SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 20 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 7 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

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Which of the following statements is correct regarding Vijayanagara traditions?

(a)Rayas were called Ashvapati; Sultans were Narapati
(b)Rayas were called Gajapati; Sultans were Rajguru
(c)Rayas were called Narapati; Sultans were Ashvapati
(d)Both Rayas and Sultan were called Rajadhiraj

Answer

Why

Correct — C. NCERT's Themes in Indian History, Part II, records that in the popular traditions of Vijayanagara the rayas are called narapati, or lord of men, and the Deccan Sultans ashvapati, or lord of horses.

Horses mattered because warfare then depended on effective cavalry. NCERT notes that their import from Arabia and Central Asia was very important for rival kingdoms.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Rayas were called Ashvapati; Sultans were Narapati — This reverses the pair. In Vijayanagara tradition the rayas are narapati (lord of men) and the Sultans ashvapati (lord of horses).
(b)
Rayas were called Gajapati; Sultans were Rajguru — Gajapati, lord of elephants, was the name of a ruling lineage very powerful in Orissa in the fifteenth century, not a title of the rayas. Rajguru, a royal preceptor, is no title for Sultans.
(d)
Both Rayas and Sultan were called Rajadhiraj — The tradition gives the two powers different titles: narapati for the rayas, ashvapati for the Sultans. Rajadhiraj, king of kings, is a general royal title, not the pairing NCERT records.

Concept

NCERT says Vijayanagara's kings competed with the Sultans of the Deccan and the Gajapati rulers of Orissa for control of fertile river valleys and the resources of lucrative overseas trade.

Three titles to keep apart:
Narapati, lord of men: the rayas, in Vijayanagara tradition.
Ashvapati, lord of horses: the Deccan Sultans, in the same tradition.
Gajapati, lord of elephants: the name of Orissa's ruling lineage.

According to tradition and epigraphic evidence, as NCERT puts it, the brothers Harihara and Bukka founded the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336.

Key facts

Narapati (lord of men): the Vijayanagara rayas.
Ashvapati (lord of horses): the Deccan Sultans, in Vijayanagara tradition.
Gajapati (lord of elephants): a ruling lineage very powerful in Orissa in the fifteenth century.
Harihara and Bukka founded the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336.

Study next

Krishnadeva Raya and the Tuluva dynastyThe battle of Talikota (1565) and the fall of VijayanagaraThe amara-nayaka system

Common traps

Swapping narapati and ashvapati. Rayas are lords of men, Sultans lords of horses.
Giving Gajapati to Vijayanagara. It names the Orissa lineage.

The titles come as a matched pair here, with the reversed pair offered beside the right one, so the item tests exact recall of who is lord of what.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: History — all 218 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.