Vijayanagara Empire Army

Timeline

1. 1336–1350Vijayanagara city on the banks of the Tungabhadra River · KarnatakaAfter Harihara I and Bukka I founded the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336, they integrated local Nayaka warriors and temple militias into an army centered on cavalry and war elephants, aimed at countering pressure from the Islamic sultanates of the northern Deccan and controlling the Kannada region.
2. 1351–1360Southern frontier of the Deccan Plateau · Deccan PlateauIn the 1350s Bukka I and his successors continued expanding northward and eastward; the army fought with heavy cavalry, war elephants, and archer infantry in coordination, capturing some fortresses in the Maratha region. By this stage the army had taken on imperial scale, and the enfeoffment system of Nayaka commanders was taking initial shape.
3. c. 1370–1400Core territory of the Vijayanagara Empire · KarnatakaIn the later 14th century the imperial army became further professionalized: war elephants and cavalry remained the mainstay, while infantry and firearms (rockets, early muskets) began experimental issue; temples and merchant groups continued to fund military supplies, and the army became the core pillar sustaining the Hindu regime of South India.