emperor Krishnadevaraya was an accomplished Telugu scholar and wrote the Amuktamalyada,[ac] a story of the wedding of the god Vishnu to Andal, the Tamil Alvar saint poet and the daughter of Periyalvar at Srirangam.

[147] The Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics flourished during this period with scholars such as Madhava, who made important contributions to trigonometry and calculus, and Nilakantha Somayaji, who postulated on the orbitals of planets.

[148] Vijayanagara architecture, according to art critic Percy Brown is a vibrant combination and blossoming of the Chalukya, Hoysala, Pandya and Chola styles, idioms that prospered in previous centuries.

Afanasy Nikitin (1470) came from Russia,[161] while Niccolò de' Conti (1420),[162] Ludovico di Varthema (1505), Caesar Fredericci (1567) and Filippo Sassetti (1585)[163][74] were travelers from Italy and Abdul Razzaq (1443)[164] from Persia.

Contemporary Muslim writers who were either under the patronage of rival kingdoms (the Deccan sultanates) or were visitors to Vijayanagara and accomplished valuable works are Ziauddin Barani (Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, 1357), Isamy (Fatuhat us salatin), Syed Ali Tabatabai (Burhan-i-Maisar, 1596), Nisammuddin Bakshi, Firishta (Tarik-i-Firishta) and Rafiuddin Shirazi (Tazkirat ul Mulk, 1611).

[166][167] In the memoirs of Niccolò de' Conti, an Italian merchant and traveller who visited Hampi about 1420, the city had an estimated circumference of 60 miles (97 km) and it enclosed agriculture and settlements in its fortifications.