A student on a field trip to the ruins of Vijayanagara walks along the streams that flow down from the granite hills around the city towards the Tungabhadra. Along almost every stream she finds the remains of old earthen and stone banks built across or beside the water. To the south-west of the city she reaches a very large tank. A guide shows her the line of an old channel that leads away from this tank towards another part of the city. She wants to understand why the rulers took so much trouble over these works.
A plaque at the large tank dates it to the early years of the fifteenth century. Which of the following correctly identifies the tank and the area that its channel supplied?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Kamalapuram tank - the royal centre
Option (1) The tank of Krishnadeva Raya - the urban core — Incorrect. This pairs the wrong tank with the wrong area. The urban core was the ordinary living area of the city, and Krishnadeva Raya's tank came a century later.
Option (2) Kamalapuram tank - the sacred centre — Incorrect. The tank is right, but its channel ran to the royal centre. The sacred centre is the temple area of the city.
Option (3) The tank of Krishnadeva Raya - the royal centre — Incorrect. Krishnadeva Raya did build a tank, which Paes described, but he ruled in the sixteenth century. A tank of the early fifteenth century cannot be his.
Option (4) Kamalapuram tank - the royal centre — Correct. The most important tank, built in the early fifteenth century, is now called Kamalapuram tank. It watered nearby fields and its channel carried water to the royal centre.
NCERT (2026-27): “3.1 Water resources … |