"Saint Vidyaranya established the seat of Vijayanagara Empire in 1336 A.D, with the help of his devotee disciples Hakka and Bukka". This is what we all learnt in the school text books. This was more than sufficient to pass through the exams. We neither bothered nor tried to find out what went behind these two lines of text in the books. HampiOnline.com, lists various narrations which came into existence as it was told by famous doyens in their various books.

There are many stories and traditions having some general resemblance but considerable variations in their details as regards to the founding of the city of Vijayanagara and its dynasty of rulers. These narratives are brought to your notice in the following text and then leave it to our readers to accept the version which seems most compatible with them.

Mr. Robert Sewell, A British District Collector for the district of Bellary, in his book "A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar; A Contribution to the History of India " mentioned some of these and hinted that "Two brothers, Hindus of the Kuruba caste, who were the men of strong religious feeling, serving in the treasury of the King of Warangal, fled from that place on its sack and destruction in A.D. 1323 and took service under the Raja of Anagondi. Both they and their chiefs were filled with horror and disgust, at the conduct of the marauding muslims, and pledged themselves to the cause of their country and their religion. The brothers rose to be Minister and Treasurer respectively in the court of Anagondi. In A.D. 1334, the Chief gave shelter to Bah-ud-din, the nephew of Mohammed Tughlaq of Delhi and was attached by him. Anagondi fell and the Sultan retired, leaving Malik Kafur as his deputy to rule the state. Malik found the people too strong for him and eventually the Sultan restored the country to the Hindus raising to be Raja and Minister respectively. These brothers were Harihara I and Bukka I".