Group of Monuments at Hampi historical timeline

The Hampi landscape had sacred associations before the Vijayanagara court arrived. Virupaksha worship and settlement along the Tungabhadra helped give the later capital religious depth as well as defensible terrain and water.

Chronology

1. Before the 14th century Sacred places and communities occupy the river landscape; parts of the Virupaksha tradition predate the imperial city.
2. Traditionally 1336 Harihara I and Bukka I are associated with the formation of Vijayanagara rule and the capital's foundation.
3. 14th–15th centuries Successive rulers expand temple, market, defensive, residential and hydraulic systems.
4. 1509 Krishnadevaraya begins a reign associated with military expansion, literature and major building.
5. 1513 His eastern campaign is commemorated through the Krishna Temple complex and related urban work.
6. 1529 Achyuta Deva Raya succeeds Krishnadevaraya; construction continues across the capital.
7. 1565 Vijayanagara forces are defeated at Talikota. The capital is plundered, courtly functions move and large districts decline.
8. Later centuries Worship, cultivation and local settlement continue even as the imperial metropolis becomes an archaeological landscape.
9. 1986 UNESCO inscribes the property under criteria (i), (iii) and (iv).
10. 1999 UNESCO places Hampi on the List of World Heritage in Danger amid management and infrastructure concerns.
11. 2006 The property leaves the danger list after corrective measures, although development, encroachment and land-use pressure remain.

The defeat of 1565 is decisive but should not be narrated as the instantaneous disappearance of every community. Stone courtly and sacred structures survived unevenly; perishable buildings vanished more completely; active ritual continued at Virupaksha. Archaeological survey, conservation, tourism and modern infrastructure have since added new interventions. Reading Hampi well therefore means distinguishing imperial fabric, later repair, living worship and modern reconstruction.

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