NDA (II) 2022 General Ability Test · Question 120 of 150

Correct — A, Harihara and Bukka. The Vijayanagara Empire was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I, who founded the Sangama dynasty, the first of the four houses that ruled the empire. Their new capital, Vijayanagara, stood on the south bank of the Tungabhadra at the site known today as Hampi in Karnataka. Every other name in the option set belongs to a later ruler of an empire that already existed.

• (b)Krishnadeva Raya — Krishnadeva Raya of the Tuluva dynasty reigned from 1509 to 1529 and is the empire's most celebrated ruler, the reign in which it reached its peak. That fame is exactly why he is planted here — but he ruled nearly two centuries after the foundation.
• (c)Rama Raya — Rama Raya was the de facto ruler from 1542 to 1565 and belongs to the end of the story rather than its beginning. Under him the empire was crushed at the Battle of Talikota on 23 January 1565.
• (d)Virupaksha Raya — Virupaksha Raya II was a late Sangama ruler of the years 1465 to 1485, under whom Goa and much of Karnataka were lost to the Bahmani Sultanate. The name is doubly tempting because Virupaksha, a form of Shiva, was the tutelary deity of Hampi in whose name Vijayanagara rulers issued their orders — but the deity is not the founder.

Vijayanagara was the last great empire of the peninsula before the Mughal and Maratha centuries, ruling much of south India for over two hundred years and holding the long frontier against the Bahmani Sultanate and its successor states. Four dynasties held the throne in turn — Sangama from 1336, Saluva from 1485, Tuluva from 1491 and Aravidu from 1542. The capital's ruins at Hampi, with the Virupaksha temple, the Vittala complex and its stone chariot, are the physical record of the empire's wealth.

Foundation questions are answered by holding one date and one pair of names, and the trap is always a later and more famous ruler. Here the sequence to fix is short and does all the work: Harihara and Bukka found the empire in 1336; Krishnadeva Raya brings it to its height between 1509 and 1529; Rama Raya presides over the catastrophe at Talikota in 1565. Note also that the same paper's examiners like the Virupaksha name for its double life — a late Sangama king and, separately, the deity of Hampi in whose name the kings claimed to rule.

• The Vijayanagara Empire was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty.
• Its capital, Vijayanagara, stood on the Tungabhadra at the site now called Hampi, in Karnataka.
• Four dynasties ruled in succession — Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva and Aravidu.
• Krishnadeva Raya of the Tuluva dynasty reigned from 1509 to 1529, the empire's peak.
• The empire was decisively defeated at the Battle of Talikota on 23 January 1565, when Rama Raya was its effective ruler.

• Choosing Krishnadeva Raya because he is the best-known ruler — fame is not foundation.
• Confusing Virupaksha the king with Virupaksha the deity of Hampi in whose name the kings ruled.
• Mixing up the founding date of 1336 with the Talikota defeat of 1565.

As this who-founded-it question, in reverse as which-kingdom-did-these-two-brothers-found, or as a chronology item placing Vijayanagara rulers in order.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Vijayanagara Empire was founded in which year?

  • (a)1206
  • (b)1336
  • (c)1526
  • (d)1565

  Answer(b) 1336 — the year Harihara I and Bukka Raya I established the empire and the Sangama dynasty.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Battle of Talikota, which broke the power of the Vijayanagara Empire, was fought in

  • (a)1509
  • (b)1526
  • (c)1565
  • (d)1610

  Answer(c) 1565 — the Deccan sultanates combined to defeat Rama Raya's forces on 23 January that year.