NCERT Solutions Class 12 History Chapter 7 Vijayanagara

Concept used. Studying ruins means using many kinds of evidence to reconstruct a past city: survey maps, photographs, inscriptions, travellers' accounts and archaeological survey. The priests of the Virupaksha temple were a living source, the local memory and oral tradition that first led scholars to the site.

The methods used over the last two centuries were:

1. Surveying and mapping. The ruins were brought to light in 1800 by Colonel Colin Mackenzie, an engineer and antiquarian of the East India Company, who prepared the first survey map of the site.
2. Photography. From 1856, photographers began to record the monuments, which let scholars study them closely and from a distance.
3. Collecting inscriptions (epigraphy). As early as 1836 epigraphists started collecting several dozen inscriptions found at the Virupaksha and other temples at Hampi.
4. Combining written sources. Historians collated all this with the accounts of foreign travellers and literature in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit.

How these complemented the priests. The priests gave the starting thread: oral traditions and memories about the shrines of Virupaksha and Pampadevi that pointed Mackenzie to the right place and named the living deities. The surveys, photographs and inscriptions then supplied the firm dates, plans and details that oral memory alone could not. One recovered names and rituals, the other recovered chronology and structures, so together they gave a fuller history.

The ruins were studied by survey and mapping (Colin Mackenzie, 1800), photography (from 1856), collecting inscriptions (from 1836), and combining travellers' accounts and Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit literature. These complemented the Virupaksha priests by adding firm dates, plans and structural detail to the living memory, oral traditions and names the priests preserved.

Concept used. Water management in a city means storing and moving water for drinking, household use and irrigation. Vijayanagara sat in one of the most arid zones of the peninsula, so it needed elaborate arrangements to capture and carry water.

The water requirements were met in these ways:

1. The natural basin of the Tungabhadra. The most striking feature of the site was the natural basin formed by the river Tungabhadra, which flows in a north-easterly direction. Granite hills around the city sent a number of streams down to the river.
2. Embankments and reservoirs. In almost all cases embankments were built along these streams to create reservoirs (tanks) of varying sizes, storing the rainwater of this dry region.
3. The Kamalapuram tank. The most important tank, built in the early fifteenth century and now called the Kamalapuram tank, irrigated nearby fields and was also conducted by a channel to the royal centre.
4. The Hiriya canal. One of the most prominent waterworks among the ruins, the Hiriya canal, drew water from a dam across the Tungabhadra and irrigated the cultivated valley that separated the sacred centre from the urban core. It was built by kings of the Sangama dynasty.

For ordinary town dwellers, field surveys suggest that wells, rainwater tanks and temple tanks served as everyday sources of water.

Vijayanagara used the natural basin of the Tungabhadra, building embankments to turn hill-streams into reservoirs. The chief tank, the Kamalapuram tank, irrigated fields and fed the royal centre by channel, while the Hiriya canal drew water from a dam across the river to irrigate the valley between the sacred centre and the urban core. Wells and temple tanks served ordinary dwellers.

Concept used. Fortification normally walls in only the built city. Vijayanagara was unusual: Abdur Razzaq counted seven lines of forts that enclosed not just the city but its agricultural hinterland and forests too. The question asks you to weigh that strategy.

Advantages of enclosing farmland:

1. It defeated the siege strategy. The usual aim of a medieval siege was to starve the defenders into surrender, and sieges could last months or even years. By protecting the farms themselves, the rulers made sure the city could keep growing its own food through a long siege.
2. More secure than granaries. Other rulers stored grain in granaries within the fort, but stored grain runs out. Enclosing the living agricultural belt meant a renewing food supply, a safer if costlier plan.
3. It protected people and water too. The enclosed tracts, with their fields, gardens and water from the Tungabhadra canals, kept farmers, produce and water sources safe inside the walls.

Disadvantages:

1. It was very expensive. The chapter calls this a "more expensive and elaborate strategy". Walling a huge area of fields needed enormous lengths of masonry, labour and upkeep.
2. A larger area to defend. The longer the walls, the more soldiers and resources were needed to guard every stretch, stretching the army thin.

Advantage: enclosing farmland (as Vijayanagara did within its seven walls) let the city keep growing food through long sieges, a renewing supply safer than granary stockpiles, and kept farmers and water safe inside. Disadvantage: it was hugely expensive in masonry and labour, and a much larger walled area was harder and costlier to defend.

Concept used. The mahanavami dibba is a massive platform in the royal centre, on one of the highest points in the city, rising from a base of about 11,000 sq. ft to a height of 40 ft. Its rituals were tied to Mahanavami, the great ninth day of the ten-day autumn festival (Dusehra, Durga Puja, Navaratri). "Significance" asks what the rituals achieved for the kings.

The significance of these rituals:

1. They displayed royal power and prestige. On this occasion the Vijayanagara kings put their prestige, power and suzerainty on show. The festival was a stage for proclaiming how mighty the ruler was.
2. They bound the nayakas to the king. The ceremonies included ritual presentations before the king by the chief nayakas and subordinate kings, who brought rich gifts and the stipulated tribute. This publicly renewed their loyalty and the king's authority over them.
3. They joined kingship to the divine. The rites included worship of the image and worship of the state horse, along with the sacrifice of buffaloes and other animals, linking the king's rule to religious sanction and the goddess of the festival.
4. They paraded military might. Dances, wrestling, and processions of caparisoned horses, elephants, chariots and soldiers were held, and on the last day the king inspected his army and the nayakas' armies in a grand review, showing readiness for war.

So the rituals were deeply symbolic: they fused religion, royal display and military power into a single annual statement of imperial authority.

The mahanavami dibba rituals, held on the great ninth day of the autumn festival, let the Vijayanagara kings display their prestige, power and suzerainty; they bound the chief nayakas and subordinate kings through gifts and tribute presented before the king; they tied kingship to the divine through worship and animal sacrifice; and they paraded military strength, ending with the king's review of the armies.

Concept used. This is a source-based (figure) question on a carved pillar from the Virupaksha temple, whose halls Krishnadeva Raya filled with delicately carved pillars. You answer only from what the illustration shows, taking the four parts in turn.

1. Floral motifs. Yes. The pillar is covered with rich floral and creeper motifs: scrolling leaves, lotus-like blooms and curling foliage wind across its surface, filling the spaces between the larger figures with decorative plant ornament.
2. The animals shown. The most prominent animal is a powerful rearing yali (vyala), a mythical lion-like beast, carved large and dominating the pillar. Smaller animals and birds are worked into the surrounding panels and bands.
3. Why they are depicted. The yali was carved to signal strength, majesty and protection: such guardian beasts were a favourite motif on Vijayanagara temple pillars, projecting royal and divine power and warding off evil. They also showed the skill of the sculptors and the grandeur the rayas wished to display.
4. The human figures. Small human figures, including what appear to be divine or attendant figures, are carved into the lower and upper panels of the pillar. They stand in niches framed by the architectural detail, dressed and ornamented, set among the animal and floral carving as part of the sacred decorative scheme.

Yes, the pillar carries rich floral and creeper motifs. The main animal is a large rearing yali (a mythical lion-like beast), with smaller animals and birds in the panels. They are shown to project strength, majesty and protection and to display the sculptors' skill. Small human figures, apparently divine or attendant figures, stand in framed niches among the carving.

Concept used. The royal centre is the name archaeologists give to the south-western part of Vijayanagara. The essay must test whether the name fits, by weighing what the area actually contained against what "royal" suggests.

1. Why "royal" fits, the secular royal buildings. The area does hold the buildings of kingship. About thirty building complexes have been identified as palaces, large structures not tied to ritual. It contains the so-called "king's palace" (the largest enclosure), the court hall, and the mahanavami dibba, the platform from which the kings displayed their power during the great autumn festival. The Lotus Mahal and the elephant stables also stand here. These are clearly the structures of court and state, so the label has real force.

2. Why the name is partly misleading, the many temples. Yet the royal centre is not purely royal or secular. Although called a royal centre, it included over 60 temples, among them the spectacular Hazara Rama temple, probably reserved for the king and his family, with Ramayana panels on its walls. The patronage of temples and cults was central to rulers trying to legitimise their authority through the gods, so religion and kingship were tangled together here.

3. The uncertainty of the names themselves. Many labels in this area are modern guesses. The "king's palace" has yielded no definite proof of being a royal residence; the use of the court hall is unclear; the Lotus Mahal's purpose is unknown. The names were assigned by later observers from the form of the buildings, not from certain evidence.

Conclusion. "Royal centre" is broadly appropriate, since the zone clearly held the palaces, court structures and ceremonial platforms of the rulers. But it is not a perfect description: the presence of 60-odd temples shows the area mixed the royal and the sacred, and several of its very names remain uncertain. The term fits the dominant character of the zone while hiding its religious side.

Largely appropriate but not perfect. The zone holds the kings' palaces (about 30 complexes), the court hall, the mahanavami dibba, the Lotus Mahal and the elephant stables, all genuinely royal. But it also contains over 60 temples (including the Hazara Rama temple), showing royal and sacred mixed together, and many of its names are modern, uncertain guesses, so the term fits the zone's main character while hiding its religious side.

Concept used. The Lotus Mahal and the elephant stables are two famous buildings of the royal centre. Reading "what the architecture tells us" means inferring the rulers' taste, wealth and outlook from the style of their buildings.

The architecture tells us several things about the rulers:

1. They blended Hindu and Islamic styles. The Lotus Mahal's arches and the domed, arched chambers of the elephant stables were probably inspired by Indo-Islamic techniques, the style introduced by the Turkish Sultans. The rulers freely borrowed concepts and building techniques from contemporary states and developed them further, so they were culturally open, not insular.
2. They were wealthy and powerful. Such refined, large structures needed great resources, skilled architects and command over labour. Commissioning them shows the rulers' wealth and their ability to mobilise the techniques and craftsmen of the day.
3. They valued grandeur and display. The graceful Lotus Mahal (with its nine towers, a high central one and eight around the sides) and the imposing row of elephant stables were meant to impress, showing rulers who cared about magnificence and the prestige of their court.
4. They kept a strong military and ceremonial establishment. The very existence of grand stables for war elephants tells us the rulers maintained a large, prestigious army, since elephants were both weapons of war and symbols of royal might.

The Indo-Islamic arches and domes of the Lotus Mahal and elephant stables show rulers who were culturally open, blending Hindu and Islamic styles; their scale and finish show wealth and command over skilled architects and labour; their grandeur shows a taste for display and prestige; and the great war -elephant stables show a powerful military establishment.

Concept used. An architectural tradition is an inherited style of building. The essay has two halves: name the traditions the Vijayanagara architects inherited, then show how they transformed (changed and developed) them.

1. The temple-building traditions of the south. Temple building in the region had a long history going back to the Pallavas, Chalukyas, Hoysalas and Cholas. Earlier ruling elites had patronised elaborate temples such as the Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur (Cholas) and the Chennakeshava temple at Belur (Hoysalas). The rayas built on these traditions.

2. The Indo-Islamic tradition. Through interaction with the Sultans of the Deccan, the architects also drew on Indo-Islamic techniques, the arches and domes introduced by the Turkish Sultans, which appear on the fortification gateways, the Lotus Mahal and the elephant stables.

How they transformed these traditions:

1. They built on a colossal new scale. The rayas carried the southern temple tradition "literally to new heights" by raising raya gopurams, royal gateway-towers so immense that they dwarfed the towers over the central shrines and announced the temple from a great distance, marking imperial authority.
2. They added grand mandapas and corridors. They built large pillared mandapas (pavilions) and long pillared corridors running around the shrines, with delicately carved pillars, as in the hall Krishnadeva Raya added to the Virupaksha temple.
3. They invented striking new forms. The Vitthala temple has a unique shrine designed as a stone chariot, and chariot streets paved with stone slabs and lined with pillared pavilions ran straight out from the temple gopurams.
4. They drew deities and styles together. They introduced the worship of Vitthala, a form of Vishnu from Maharashtra, into Karnataka, and folded Indo-Islamic arches into their buildings, creating a composite imperial culture.

The architects inherited the southern temple traditions of the Pallavas, Chalukyas, Hoysalas and Cholas (such as the Brihadishvara temple) and the Indo-Islamic arches and domes of the Deccan Sultans. They transformed these by building on a colossal scale (the towering raya gopurams that dwarfed the shrine towers), adding grand pillared mandapas and corridors, inventing forms like the Vitthala temple's stone chariot and chariot streets, and blending borrowed deities and styles into one imperial culture.

Concept used. "Ordinary people" means the common town dwellers, traders, craftspeople and others, not the kings or nobles. The evidence is thin, since their houses have not survived, so you "cull" the impression from travellers' accounts, field surveys and archaeology.

The impression that emerges:

1. They lived in modest, well-arranged homes. The houses of ordinary people have not survived, but the Portuguese traveller Barbosa described them as thatched, "but nonetheless well built and arranged according to occupations, in long streets with many open places". So homes were humble but the town was orderly, laid out by trade.
2. They worked in many trades and a busy market. The city had markets dealing in spices, textiles and precious stones. Paes called it "the best-provided city in the world", with streets of merchants selling rubies, diamonds, pearls and cloth, and fairs selling horses, fruit and vegetables. Nuniz listed abundant, cheap food, rice, wheat, pulses, many fruits and meats. Ordinary life was thus tied to a thriving commercial world.
3. They followed a variety of cults. Field surveys show the urban area dotted with numerous shrines and small temples, pointing to many cults supported by different communities. Religion was woven into everyday life.
4. They drew water from local sources. Wells, rainwater tanks and temple tanks served ordinary town dwellers as sources of water.
5. Some were prosperous, and the city was diverse. Fine Chinese porcelain in the north-eastern urban core suggests rich traders lived there, which was also the Muslim residential quarter with its tombs and mosques, so the population was wealthy in parts and culturally mixed.

Ordinary people lived in modest, thatched but well-built homes in long streets arranged by occupation (Barbosa); they worked in busy markets that travellers called the best-provided in the world, with abundant cheap food and rich goods (Paes, Nuniz); they followed many local cults at numerous small shrines; they drew water from wells and tanks; and the city was diverse and prosperous in parts, with rich traders and a Muslim quarter.

Concept used. This is a map-work task. You mark the four home countries of the foreign travellers who visited Vijayanagara, and trace the land and sea routes they would have taken to reach the city in the Deccan. Below is the guide; on your own outline world map, mark each country and draw arrows for the routes.

1. Mark the four countries (and the travellers).
   • Italy, home of Nicolo de Conti, the Italian trader (fifteenth century).
   • Portugal, home of Duarte Barbosa, Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz (sixteenth century).
   • Iran (Persia), from where Abdur Razzaq was sent as an ambassador (fifteenth century).
   • Russia, home of the merchant Afanasii Nikitin (fifteenth century).
2. Mark Vijayanagara in the Deccan of southern India as the destination.
3. Trace the routes (draw arrows). The Europeans (from Italy, Portugal and Russia) would travel largely by sea: from the Mediterranean and Atlantic, around or across to the Arabian Sea, landing on India's west coast (such as Calicut or Goa) and travelling inland to Vijayanagara. The Portuguese, after 1498, came by the long sea route around Africa. The Persian envoy Abdur Razzaq travelled from Iran across the Arabian Sea to Calicut and then inland.

Mark Italy (Nicolo de Conti), Portugal (Barbosa, Paes, Nuniz), Iran (Abdur Razzaq) and Russia (Afanasii Nikitin), and Vijayanagara in the southern Deccan. Trace mainly sea routes across the Mediterranean/Atlantic and Arabian Sea to India's west-coast ports (Calicut, Goa), then short land routes inland to Vijayanagara, with a key separating sea from land.

Concept used. This is a project (city study). You pick one major city of c. 1300–1700 (for example Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Bidar, Golconda or Madurai) and study it the way the chapter studies Vijayanagara, under set heads. There is no single right answer; you are marked on how well you gather and organise the evidence.

1. Choose a city and describe its architecture. Pick one flourishing city of the period and describe its main buildings, their materials, forms (arches, domes, towers, courtyards), and styles, noting any blend of traditions as at Vijayanagara.
2. Look for signs of a political centre. Search for forts, palaces, court halls or administrative buildings, the kind of secular royal structures that marked Vijayanagara's royal centre, as evidence the city was a seat of power.
3. Look for ritually significant buildings. Note temples, mosques, tombs or other places of worship, like Vijayanagara's sacred centre with its Virupaksha and Vitthala temples, and say how they were used.
4. Find the commercial area. Look for bazaars, market streets and trading quarters, like the chariot streets and bazaars of Vijayanagara, where merchants set up shops.
5. Compare the urban layout with its surroundings. Note what makes the city stand out from the countryside around it: walls and gateways, planned streets, water works, dense buildings, the same distinctive layout that set Vijayanagara apart.

Pick one major city of c. 1300–1700, describe its architecture, then report under four heads: signs of a political centre (forts, palaces, court halls), ritually significant buildings (temples, mosques, tombs), a commercial area (bazaars and market streets), and the layout features (walls, planned streets, waterworks) that distinguish the city from its surroundings, comparing each with Vijayanagara.

Concept used. This is a project (field observation). You visit a real religious building near you, record its parts with sketches, and compare them with the Virupaksha temple of Vijayanagara. There is no fixed answer; you are marked on careful observation and clear comparison.

1. Sketch and describe the structure. Visit a temple, mosque, church or gurudwara nearby and sketch its roof, pillars and arches, corridors and passages, halls, entrance and water supply. Note the materials and shapes of each.
2. Say what each part is used for. For every feature, write its function: the entrance (and any gateway tower) for access, the hall for gatherings or worship, the central shrine for the deity, corridors for circulation or processions, the water supply for ritual use, just as the Virupaksha temple's halls were used for music, dance, divine marriages and swinging the deities.
3. Compare with the Virupaksha temple. Match each feature to Virupaksha: does your building have a tall gateway like a gopuram? Pillared halls like its mandapas? A central shrine like its small garbhagriha? A tank like its temple tank? Note the similarities and differences.
4. Find out its history. Ask the caretakers or read about the building: when it was built, by whom, and how it has changed, recalling how the Virupaksha temple was built over centuries and enlarged under Krishnadeva Raya.

Visit a religious building nearby, sketch and describe its roof, pillars, arches, corridors, halls, entrance and water supply, and state the use of each part. Compare every feature with the Virupaksha temple (gopuram, mandapas, central shrine, temple tank), and find out the building's history (date, patron, later changes), as the Virupaksha temple grew over centuries and under Krishnadeva Raya.