09-01-2006, 07:27 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-01-2006, 07:28 AM by Bharatvarsh.)
Now coming to the Vijayanagara empire, no article can do full justice to the role this great empire played in saving dharma in testing times, it kept Muslims at bay from the South for almost 200 years.
Here is a book about this great empire:
http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/en...ry/vijayanagar/
The book can be described as the first book to try and rediscover the history of this great empire but it's main drawback is that it relies exclusively on foreign accounts of Vijayanagara, since then tons of native source material has been unearthed including many chronicles but they are not online so this book serves as a good introduction.
Another book I wanted to highlight is "Madhuravijayam" by Gangadevi, a Sanskrit chronicle about Kumara Kampana Raya's (son of Bukka I, one of the founders of the Vijayanagara empire) liberation of Madhura from Muslims, Gangadevi was his wife and accompanied him on these expeditions and described what she saw, she says that Kampana had a dream in which the mother Goddess came to him and presented him a sword and ordered him to liberate Madura and other holy places from Muslim oppression.
Madhuravijayam is online in Hindi:
http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scrip...e=5010010007170
And in Sanskrit:
http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scrip...e=5010010009642
The site also has 2 Telugu translations but they are not working.
A sample of what Gangadevi says in her chronicle:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->124 Actual spitting in the mouth of the non-Muslims was not uncommon. Ganga Devi wife of Kumar Kampana (died 1374 CE) of Vijayanagar writes as follows in her Madhuravijayam regarding the state of things in the Madura region when it was under Muslim rule: "The temples in the land have fallen into neglect, as worship in them has been stopped... The sweet odour of the sacrificial smoke and chant of the Vedas have deserted the villages which are now filled with the foul smell of roasted flesh and the fierce noise of the ruffianly Turushkas... The wicked mlechchas pollute the religion of the Hindus every day."
http://www.voiceofdharma.com/books/tpmsi/ch04.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gangadevi the wife of Kumar Kampana (died 1374 AD) of Vijayanagara writes as follows in her Madhurãvijayam regarding the state of things in the Madurai region when it was under Muslim rule: âThe wicked mlechchas pollute the religion of the Hindus every day. They break the images of gods into pieces and throw away the articles of worship. They throw into fire Srimad Bhagwat and other holy scriptures, forcibly take away the conchshell and bell of the Brahmanas, and lick the sandal paints on their bodies. They urinate like dogs on the tulsi plant and deliberately pass faeces in the Hindu temples. They throw water from their mouths on the Hindus engaged in worship, and harass the Hindu saints as if they were so many lunatics let large.â
http://www.voiceofdharma.com/books/siii/ch10.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Here is a book about this great empire:
http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/en...ry/vijayanagar/
The book can be described as the first book to try and rediscover the history of this great empire but it's main drawback is that it relies exclusively on foreign accounts of Vijayanagara, since then tons of native source material has been unearthed including many chronicles but they are not online so this book serves as a good introduction.
Another book I wanted to highlight is "Madhuravijayam" by Gangadevi, a Sanskrit chronicle about Kumara Kampana Raya's (son of Bukka I, one of the founders of the Vijayanagara empire) liberation of Madhura from Muslims, Gangadevi was his wife and accompanied him on these expeditions and described what she saw, she says that Kampana had a dream in which the mother Goddess came to him and presented him a sword and ordered him to liberate Madura and other holy places from Muslim oppression.
Madhuravijayam is online in Hindi:
http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scrip...e=5010010007170
And in Sanskrit:
http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scrip...e=5010010009642
The site also has 2 Telugu translations but they are not working.
A sample of what Gangadevi says in her chronicle:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->124 Actual spitting in the mouth of the non-Muslims was not uncommon. Ganga Devi wife of Kumar Kampana (died 1374 CE) of Vijayanagar writes as follows in her Madhuravijayam regarding the state of things in the Madura region when it was under Muslim rule: "The temples in the land have fallen into neglect, as worship in them has been stopped... The sweet odour of the sacrificial smoke and chant of the Vedas have deserted the villages which are now filled with the foul smell of roasted flesh and the fierce noise of the ruffianly Turushkas... The wicked mlechchas pollute the religion of the Hindus every day."
http://www.voiceofdharma.com/books/tpmsi/ch04.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gangadevi the wife of Kumar Kampana (died 1374 AD) of Vijayanagara writes as follows in her Madhurãvijayam regarding the state of things in the Madurai region when it was under Muslim rule: âThe wicked mlechchas pollute the religion of the Hindus every day. They break the images of gods into pieces and throw away the articles of worship. They throw into fire Srimad Bhagwat and other holy scriptures, forcibly take away the conchshell and bell of the Brahmanas, and lick the sandal paints on their bodies. They urinate like dogs on the tulsi plant and deliberately pass faeces in the Hindu temples. They throw water from their mouths on the Hindus engaged in worship, and harass the Hindu saints as if they were so many lunatics let large.â
http://www.voiceofdharma.com/books/siii/ch10.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->