A powerful South Indian empire (1336 to 1646) founded by Harihara and Bukka on the banks of the Tungabhadra, with its capital at Vijayanagara (modern Hampi), which long resisted the Deccan Sultanates.
- Founded in 1336 by Harihara I and Bukka I (the Sangama dynasty); later dynasties were the Saluva, Tuluva, and Aravidu.
- The empire reached its peak under Krishnadevaraya (reigned 1509 to 1529) of the Tuluva dynasty, a patron of Telugu and Sanskrit literature (author of the Amuktamalyada) and of the Ashtadiggajas, eight Telugu poets at his court.
- The capital Hampi (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is famed for the Virupaksha temple, the Vitthala temple with its stone chariot and musical pillars, and the Lotus Mahal.
- The empire was decisively defeated by a confederacy of Deccan Sultanates at the Battle of Talikota in 1565, after which Hampi was sacked.
- Foreign travellers such as Abdur Razzaq (Persian), Domingo Paes and Nuniz (Portuguese), and Nicolo Conti (Italian) described its wealth and grandeur.
The 1336 founding by Harihara and Bukka, the four dynasties, Krishnadevaraya and the Ashtadiggajas, Hampi's monuments, and the 1565 Battle of Talikota are recurring medieval-South-India facts.
Vijayanagara (a Hindu empire) faced the Deccan Sultanates (its rivals); the Battle of Talikota (1565) destroyed Vijayanagara's dominance and is not the same as any Mughal battle.
South Indian empire founded in 1336 at Hampi by Harihara and Bukka; peaked under Krishnadevaraya, fell after the Battle of Talikota (1565).