The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara, Volume 1The Vijayanagara rajas ruled a substantial part of the southern peninsula of India for over three hundred years, beginning in the mid-fourteenth century, and during this epoch the region was transformed from its medieval past towards a modern colonial future. Concentrating on the later sixteenth- and seventeenth-century history of Vijayanagara, Burton Stein details the pattern of rule established in this important and long-lived Hindu kingdom, which was followed by other, often smaller, kingdoms of peninsular India until the onset of colonialism. Through an analysis of the politics, society and economy, Stein addresses the central question of the extent to which Vijayanagara, as a medieval Hindu kingdom, can be viewed as a prototype of the polities and societies confronted by the British in the late eighteenth century. This work thus presents an understanding of one of the great medieval kingdoms of India, and a more general assessment of the nature of the state, society and culture on the eve of European colonial rule. |
Common terms and phrases
Achyutadevaraya agriculture Aliya Rama Aluvakonda ancient Andhra Anegondi army authority Bahmani Bijapur Brahman Bukka capital centralised Chandragiri Chellappa chiefdoms chiefly chiefs Chola coast coastal commanders core Coromandel cultivators Deccan Devaraya dominant dynasty élite fifteenth fortress fourteenth century Gajapatis gara Gingee Golkonda Hampi heartland Hindu historians Hoysala Ikkeri important inscriptions irrigation Islam Kakatiya Kallar Karashima Karnataka Kaveri Krishna Krishnadevaraya Krishnaswami Aiyangar land later lordships Madras Madurai magnates major Maratha Maravar merchants military Mughal Muslim Mysore nagara Nayaka Nilakanta Sastri northern Karnataka Nuniz Pandya poligars political Portuguese Pudukkottai Raja's Rama Raja Ramnad Rayalaseema rayas regimes reign revenue royal centre rule rulers Saluva Narasimha Sangama shrines sixteenth century soldiers South India southern peninsula Subbarayalu successors sultans Tamil country Tamil plain Tanjavur Telangana Telugu temple territory throne Tirumala Tirunelveli Tirupati Tondaiman trade Tuluva Tungabhadra upland Venkataramanayya Vijaya Vijayana Vijayanagara history Vijayanagara kingdom Vijayanagara kings villages Virupaksha warrior wealth zone
References to this book
Empire Writing: An Anthology of Colonial Literature, 1870-1918 Elleke Boehmer No preview available - 1998 |