The Vijayanagara kingdom emerged in the fourteenth century in the Deccan and southern India at a time of considerable political instability. The weakening of the Delhi Sultanate’s authority in the south, the decline of earlier regional powers, and the political fragmentation of the Deccan created conditions for the rise of new states. Vijayanagara was founded in 1336 by Harihara and Bukka, traditionally regarded as the founders of the Sangama dynasty. The nature of its state formation was complex. It involved political consolidation, military expansion, administrative organisation, economic integration, religious legitimation and the incorporation of many local chiefs and social groups. The formation of Vijayanagara cannot be understood simply as the creation of a centralised kingdom by a single ruling family. It developed through the combination of earlier political traditions and new institutions suited to the changing conditions of medieval South India. The founders inherited and adapted administrative practices from the Hoysalas, Kakatiyas, Pandyas and other southern kingdoms. They also incorporated elements of the political and military practices that had developed in the Deccan under the Delhi Sultanate and other regional powers. Thus, Vijayanagara represented both continuity and change in the political history of South India. One important factor in its formation was the political vacuum created by the decline of established southern kingdoms. The campaigns of the Delhi Sultanate into the Deccan and South India during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries weakened states such as the Kakatiyas of Warangal and the Hoysalas. The collapse or weakening of these political structures created opportunities for ambitious regional leaders. Harihara and Bukka gradually established their authority in the Tungabhadra region and expanded their control over neighbouring territories. The geographical position of the kingdom was also important. The Tungabhadra basin provided a