. Vijayanagar Empire Origin and Expansion There are different traditions regarding the foundation of the Vijayanagar kingdom. It is now generally accepted, on the basis of contemporary inscriptions, that the two brothers Harihara and Bukka, the eldest sons of one Sangama, earlier serving the Hoysala rulers of Karnataka, asserted their independence and laid foundation for a new kingdom in about . This happened soon after the death of the Hoysala king Ballala III at the hands of the Madurai Sultan.
Initially the capital was in or near about Anegondi on the north bank of the Tungabhadra river.But soon it was shifted to the Hoysala town Hosapattana (near Hampi) on the south bank. The capital was expanded and renamed Vijayanagara, the city of Victory. Thereafter, they proclaimed themselves the rulers of Vijayanagara or of Karnataka-Vijayanagara. Harihara celebrated his coronation in at this city.
Historians call this dynasty started by Harihara and Bukka Sangama after the name of his father or forefather. Vijayanagara rulers adopted the emblem of the Chalukyas, the boar, or varaha as their royal insignia. According to somelater-day tradition, Vidyaranya (also called Madhava), a renowned Saiva saint and Sanskrit scholar, is said to have persuaded the brothers to abandon their service to the Tughluqs and also to renounce Islam that they had adopted when they were imprisoned by the Sultan in Delhi. Vidyaranya is believed to have played an important role in the foundation of the Vijayanagara kingdom.
This is doubtful as, according to some inscriptions,Vidyaranya lived at the end of the fourteenth century, nearly sixty years after the foundation of Vijayanagar. The Vijayanagar kingdom was successively ruled by four dynasties over a period of more than three hundred years: the Sangama dynasty ( – ), the Saluva dynasty ( – ), XI History - Lesson - - Bahmani and Vijayanagar Kingdoms Viyayanagar empire went through a crisis after Devaraya II. Quarrels on account of succession and the inefficient successors encouraged the Gajapati king to dominate the coastal Andhra. Between – , the Gajapati army attacked many times and it conducted a victorious expedition even up to Tiruchirappalli on the