What role did the sage Vidyaranya play in the founding of Vijayanagara?

Traditional accounts credit the sage Vidyaranya with inspiring the brothers Harihara and Bukka to establish the empire to protect Dharma.

Founding of the Vijayanagara Empire

UPSC Archival Analysis

Q: Who of the following founded a new city on the south bank of a tributary to river Krishna and undertook to rule his new kingdom as the agent of a deity to whom all the land south of the river Krishna was supposed to belong?

Harihara I founded the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336 on the banks of the Tungabhadra River. He and his successors famously ruled as agents of the deity Virupaksha, considering the kingdom to belong to the god.

Exam Year

2015

Evidence Source

Link

ID: MED_VIJ_2015_15 Ref: Satish Chandra, History of Medieval India

Who of the following founded a new city on the south bank of a tributary to river Krishna and undertook to rule his new kingdom as the agent of a deity to whom all the land south of the river Krishna was supposed to belong?