what was the importance of masulipatnam
Answers
The town of Masulipatnam or Machlipatnam is located on the delta of the Krishna river. The literal meaning of Masulipatnam is fish port town. It was a centre of intense activity in the 17th century. Since it soon became the most important port of Andhra Pradesh, both the Dutch and the English East India Companies attempted to control it. The fort of Masulipatnam was built by the Dutch.
Hampi is located in the Krishna-Tungabhadra basin, which formed the nucleus of the Vijayanagara Empire, founded in 1336. The magnificent ruins at Hampi reveal a well-fortified city. No mortar or cementing agent was used in the construction of these walls and the technique followed was to wedge them together by interlocking.
The architecture of Hampi was distinctive. The buildings in the royal complex had splendid arches, domes and pillared halls with niches for holding sculptures. They also had well-planned orchards and pleasure gardens with sculptural motifs such as the lotus and corbels. In its heyday in the fifteenth- sixteenth centuries, Hampi bustled with commercial and cultural activities. Muslim merchants, Chettis and agents of European traders
such as the Portuguese, thronged the markets of Hampi.
Temples were the hub of cultural activities and devadasis (temple dancers) performed before the deity, royalty and masses in the many-pillared halls in the Virupaksha (a form of Shiva) temple. The Mahanavami festival, known today as Navaratri in the south, was one of the most important festivals celebrated at Hampi.
Hampi fell into ruin following the defeat of Vijayanagara in 1565 by the Deccani Sultans – the rulers of Golconda, Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Berar and Bidar.