A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c11.20

c11.20

¹ Buchanan ("Mysore," &c., iii. 110), while on a visit to Beidûr in Mysore in 1801, was shown by one Râmappa Varmika a Sanskrit book in his possession called the *Vidyâranya Sikka*, which relates that the founders of Vijayanagar were Hukka and Bukka, guards of the treasury of Pratâpa Rudra of Warangal. These young men came to the Guru, or spiritual teacher, Vidyâranya, who was head of the monastery of Sringêri, and the latter founded for them the city of Vijayanagar. This was in 1336, and Hukka was made first king. But this story entirely leaves out of account the most important point. How could two brothers, flying from a captured capital and a conquered kingdom, suddenly establish in a new country a great city and a sovereignty?