A traveller crosses south India in the late 1600s. He passes through several towns with strong forts and busy temples. In each town a local ruler collects taxes, keeps his own troops and no longer sends gifts to a distant emperor. Old inscriptions in the same towns, however, praise a great king of an earlier age and call the ancestors of these rulers his loyal military commanders. The traveller wonders how the old empire had changed.
What effect did the change seen by the traveller have on the empire these rulers once served?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → It hastened the collapse of the central imperial structure
Option (1) It brought the Aravidu dynasty to power in place of the Tuluvas — Incorrect. The Aravidus followed the Tuluvas in the sixteenth century. That change of ruling family came before the nayakas set up their own kingdoms.
Option (2) It shifted the seat of the ruling dynasty from Penukonda to Chandragiri — Incorrect. The Aravidu rulers did move their seat from Penukonda to Chandragiri. That was a change of capital, a separate event from the commanders breaking away.
Option (3) It led the Sultans to combine together and decisively defeat the emperor — Incorrect. The Sultans combined against Vijayanagara in 1565, a century earlier. That defeat came from outside the empire.
Option (4) It hastened the collapse of the central imperial structure — Correct. The local rulers are the <strong>amara-nayakas</strong>, who once sent tribute and gifts to the raya. In the seventeenth century many of them set up <strong>independent kingdoms</strong>, and this <strong>hastened the collapse of the central imperial structure</strong>.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.3 The rayas and the nayakas … “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. This hastened the collapse of the central imperial structure.” |