VIJAYANAGAR (ve-jah-yahn'a-gar) ("the city of vic tory"), an ancient Hindu kingdom and ruined city of southern India. The kingdom lasted from about 1336 to 1565, forming during all that period a bulwark against the Mohammedan inva sion from the north. The great part of its history is obscure; but its power and wealth are attested by more than one European traveller, and also by the character of the existing ruins. At the beginning of the 14th century Mohammedan raiders had effectually destroyed every Hindu principality throughout south ern India, but did not attempt to occupy the country perma nently. In this state of desolation Hindu nationality rose again under two brothers, named Harihara and Bukka, of whom little more can be said than that they were Kanarese by race. Hence
their kingdom was afterwards known as the Carnatic (q.v.). In 1565, on the downfall of the kingdom, the confederate sultans of Bijapur, Ahmednagar and Golconda, overwhelmed the Vija yanagar army in the plain of Talikota, and sacked the defenceless city. The city has ever since remained a wilderness of immense ruins, which are now conserved by the British Government.
See R. Sewell, A Forgotten Empire (19oo) ; and B. S. Row, History of Vijayanagar (Madras, 1906).