Rayas, nayakas and Sultans

According to tradition, two brothers, Harihara and Bukka, founded the Vijayanagara empire in 1336. Its rulers were called rayas. Its main rivals were the Sultans of the Deccan and the Gajapati rulers of Orissa.

Warfare depended on cavalry, so horses were vital. They came from Arabia and Central Asia, at first through Arab traders; local merchants called kudirai chettis (horse merchants) also took part, and from 1498 the Portuguese joined the trade.

Four dynasties ruled: the Sangama, the Saluva, the Tuluva (whose greatest ruler, Krishnadeva Raya, reigned 1509-29) and the Aravidu.

In 1565, at the battle of Rakshasi-Tangadi (also called Talikota), the combined armies of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda routed the Vijayanagara army led by its chief minister, Rama Raya. The victors sacked the city, and within a few years it was totally abandoned.

Within the empire, military chiefs called amara-nayakas governed territories given to them by the raya. They collected taxes, kept horses and elephants for the raya's army, and sent him tribute. Many of them later broke away and became independent kingdoms. Horses, trade and nayakas.