Brothers Harihara and Bukka founded the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in southern India to resist Muslim invasions from the north. It became a major center of trade, architecture, and arts, with Hampi as its capital. The empire protected Hindu culture and facilitated economic prosperity through agriculture and commerce. Its fall in 1565 at Talikota marked a shift in Deccan power dynamics.

Kannada, Telugu, and Sanskrit literature flourished under patronage, with poets like Kumara Vyasa producing epics. This era influenced South Indian bhakti poetry and regional literary movements. Later Indian poets drew on Vijayanagara's cultural renaissance for themes of resistance and synthesis.