Find out more about any one of the major cities which flourished in the subcontinent during c. fourteenth-seventeenth centuries. Describe the
architecture of the city. Are there any features to suggest that these were political centres? Are there buildings that were ritually significant? Is there
an area for commercial activities? What are the features that distinguish the urban layout from that of surrounding areas?

One of the major cities which flourished in the subcontinent during the Christian era from the period of fourteen to seventeenth century. We can refer here Hampi or Vijayanagara, capital city of the Vijayanagara Empire as an excellent example.

(a) According to the instruction of the project the architecture of the city and its features as well as political activities (as a centre or capital of the empire) are summarise in the following manner :

Introduction : A large number of inscriptions of the kings of Vijayanagara and their nayakas recording donations to temples as well as describing important events have been recovered. Several travellers visited the city and wrote about it. Notable among their accounts are those of an Italian trader named Nicolo de Conti, an ambassador named Abdur Razzaq sent by the ruler of Persia, a merchant named Afanasii Nikitin from Russia, all of whom visited the city in the fifteenth century and those of Duarte Barbosa, Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz from Portugal, who came in the sixteenth century.

The Capital and its environs : Like most capitals, Vijayanagara was characterised by a distinctive physical layout and building style.

Vijayanagara (Hampi) was a sprawling city : This is an excerpt irom Domingo Paes’s description of Vijayanagara :

“The size of this city I do not write here, because it cannot all be seen from any one spot, but I climbed a hill whence I could see a great part of it.

I could not see it all because it lies between several ranges of hills. What I saw from thence seemed to me as large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight. There are many groves of trees within it, in the gardens of the houses, and many conduits of water which flow into the midst of it, and in palace there are lakes, and the king has close to his palace a palm-grove and other rich fruit-bearing trees.”

Good water supply provision : Natural basin formed by river, Tungabhadra which flows in north easterly direction was used as a reliable water resource by the people of Hampi or Vijayanagara. The state and people have consturcted tanks and canals for water supply.

Fortification of the city : We find the remains of the great fortress walls of Hampi. This historical fact has been verified by travellers also. For instance Abdur Razzaq, an ambassador sent by the ruler of Persia to Calicut (present-day Kozhikode) in the fifteenth century, was greatly impressed by the fortification and mentioned seven lines of forts. These encircle not only the city but also its agricultural hinterland and forests. The outermost wall linked the hills surrounding the city. The massive masonry construction was slightly tapered.

Roads : Archaeologists have studied roads within the city and those leading out from it. These have been identified by tracing paths through gateways, as well as by finds of pavements. Roads generally wound around through the valleys, avoiding rocky terrain. Some of the most important roads extended from temple gateways, and were lined by bazaars.

The urban core of Hampi: Moving along the roads leading into the urban core, there is relatively little archaeological evidence of the houses of ordinary people. Archaeologists have found fine Chinese porcelain in some areas, including in the north-eastern corner of the urban core and suggest that these areas may have been occupied by rich traders.

Prominent Buildings :

(a) Lotus Mahal : One of the most beautiful buildings in the royal centre is the Lotus Mahal, so named by British travellers in the nineteenth century. While the name is certainly romantic, historians are not quite sure what the building was used for. One suggestion found in a map drawn by Mackenzie, is that it may have been a council chamber, a place where the king met his advisers.

Fie. : Lotus Mahal

(b) Hazara Rama Temple : Hazara Rama Temple was probably meant to be used only by the king and his family. The images in the central shrine are missing however, sculpted panels on the walls survive. These include scenes from the Ramayana sculpted on the inner walls of the shrine.