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Vijayanagara

Remains of this capital city are spread out over a beautiful, hilly landscape along the Tungabhadra. Founded in the mid-14th century, Vijayanagara became most powerful during the reigns of Krishnadevaraya and Achyutadevaraya. This was also the period of greatest architectural activity, both these rulers commissioned several buildings in the royal capital and in other parts of their vast empire. Continuous conflict with the Bahmanis, then with Bidar, Bijapur and Golconda, ended in the Battle of Talikota, in which the Vijayanagara forces were defeated and the capital thoroughly sacked and burnt. Ruins of palaces, temple-complexes, monoliths, royal baths, and mosques still lie mostly deserted and dilapidated.