This is the seventh volume of the series on Indian history, From Indus to Independence: A Trek through Indian History, and provides the history of the great Vijayanagara Empire. Named in aspiration of victory—in both the spiritual and temporal realms—Vijayanagara more than lived up to its name for more than three centuries, before it was brought down by a number of factors, some of them beyond its control. Vijayanagara was established at a critical juncture in the politico-religious history of Peninsular India. Even though it was not proclaimed as such, there is no doubt that the kingdom was created as the answer to the ferocious Islamic invasions of the 'Deep South' that was becoming a regular feature in Peninsular India. It succeeded in holding back the invading armies, for three long centuries, thereby blunting the zeal and urgency of the Islamic conquest. These three centuries provided the balm to make the interaction between Hinduism and Islam more congenial than at the outset of the Islamic invasion of the Deccan Plateau. This book provides a detailed historical narrative of the great Vijayanagara Empire and carries out an assessment of its successes and failures. The book provides the reader with an in-depth understanding of the irrevocable and fundamental forces of history that have been instrumental in forming the present that we live today.

Dr Sanu Kainikara is a former fighter pilot of the Indian Air Force and currently a practising Military Strategist residing in Canberra, Australia. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of New South Wales, the inaugural Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Regional Security, Canberra and a Visiting Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Air Power Studies in New Delhi. He is the author of numerous papers on international politics, national security, and military strategy in reputed international journals; and has also presented papers, on invitation, in a number of International Conferences around the world. Professor Kainikara is a regular guest lecturer at a number of military command and staff colleges across the world. Sanu has so far authored 12 books dealing with national security, military strategy, air power; and also three collections of political essays. He is a keen student of Indian history and is currently in the process of narrating the history of India in a series of volumes with the generic title From Indus to Independence: A Trek through Indian History. This book is Volume VII in the series.