Hampi, on the southern bank of the Tungabhadra river in Karnataka, was the capital of the famous Vijayanagara kingdom from the mid-fourteenth century to 1965 AD. As the seat of power of a kingdom that stretched from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal and from the Deccan plateau to the tip of the peninsula, Vijayanagara was built by its rulers as a magnificent showpiece of imperial prosperity. This book pays homage to the architectural splendour of Hampi as preserved in the monuments that consist mainly of religious, courtly, and military buildings. Anila Verghese takes us on a guided tour of the ruins highlighting the merging of different art traditions of the Deccan and sough India that led to the evolution of the typically Vijayanagaran style of architecture, sculpture, and paintings. The site has been divided into four functional zones: the ‘sacred centre’, ‘urban core’, ‘royal centre’ and ‘suburban centre’; each has been described in detail and complemented by photographs, maps, and drawings. Written in an accessible style by an acknowledged expert on Hampi, the book will be of immense value to general readers and the informed tourists interested in the most famous Hindu city of medieval India.
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