Vijayanagara, the city of victory

Founded by the brothers Harihara and Bukka in 1336, Vijayanagara grew into the capital of south India's last great Hindu empire, and a Portuguese visitor judged it as large as Rome. In 1565 an alliance of Deccan sultanates crushed its army at Talikota, and the city was looted and abandoned. Its temples, bazaars and royal enclosures lie among the boulders of Hampi.