Vijayanagara Architecture

The Vijayanagara Empire ruled the Southern part of India, having Vijayanagara city as its capital, which is located on the banks of River Tungabhadra in Karnataka. The Vijayanagara Empire was founded by Harihara and Bukka of the Sangama dynasty in the 14th century.

Key Points

• Most of the architecture of the kingdom is concentrated around its capital. Many temples, monuments, palaces were built during their ruling across south India.
• The Vijayanagara style of architecture is said to be a combination of Chola, Chalukya, Hoysala, and Pandya kingdom architecture styles.
• The most material used in the construction of temples and structures during the ruling of the empire was “Hard granite”. Other than this, soapstone was used in some of the structures.
• The temples built during this period were usually surrounded by a strong enclosure. It contained a garbhagriha (sanctum), a navaranga (antrala), mandapa (hall), and rangamantapa (enclosed pillared hall).
• Large temples constructed in the era have tall Rayagopuram (Temple Tower) built with wood, brick, and stucco.

Temples built by the Vijayanagara Empire

Some of the temples built in the empire are- Someshwara temple, Saavira Kambada Basadi temple, Virupaksha temple, Narasimhaswamy temple, Mallikarjuna Temple, Narasimha Temple, Veera Bhadra Temple, Venkateswara Temple,  Vijayaraghava Permal temple, etc.

Hampi Stone Chariot

Hampi stone chariot was built on the orders of a Vijayanagara ruler King Krishnadevaraya. It is a structure built in the form of a chariot and is dedicated to Lord Garuda.  Recently, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has put a protective ring around the structure for its protection. The organization said that the ring will prevent people from climbing on the structure and damaging it.

The structure is built in front of the Vijaya Vittala Temple which was built by Vijayanagara ruler Devaraya II.

Hampi stone chariot is one of three stone chariots of India. The other two structures are in Odisha’s Konark and Tamil Nadu’s Mahabalipuram.