Harihara and Bukka

Topic: Vijayanagara and the Deccan · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 2 "Reshaping India's Political Map"; Class 12, Ch 3 "An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara"

Meaning

Harihara and Bukka were two brothers of the Sangama family who founded the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336. They set up their capital on the south bank of the river Tungabhadra and started the Sangama dynasty [4][5]. They matter because their new state became the main power of South India. It fought the Bahmani Sultanate and its successors for more than two centuries, and its capital at Hampi is now a World Heritage Site [2].

Explanation

Background: why a new state rose in 1336

• Delhi's grip on the Deccan was weak.
• The armies of the Delhi Sultanate had conquered the Kakatiya and Kampili kingdoms [4].

• Harihara and Bukka had served in the administrations of both kingdoms before these conquests [4].

• They broke away from Delhi.

• The Class 8 NCERT says the brothers were governors under Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Sultan of Delhi.

• They threw off Delhi's authority and set up their own state.

• The older Hoysala power was fading.

• The Hoysalas of Karnataka grew weak from two causes: attacks by the Delhi Sultanate, and fights inside their own kingdom.
• Their lands were absorbed into Vijayanagara in the mid-14th century. So the brothers' state took over a ready base of land, temples and craftsmen.

The founding: who, when, where

• Family: Britannica says the city and dynasty were founded by the five sons of Sangama. Of these, Harihara and Bukka became the first kings [4][5].

• This adds to the NCERT line ("founded by the brothers Harihara and Bukka"). It does not contradict it.

• Date: 1336, according to tradition and epigraphic evidence (writing carved on stone or copper plates).

• The NCERT timeline marks this date as uncertain. Treat 1336 as the accepted date, not a proved one.

• Place: the south bank of the Tungabhadra, at the site now called Hampi [2][3].

• Name: Vijayanagara means "city of victory" (vijaya = victory, nagara = city). The word names both the capital city and the empire ruled from it.
• Early extent: by 1336 Harihara held loose control over land from Nellore on the south-east coast to Badami in the west [4].

The hare-and-hounds legend (folklore)

• Popular folklore says the brothers saw a hare chasing hounds at the Hampi site, instead of running away from them.
• Their guru Vidyaranya read this as a sign. A land so brave that even a hare turns on dogs was the right place for a capital.
• This is a legend, not proof. NCERT marks it as popular tradition. In an answer, call it a story that gave the new dynasty religious backing.

What followed: the dynasty they started

• The Sangama dynasty ruled till about 1485. Then Narasimha of the Saluva family seized power [4].
• Contemporaries called the state karnataka samrajyamu (the Karnataka empire). "Vijayanagara Empire" is the modern name.
• At its largest, the empire ran from the river Krishna in the north to the far south of the peninsula.
• The kings called themselves rayas (kings). Popular tradition gave them the title narapati ("lord of men").
• Monuments at the capital were built from AD 1336 to 1570, that is from Harihara I down to Sadasiva Raya [2].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: 14th century; founding in 1336 (the date is not certain). The Sangama dynasty lasted till c. 1485 [4].
• Place: Vijayanagara (Hampi), south bank of the Tungabhadra, in Karnataka [2][3]. Early control stretched from Nellore to Badami [4].
• Key people:
• Harihara (Harihara I) and Bukka, sons of Sangama [4].
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Delhi Sultan they first served as governors (Class 8 NCERT).

• Vidyaranya, the guru in the folklore.

• How we know:

• Epigraphic evidence (inscriptions on stone and copper plates) and tradition give the 1336 date.
• Folklore gives the hare-and-hounds story.
• The ruins at Hampi cover nearly 26 sq km and have seven lines of fortifications (seven rings of defence walls) [2].

• Visitors from Arabia, Italy, Portugal and Russia wrote about the city [2].

• Heritage status: Hampi was put on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1986 as the "Group of Monuments at Hampi" [2].

Don't confuse with

• Alauddin Bahman Shah: he founded the Bahmani Sultanate in 1347, eleven years after Vijayanagara. His capital was Gulbarga [6]. He also rose from a revolt against Delhi, but he was Vijayanagara's northern rival, not one of its founders.
• Vidyaranya: in the legend he is the guru who read the hare-and-hounds sign. He was not a founder or a king. Harihara and Bukka were the founders.
• Saluva dynasty: this was the second ruling family. Narasimha of the Saluva family seized power in c. 1485 [4]. Harihara and Bukka founded the Sangama dynasty, the first one.
• Krishnadeva Raya (AD 1509–30): the ASI calls him the greatest ruler of the empire [2]. He was a much later king, not the founder.

Prelims Hooks

• Harihara and Bukka → Sangama dynasty → Vijayanagara, 1336. NCERT marks the date as uncertain [4].
• Before 1336 the brothers served the Kakatiya and Kampili administrations [4]. Class 8 NCERT calls them governors under Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
• Chronology trap: Vijayanagara (1336) → Bahmani Sultanate (1347) → Gajapatis of Orissa (1435) → Saluva takeover (c. 1485) [4][6].
• Vijayanagara = "city of victory", at Hampi on the south bank of the Tungabhadra. Hampi has been a World Heritage Site since 1986 [2].
• By 1336 Harihara loosely controlled land from Nellore (south-east coast) to Badami (west) [4].
• Hampi monuments date from Harihara I to Sadasiva Raya (AD 1336–1570) [2].

Mains Points

• The founding came out of the Tughlaq crisis in the Deccan.
• Delhi conquered the Kakatiya and Kampili kingdoms but could not hold the Deccan for long [4].
• Its own officers, Harihara and Bukka, broke away in 1336. Rebel commanders backing Alauddin Bahman Shah did the same in 1347 [6].

• So Vijayanagara and the Bahmani state were twin results of one political vacuum. Their later wars were over the fertile river valleys and overseas-trade revenue, not only religion.

• The brothers built their right to rule; they did not inherit it.

• They had no royal family line, so the hare-and-hounds legend and the guru Vidyaranya gave them religious backing.

• The narapati title placed the rayas in the shared Deccan language of kingship, beside gajapati and ashvapati.

• Continuity through absorption.

• Taking over the weakened Hoysala lands in the mid-14th century gave the new state territory and craft traditions.
• This helps explain why building at the capital began so early. Its monuments run from Harihara I's time in 1336 to 1570 [2].

Related concepts

• Vijayanagara Empire
• Vidyaranya
• Bahmani Sultanate
• Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah
• Afaqis and Dakhnis
• Mahmud Gawan
• Bahmani madrasa, Bidar
• Deccan sultanates
• Adil Shahi dynasty
• Ibrahim Adil Shah II

Read more

• Foundation and the Deccan political setting