Class 12 An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara Mock Test (CBSE)

Topics in An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara

• The discovery of Hampi
• Rayas, nayakas and sultans
• Vijayanagara: the capital and its environs
• Water resources and fortifications
• The royal centre
• The sacred centre
• Plotting palaces, temples and bazaars
• Questions in search of answers

An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara practice questions with answers

1. Q1Multiple choice·1 mark
   In their efforts to reconstruct and plot the distribution of royal structures, temples, and commercial streets at Vijayanagara, twentieth-century scholars primarily relied on which of the following combinations of sources?

   1. (a)Manuscripts preserved by the court chroniclers of Ahmednagar
   2. (b)Land revenue records compiled during the reign of Akbar
   3. (c)Archaeological surface exploration, architectural documentation, and travelers' accounts
   4. (d)Exclusively military dispatches of the Portuguese navy
   Show answer and step marks

   1. Correct option: (c) Archaeological surface exploration, architectural documentation, and travelers' accounts+1

   Answer: (c)
2. Q2Multiple choice·1 mark
   Which deity was principally worshipped in the main shrine of the Virupaksha temple, located in the sacred centre of the Vijayanagara empire?

   1. (a)Lord Venkateshwara
   2. (b)Lord Shiva
   3. (c)Goddess Durga
   4. (d)Lord Vishnu
   Show answer and step marks

   1. Correct option: (b) Lord Shiva+1

   Answer: (b)
3. Q3Short answer·2 marks
   State two reasons why historians and archaeologists still face significant gaps in fully reconstructing the socio-economic life of ordinary people in the Vijayanagara Empire, despite the availability of extensive architectural and epigraphic records.
   Show answer and step marks

   1. First reason, any one of: inscriptions and monuments (temples and palaces) record mainly kings, nobles and religious grants, not the daily lives of ordinary people; the houses of ordinary people were built of perishable materials such as mud and thatch and have largely not survived, unlike stone temples and palaces; foreign travellers' accounts are outsiders' views centred on the capital, the court and festivals, sometimes exaggerated, with little about rural life and the lower strata; few records were kept by or about ordinary people such as peasants, artisans and labourers; or any other valid reason.+1
   2. Second reason, a different one from the same list.+1

   Answer: Any two of: inscriptions and monuments mainly record kings, nobles and temples; ordinary people's houses of mud and thatch have not survived; foreign travellers' accounts centre on the capital and court and say little about rural life and lower strata; few records were kept by or about ordinary people.
4. Q4Short answer·3 marks
   Explain how the ruins of Hampi were brought to light, beginning with the work of Colonel Colin Mackenzie.
   Show answer and step marks

   1. Mentioned that Colonel Colin Mackenzie prepared the first initial map of the Hampi site based on the surveys he conducted.+1
   2. Stated that much of the initial information was gathered from the memories of priests of the Virupaksha temple and the shrine of Pampadevi.+1
   3. A later step in bringing the ruins to light, any one of: from 1836 epigraphists collected several dozen inscriptions from the temples at Hampi; from 1856 photographers (e.g. Alexander Greenlaw) recorded the monuments, enabling scholars to study them; historians collated these sources with the accounts of foreign travellers and Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit literature; or any other valid later development.+1

   Answer: In 1800 Colonel Colin Mackenzie prepared the first survey map of Hampi; his early information came from the memories of priests of the Virupaksha temple and the Pampadevi shrine; later, epigraphists collected inscriptions from Hampi's temples (from 1836) and photographers recorded the monuments (from 1856), helping scholars piece together the history of the empire.

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