1 - Introduction

Summary

The overall aim of this volume is to provide an introduction to the architecture and art of Southern India under the Vijayanagara empire and the lesser kingdoms that succeeded it. The chronological span of the survey opens with the foundation of Vijayanagara in the middle of the fourteenth century and closes with the decline of the successor states in the middle of the eighteenth century. The most important of these successor states were founded by the Nayakas, originally governors under the Vijayanagara emperors; but other figures also emerged as independent rulers towards the end of this era.

As an attempt to encompass one aspect of Southern Indian culture in these centuries, this study contributes to what is now a well-established field of enquiry. Historians are among the first to have recognised the significance of the Vijayanagara and Nayaka periods. They have reconsidered the political structure of the empire, investigated the peasant economy of large land holdings, and examined the accounts of the lucrative overseas trade. Historians of religion constitute another group of scholars that has turned to Southern India in these centuries. Their documentation of cult shrines and rites of worship, as well as of myths and legends, has gone far to reveal the rich diversity of religious traditions that flourished at this time, and indeed continues to do so today. The most recent wave of interest seems to be directed towards an anthropology of courtly culture, particularly under the Nayakas and their contemporaries. Translations of royal epics and poems provide new perspectives on the lives and ideals of Southern Indian rulers and courtiers.