Which of these statements about Vijayanagara Empire are correct?
(A) The 'Amara-Nayaka' system was a major political innovation of the Vijayanagara Empire.
(B) 'Amara-Nayakas' were military commanders with territories to govern given by the 'raya'.
(C) The 'Amara-Nayakas' sent annual tribute to the king and also made personal appearances.
(D) 'Amara-Nayakas' system had no similarity with the 'iqta system' of Delhi Sultanate.
(E) In 17th century, 'Amara-Nayakas' were defeated by central powers and they could never establish independent kingdoms.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A), (B), (C) Only
(A) The ‘Amara-Nayaka’ system was a major political innovation of the Vijayanagara Empire. Correct. The amara-nayaka system was a major political innovation of the Vijayanagara Empire, in which military chiefs held territories under the king.
(B) ‘Amara-Nayakas’ were military commanders with territories to govern given by the ‘raya’. Correct. The amara-nayakas were military commanders who were given territories to govern by the raya. They collected taxes and other dues from peasants, craftspersons and traders in their area.
(C) The ‘Amara-Nayakas’ sent annual tribute to the king and also made personal appearances. Correct. They sent tribute to the king annually and personally appeared in the royal court with gifts to express their loyalty.
(D) ‘Amara-Nayakas’ system had no similarity with the ‘iqta system’ of Delhi Sultanate. Incorrect. It is likely that many features of this system were derived from the iqta system of the Delhi Sultanate, so the two systems were alike in many ways.
(E) In 17th century, ‘Amara-Nayakas’ were defeated by central powers and they could never establish independent kingdoms. Incorrect. It was the other way round: during the seventeenth century many of these nayakas established independent kingdoms, and this hastened the collapse of the central imperial structure.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.3 The rayas and the nayakas … The amara-nayaka system was a major political innovation of the Vijayanagara Empire. It is likely that many features of this system were derived from the iqta system of the Delhi Sultanate. The amara-nayakas were military commanders who were given territories to govern by the raya. They collected taxes and other dues from peasants, craftspersons and traders in the area. They retained part of the revenue for personal use and for maintaining a stipulated contingent of horses and elephants. These contingents provided the Vijayanagara kings with an effective fighting force with which they brought the entire southern peninsula under their control. Some of the revenue was also used for the maintenance of temples and irrigation works. The amara-nayakas sent tribute to the king annually and personally appeared in the royal court with gifts to express their loyalty. Kings occasionally asserted their control over them by transferring them from one place to another. However, during the course of the seventeenth century, many of these nayakas established independent kingdoms.…” |