Vijaynagar Debate
Vijayanagar literally means ‘ City of Victory or Learning’. It emerged in the mid 14th century along with the Bahamani Kingdom as a reaction to the policies followed by Mohammad bin Tughlaq. The Vijayanagar Empire was established in 1336, by two brothers – Harihar and Bukka and ruled a substantial part of the southern peninsula of India for almost three centuries under the various dynasties-sangam,saluva.tuluva and aravidu.
The nature of the Vijayanagar state or polity is a matter of intense debate with different scholars propounding different views. The debate primarily revolves around the characterization of the Vijayanagar state – 1) whether it was a centralised state or segmentary one 2) the role played by the nayakas in rendering the identity to the Vijayanagar state 3) whether it was feudal or not.
IDEOLOGICAL FACTORS – Scholars like Sewell, K.A.N Sastri, Mahalingam and others (?) believed that ideological factors played a very important role in the rise and establishment of the Vijayanagar state. They present it as a Hindu reaction to an expansionist policy of Muslim rule, wherein the Vijayanagar rulers upheld the Hindu dharma. This was an important factor in changing the polity and society of the Vijayanagar Empire.
Different Views – Krishnaswamy Iyenger - Iyengar was the first scholar to emphasise on the Hindu-Muslim conflict as being the principal cause for the rise of the Vijayanagar Empire and to claim that resistance to Islam was the great vindication of Vijayanagar. He describes it as the Great National War of the Hindus. K.A.N.Sastri – Sastri viewed the Vijayanagar state as a kind of mission of upholding the Hindu faith against Islam B.A. Saletore - Saletore believed that the Vijayanagar Empire had been created by the release of ‘the latent energy of the Hindu Dharma in southern India’ by Muslim conquests and humiliation.
Critique – The theory has been criticized on the grounds that ideology and
The nature of the Vijayanagar state or polity is a matter of intense debate with different scholars propounding different views. The debate primarily revolves around the characterization of the Vijayanagar state – 1) whether it was a centralised state or segmentary one 2) the role played by the nayakas in rendering the identity to the Vijayanagar state 3) whether it was feudal or not.
IDEOLOGICAL FACTORS – Scholars like Sewell, K.A.N Sastri, Mahalingam and others (?) believed that ideological factors played a very important role in the rise and establishment of the Vijayanagar state. They present it as a Hindu reaction to an expansionist policy of Muslim rule, wherein the Vijayanagar rulers upheld the Hindu dharma. This was an important factor in changing the polity and society of the Vijayanagar Empire.
Different Views – Krishnaswamy Iyenger - Iyengar was the first scholar to emphasise on the Hindu-Muslim conflict as being the principal cause for the rise of the Vijayanagar Empire and to claim that resistance to Islam was the great vindication of Vijayanagar. He describes it as the Great National War of the Hindus. K.A.N.Sastri – Sastri viewed the Vijayanagar state as a kind of mission of upholding the Hindu faith against Islam B.A. Saletore - Saletore believed that the Vijayanagar Empire had been created by the release of ‘the latent energy of the Hindu Dharma in southern India’ by Muslim conquests and humiliation.
Critique – The theory has been criticized on the grounds that ideology and