UPSC Prelims 2015 · Question 47 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2015 question on Harihara Vijayanagara Founding
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2015
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectMedieval History
- TopicVijayanagara Empire
- DifficultyHard
- TypeDirect
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?
Show answer
Answer: C. Harihara I
Verdict
The answer is Harihara I. He founded Vijayanagara and ruled as the agent of the deity Virupaksha.
Analysis
Vijayanagara, the city of victory, was founded in 1336 by Harihara and Bukka in the Krishna and Tungabhadra doab, on the south bank of the Tungabhadra, a tributary of the Krishna. The rulers presented themselves as governing on behalf of the god Virupaksha, and royal orders were issued in the deity's name. Amoghavarsha I was a Rashtrakuta ruler of the ninth century. Ballala II was a Hoysala king of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Prataparudra II was a Kakatiya ruler of Warangal whose defeat preceded the founding of Vijayanagara.
Source
NCERT, Themes in Indian History Part II, page 170.
How to crack it
The stem hides two decisive clues that need no dynastic recall. A new city on the south bank of a tributary of the Krishna points to the Tungabhadra doab, and ruling as the agent of a deity is the distinctive Vijayanagara legitimation formula. Read a long descriptive stem for its geographical and institutional markers rather than as one continuous sentence, because UPSC embeds the answer in exactly those details.