Photograph showing a processional frieze carved in relief on a wall of the Hazara Rama (Ramchandra) Temple, at Beejanuggur (Vijayanagara) in Karnataka. The small Ramachandra temple was located at the heart of the royal centre, within a rectangular enclosure whose walls depict processions of elephants, horses, armies and dancers during the Mahanavami festival, the most important annual event in Vijayanagara. Inscriptions date it to the reign of Krishnadevaraya between 1509 and 1529, the most celebrated sovereign of the kingdom.

Vijayanagara, the City of Victory, was the seat of a powerful Hindu kingdom in Southern India from 1336 to 1565. Vijayanagara flourished as a prosperous centre of Hindu art, culture and architecture, until the Battle of Talikota in 1565. It was also an influential centre for trade, especially in Arab horses and spices. Its plan consisted of a number of zones, the sacred, the urban and the royal.