Identify the main feature of Hazara Rama Temple from the given options:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → The sculpture panels on the walls include scenes from Ramayana.
Option (1) The hall in front of the main shrine was built by Krishna Dev Raya. — Incorrect. This is a feature of the Virupaksha temple, where Krishnadeva Raya built the hall in front of the main shrine to mark his accession.
Option (2) The sculpture panels on the walls include scenes from Ramayana. — Correct. The Hazara Rama temple stood in the royal centre and was probably meant to be used only by the king and his family. The images in its central shrine are missing, but the sculpted panels on the walls survive, and they include scenes from the Ramayana on the inner walls of the shrine.
Option (3) Krishna Dev Raya constructed eastern gopuram. — Incorrect. This too belongs to the Virupaksha temple: Krishnadeva Raya is credited with the construction of its eastern gopuram.
Option (4) Programs of dance, music and drama were held in the hall of the temple. — Incorrect. This is said of the halls of the Virupaksha temple, some of which were spaces where the images of gods were placed to witness special programmes of music, dance and drama.
NCERT (2026-27): “5.2. Gopurams and mandapas … The Virupaksha temple was built over centuries. While inscriptions suggest that the earliest shrine dated to the ninth-tenth centuries, it was substantially enlarged with the establishment of the Vijayanagara Empire. The hall in front of the main shrine was built by Krishnadeva Raya to mark his accession. This was decorated with delicately carved pillars. He is also credited with the construction of the eastern gopuram. These additions meant that the central shrine came to occupy a relatively small part of the complex. The halls in the temple were used for a variety of purposes. Some were spaces in which the images of gods were placed to witness special programmes of music, dance, drama, etc. Others were used to celebrate the marriages of deities, and yet others were meant for the deities to swing in.… 4.2 Other buildings in the royal centre … One of the most spectacular of these is one known as the Hazara Rama temple. This was probably meant to be used only by the king and his family. The images in the central shrine are missing; however, sculpted panels on the walls survive. These include scenes from the Ramayana sculpted on the inner walls of the shrine.…” |