Meera, a history student from Bengaluru, visits a museum gallery on the Vijayanagara Empire. The first panel shows an old copy of a portrait of the surveyor Colin Mackenzie, with his helpers standing around him. The second panel has photographs of two old temples in the south, from areas that later came within the empire. The third panel tells her that rival kingdoms of the time needed horses for their armies and brought them from Arabia and Central Asia. The last panel describes the markets of the city, where spices, textiles and precious stones were sold.
One of the photographs on the second panel shows a temple raised under the patronage of the ruling elites of the Hoysalas. Which temple is it?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → The Chennakeshava temple
Option (1) The Brihadishvara temple — Incorrect. The Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur was built in the land of the Cholas in Tamil Nadu.
Option (2) The Chennakeshava temple — Correct. The Hoysalas in Karnataka were a powerful state before Vijayanagara. Their ruling elites gave patronage to the Chennakeshava temple at Belur.
Option (3) The Vitthala temple — Incorrect. The Vitthala temple stands in the Vijayanagara capital and was a work of the rayas.
Option (4) The Hazara Rama temple — Incorrect. The Hazara Rama temple is also a temple of the Vijayanagara rulers in their capital, built long after the Hoysalas.
NCERT (2026-27): “2. Rayas Nayakas and Sultans … |