A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.118

c17.118

The emperors of Vijayanagar addressed themselves deliberately to the task of preserving the Hindu social and political order from being destroyed by Islam, and in this task they were eminently successful in spite of repeated reverses in the field of battle. That today South Indian society presents a striking contrast in many respects to society in North India, that South India is still adorned by a large number of great temples that enshrine the artistic achievements of successive generations of Hindu master-builders, and that the Hindu-Muslim ‘problem’ was virtually unknown in the South furnish some measure of the success that attended the efforts of Vijayanagar and its rulers.