Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 20, 2014

Vijayanagara literature in Kannada is the body of literature composed in the Kannada language of South India during the Vijayanagar Empire (14th–16th centuries). The Vijayanagara empire was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I. The empire is named after its capital city Vijayanagara, whose ruins surround modern Hampi, now a World Heritage Site in Karnataka (Virupaksha Temple pictured). Kannada literature during this period consisted of writings relating to the socio-religious developments of the Veerashaiva and Vaishnava faiths, and to a lesser extent to that of Jainism. Authors included poets, scholars, and members of the royal family, their ministers, army commanders of rank, and nobility. Writers popularised use of the native metres: shatpadi (six-line verse), sangatya (compositions meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument), and tripadi (three-line verse). The development of Veerashaiva literature was at its peak during the reign of King Deva Raya II, the best-known of the Sangama Dynasty rulers. The rule of King Krishnadeva Raya of the Tuluva Dynasty and his successors was a high point in Vaishnava literature.

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