The essentials
After the city was sacked in 1565, Vijayanagara was gradually deserted and its ruins lay half-forgotten, although local people continued to remember it and worship at its temples. The ruins at Hampi were brought to light in 1800 by Colonel Colin Mackenzie, an engineer, surveyor and cartographer working for the English East India Company. He later became the first Surveyor General of India.
Mackenzie's first survey map of the site drew on information from local traditions, especially from the priests of the Virupaksha temple and the shrine of Pampadevi. The name Hampi itself comes from Pampadevi, the local mother goddess.
Key points
- Mackenzie surveyed the site to understand the history of the region; he believed it would help the Company administer the land better.
- From 1856 photographers such as Alexander Greenlaw recorded the monuments, which later helped scholars study them.
- In the following decades epigraphists collected and studied many inscriptions found on temple walls and other structures.
- Historians combined these inscriptions with foreign travellers' accounts and literature in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit.
- In 1976 Hampi was recognised as a site of national importance; detailed archaeological mapping followed.
Exam tips
Link each source to what it tells us: survey maps (layout), photographs (state of buildings), inscriptions (grants and royal claims), travellers' accounts (city life and festivals).
Common mistakes
- Do not confuse Colin Mackenzie with Alexander Cunningham, who is linked to Harappa.
- Hampi is the name of the ruins today; Vijayanagara was the name of the city and empire.