Vijayanagar Empire Cultural Development

Vijayanagar Empire Cultural Development:

Vijayanagar Kings were great patrons of literature and art. Under them, various languages such as Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil etc. flourished. As the declared objectives of the state were Hindu revivalism, Sanskrit language and literature got the support of the king. It is said that under Sayana, the younger brother of Madhava Vidhyaranya, commentaries were composed on four Vedas.

The period of Krishna Dev Raya is marked by Telugu renaissance. His court was decorated by Ashtdiggaja (eight great scholars of Telugu). Peddana was the greatest of them. He composed a text Swarochis Sambava. He composed another text called Manucharita. Likewise, another Telugu scholar Nandi Timmanna composed Parijatapharan. Krishna Dev Raya was himself was a scholar and he composed a text in Telugu named as ‘Amukta Malyada‘. The court of Krishna Dev Raya was also decorated by some scholar Tenalirama. He composed a text ‘Atmarangamahatmaya‘.

Vijayanagar kings gave patronage to Music and dance as well. Some scholar Lakshmidhar composed a text on Music called as Sangeeta Suryodaya. In Vijayanagar court, a new style of dance cum Music developed. This came to be known as the Yakshini style.

It is said that in South India there was greater excellence in architecture. But a large number of monuments were possibly destroyed by the soldiers of Islam. So after becoming the king, Bukka I made an appeal to the Hindu artists, masons and scholars to come to Vijayanagar court and to support the foundation of new monuments. It is said that the Dravida Style of architecture reached to its pinnacle under Vijayanagar kings. Krishna Dev Raya was a great builder. He got constructed Hazara temple and Vithalswami temple. We can underline two important features in Vijayanagar architecture. One of the features was the use of decorated pillars and another feature was the construction of Kalyanamandapam apart from Mandapa.

Under Vijayanagar, a new school of painting developed. This is known as Lipakshi painting. In this style of painting the subjects were taken from Ramayana and Mahabharatha.