Krishnadevaraya and Talikota

In the 16th century, Vijayanagara reached its peak under Krishnadevaraya, who expanded and secured its power over the Deccan.

The book says his rule brought both military power and a cultural renaissance (a great flowering of culture).

He supported poets and scholars in Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada. He also wrote himself: an epic poem in Telugu, Āmuktamālyada, on the story of the Tamil poet-saint Āṇḍāl.

One section of that poem is a Rājanīti ('royal policy'), where he set out his own ideas of good government. A ruler explaining his principles in his own verse is unusual, and very useful to historians.

He gave grants to many temples, including Tirupati and the Vitthala temple in his capital. The Vitthala temple's great hall has stone pillars whose smaller columns give out different musical notes when struck: the 'musical pillars'.

Foreign travellers came to trade. The Portuguese were treated especially well, for a practical reason: they sold horses, and the king did not want those horses going to enemy kingdoms.

One of them, Domingo Paes, left a detailed record: "This city ... seemed to me as large as Rome, and very beautiful to the sight ... This is the best provided city in the world."

Krishnadevaraya died of illness in 1529. In 1565 the Deccan Sultanates, though rivals of one another, formed a coalition (an alliance) and defeated Vijayanagara's forces, led by Ramaraya, at the Battle of Talikota. The city was sacked over several months: its buildings and most temples destroyed and many of its people killed. The empire broke into regions ruled by Nayakas (former military governors), and ended in the mid-17th century.