A Forgotten Empire (vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India

In the early 14th century, on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, a new power emerged from the chaos of collapsing kingdoms and invading armies. The Vijayanagar Empire, founded in 1336 by brothers Harihara and Bukka, would become the mightiest Hindu realm in Indian history, a civilization that defied Muslim conquest for over three centuries. Its capital Hampi, with its staggering temples and palaces, awed all who beheld it. Robert Sewell, the colonial administrator who became the empire's definitive chronicler, built this work on something extraordinary: translations of two Portuguese chronicles from the 16th century, eye-witness accounts by travelers Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz. These foreign observers left behind vivid portraits of a civilization at its zenith, its rulers, its court rituals, and its remarkable ability to absorb and survive the pressures of encroaching Islamic sultanates from the north. The book captures the empire's heroic resistance, the political intrigue of the Deccan, and the very texture of daily life in one of history's great forgotten cities.