Hampi is also referred to a Virupakshapura, Vidyanagara
and Vijayanagar. In course of time, this capital city developed into a sprawling
metropolis with the establishment of suburbs of Krishnapura, Nagalapura, Tirumalapura
and others. Lord Virupaksha became the patron deity of Vijayanagar rulers and
they used the word " VIRUPAKSHA " as their insignia.
The city was founded in 1336 by two brothers Harihara (also called Hakka) and
Bukka who had been taken as prisoners of war by the Delhi Sultan, Mohammed-bin-Tuglak
in 1326-1327, when the Chalukyan kingdom of Kampili near Hampi was overthrown.
Harihara and Bukka seem to have been model prisoners, because when his southern
provinces began to get rebellious, the sultan sent back the brothers to restore
order. Restore order they did, and so successfully that they were soon able to
set up an independent kingdom. The Vijayanagar Empire grew in strength and splendor
and resisted all onslaughts till 1565 when the then Vijayanagar commander Rama
Raya was defeated by a confederation of Muslim kings and the capital city was
ransacked.
The Vijayanagar rulers were in power from 1336 till the battle of Rakkasa -Tangadi
in 1565. After the disastrous battle, the rulers shifted their capital from Hampi,
which never recovered its past glory and is in a ruined state till today. The
disaster of the 1565 defeat can still be seen in the ruins of the imperial-city.
Workmen seem to have fled, abandoning their tools by the side of the river. The
broken kingdom came under the Moghul rule in 1689 and was later annexed by the
Nizam of Hyderabad in 1780.
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