In This Article
The Vijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire (1336-1646) was one of medieval India's most remarkable political and cultural achievements. Founded in response to the devastating invasions that had destroyed several South Indian kingdoms, Vijayanagara served as a bulwark against the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan. For over three centuries, it maintained an independent Hindu kingdom that preserved and developed Sanskrit learning, temple culture, and classical arts.
At its peak under Krishnadevaraya (1509-1529), the empire encompassed most of present-day South India. Its capital at Hampi was one of the largest cities in the world, with lavish temples, palaces, and cultural institutions. Visitors from Portugal, Persia, and Italy wrote astonished accounts of its wealth and sophistication.
Musical Patronage
Where North India was experiencing transformation under Islamic cultural influence — with the development of Khayal, the sitar, and new raga systems — Vijayanagara maintained the older unified musical tradition described by Sharngadeva in the Sangeetha Ratnakara. The empire's patronage of music, temple arts, and Sanskrit scholarship created continuity during a period when many other centres of classical culture were disrupted.
The rulers of Vijayanagara were themselves scholars and musicians. Krishnadevaraya was a noted Telugu poet and patron of the Ashtadiggajas (eight great poets) at his court. Vyasatirtha, the royal preceptor, was a major philosopher and supporter of music. This intellectual ferment provided the conditions under which Carnatic music could develop its distinctive character.
Purandara Dasa and the Haridasa Tradition
Purandara Dasa (1484-1564), often called the "father of Carnatic music" or Sangeetha Pitamaha, was a Vijayanagara-era saint and composer. Born Srinivasa Nayaka, a wealthy merchant, he renounced his wealth after a spiritual awakening and became a wandering musician-saint. His compositions — primarily in Kannada — span devotional, philosophical, and pedagogical themes.
Purandara Dasa's greatest contribution was systematising music education. He created the svaravali (basic scale exercises), janta varisai (ornamented note patterns), and other foundational teaching materials still used today. Every beginning Carnatic music student starts with Purandara Dasa's exercises, connecting them directly to this Vijayanagara-era foundation.
Purandara Dasa was part of the broader Haridasa movement — a community of devotional composers including Kanakadasa, Vijaya Dasa, and Jagannatha Dasa. Together, they composed thousands of songs in Kannada that celebrate Vishnu and advance a popular, accessible spirituality rooted in music.
Lasting Influence on Carnatic Music
When Vijayanagara fell in 1565 after the catastrophic Battle of Talikota, the surviving nobility and artists fled south. Many musicians settled in Thanjavur, Mysore, and other Southern courts that would later become the great centres of Carnatic music. They carried with them the Haridasa repertoire, the theoretical frameworks developed in Vijayanagara, and the commitment to preserving Sanskrit-based classical tradition.
The Trinity of Carnatic Music — Tyagaraja, Dikshitar, and Shyama Shastri — working two centuries later in Thanjavur, built on this Vijayanagara foundation. Their use of Sanskrit and Telugu, their devotional themes, their integration of Haridasa-style bhakti with classical form — all these reflect the continuity from Vijayanagara. The empire is gone, but its musical legacy lives on every time a student sings their first svaravali or a concert artist performs a Purandara Dasa composition.