Overview
Previous Year UPSC-CSE Questions By the end you will be able to draft model answers for the following UPSC questions. Each question carries a collapsible framework showing how to approach it in the exam.
- UPSC Prelims 2016 GS-IRegarding the taxation system of Krishna Deva, the ruler of Vijayanagar, consider the following statements:
- The tax rate on land was fixed depending on the quality of the land.
- Private owners of workshops paid an industries tax.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test each: the land tax was graded by the quality of the land (1, true); the owners of workshops paid an industries tax (2, true). Both hold, so the answer is both.
Trap to watch: Do not drop statement 2 by assuming a medieval state taxed only land; Vijayanagara taxed crafts and workshops as well.
Key facts to recall:
- The Vijayanagara land tax was graded by the quality of the land.
- Owners of workshops paid an industries tax.
- The revenue funded a great standing army.
Answer signal: Both 1 and 2.
- UPSC Prelims 2000 GS-IConsider the following events:
- Reign of Krishna Deva Raya of Vijayanagara.
- Construction of Qutab Minar.
- Arrival of Portuguese in India.
- Death of Firoz Tughlaq.
Which one of the following is the correct chronological sequence of the above events?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Date each: Qutab Minar c.1200 (II), Firoz Tughlaq's death 1388 (IV), Portuguese arrival 1498 (III), Krishna Deva Raya's reign from 1509 (I). The order is II, IV, III, I.
Trap to watch: Do not put Krishnadevaraya's reign before the Portuguese arrival; he came to the throne in 1509, after 1498.
Key facts to recall:
- Krishnadevaraya reigned 1509 to 1529.
- The Portuguese reached India in 1498, before his reign.
- His reign is the latest of the four events.
Answer signal: II, IV, III, I.
Krishnadevaraya (reigned 1509 to 1529) was the greatest king of the Vijayanagara Empire and the third ruler of the Tuluva dynasty, under whom the empire reached its political and cultural zenith. A great soldier, he won the Battle of Raichur against Bijapur in 1520 and warred with the Gajapati of Kalinga, carrying the empire to its widest extent. A patron of letters, he kept at his court the Ashtadiggajas, the eight great Telugu poets, and was himself the author of the Telugu classic Amuktamalyada. He adorned the temples of Hampi and ruled with a strong and ordered hand. This part covers his reign, his wars, his government, his golden age, and the exam focus.
Krishnadevaraya, the Greatest King of Vijayanagara
The Third King of the Tuluva Line
What is the significance of Krishnadevaraya: under him the Vijayanagara Empire reached the height of its power, its wealth and its art, the golden age of the south.
He was the third king of the Tuluva line. Krishnadevaraya came to the throne in 1509, after his brother Vira Narasimha, who had founded the Tuluva dynasty. He was not the founder of the empire, nor of his dynasty, but the third Tuluva king; and he proved the greatest ruler that Vijayanagara ever had, the master of the whole south of the peninsula.
His reign was the zenith. From 1509 until his death in 1529 the empire stood at its widest extent and its greatest splendour, feared by its neighbours and rich beyond compare. The figure below sets out the course of his reign.
The Wars and the Battle of Raichur
Distinguishing his wars: Krishnadevaraya was a great soldier, and his victories carried the empire to its greatest extent on every side.
His chief victory was at Raichur. In 1520 Krishnadevaraya fought the Battle of Raichur against Ismail Adil Shah of Bijapur, and won a great victory, taking the fortress of Raichur and securing the long-contested doab between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra. He warred also against the Gajapati of Kalinga to the north-east, and won the eastern forts of Udayagiri and Kondavidu.
The empire reached its widest bounds. Under Krishnadevaraya, Vijayanagara held the whole south from the Krishna to the sea at the tip of the peninsula. He kept up friendly relations with the Portuguese on the coast, for the trade in war-horses that his armies needed. The map below sets out the empire at its zenith.
The Government of Krishnadevaraya
The State, the Revenue and the Army
What is the significance of his government: Krishnadevaraya ruled with a strong and ordered hand, and his administration was the firm base of the empire's strength.
He set the revenue in order. The land tax, the chief source of the state's wealth, was fixed according to the quality of the land, so that rich land paid more and poor land less; and the private owners of workshops paid an industries tax on their trade. The empire was held through the great military chiefs, the nayakas, who kept land in return for soldiers, a system Part 8 describes in full.
He kept a strong army. Krishnadevaraya maintained a great standing force of foot, horse and elephants, and looked to the Portuguese for the war-horses of the western trade. The table below sets out the chief marks of his rule.
| Mark | What it was |
|---|---|
| The land tax | Fixed by the quality of the land, the chief revenue of the state. |
| The industries tax | Paid by the private owners of workshops on their trade. |
| The nayakas | The military chiefs who held land for the service of soldiers. |
| The army | A great standing force, with war-horses from the Portuguese trade. |
Amuktamalyada and the Art of Kingship
Distinguishing Amuktamalyada: the king was himself a poet and a thinker on kingship, and his own work is a chief source for the ideas of his rule.
He wrote the Amuktamalyada. Krishnadevaraya was the author, in Telugu, of the Amuktamalyada, a poem on the god Vishnu and on the saint Andal, into which he wove his own thoughts on the duties and the art of a king. It is at once a classic of Telugu letters and a window on the mind of the greatest ruler of the south.
He was a patron as well as an author. His learning and his love of letters made his court the centre of a great age of poetry, of which the next section tells. He was called Andhra Bhoja, after the famous old patron-king Bhoja, for the splendour of his patronage.
The Golden Age of Telugu Letters
The Ashtadiggajas and the Flowering of Telugu
What is the significance of the golden age: the reign of Krishnadevaraya was the high noon of Telugu literature, and the chief age of letters in the whole history of Vijayanagara.
His court held the Ashtadiggajas, the eight great Telugu poets, named after the eight elephants that hold up the quarters of the world. Chief among them was Allasani Peddana, honoured as the Andhra Kavita Pitamahudu, the grandfather of Telugu poetry. Under the king's patronage they wrote works that are classics of the tongue to this day.
His patronage went beyond Telugu. Poets and scholars of Sanskrit, Kannada and Tamil also graced his court, so that his reign was a golden age of letters across the languages of the south. The figure below sets out the chief works of his golden age.
The Builder at Hampi
Distinguishing the builder-king: Krishnadevaraya adorned the temples of his capital, and left his mark on the great shrines of Hampi.
He adorned the Virupaksha temple. At the capital, Krishnadevaraya added to the ancient Virupaksha temple at Hampi a great pillared hall, raised in 1510 to mark his accession, and the soaring eastern gopuram, the gate-tower that still rises over the shrine. He built and gave to many other temples of his realm.
His building was part of a great age of art, the height of the Vijayanagara style, whose temples, halls and sculptures the ninth part of this series describes in full. The detailed story of the architecture of Hampi belongs there.
UPSC Relevance and Exam Focus
Where Krishnadevaraya Fits in the UPSC-CSE Syllabus
This topic belongs to General Studies Paper I: medieval Indian history, and Krishnadevaraya, the greatest of the Vijayanagara kings, is one of the most frequently examined rulers of the medieval south.
The questions most often test his dynasty and dates, the Battle of Raichur, his Telugu work the Amuktamalyada, the Ashtadiggajas, and his system of revenue.
Several linked points recur and are worth holding in working memory:
- The Tuluva king: Krishnadevaraya was the third ruler of the Tuluva dynasty, not the founder, and reigned 1509 to 1529.
- The Battle of Raichur: He defeated Bijapur in 1520 and won the Raichur doab.
- Amuktamalyada: His own Telugu poem, on the god and on the art of kingship.
- The Ashtadiggajas: The eight Telugu poets of his court, chief among them Allasani Peddana.
- The revenue: The land tax was fixed by the quality of the land; workshops paid an industries tax.
A 2016 question on the taxation of Krishna Deva asked whether the land tax was fixed by the quality of the land and whether the owners of workshops paid an industries tax; both statements were correct, as this part has shown.
A 2000 question placed the reign of Krishna Deva Raya in a chronological sequence with the building of the Qutab Minar, the death of Firoz Tughlaq and the arrival of the Portuguese; his reign, from 1509, came last of the four, after the Portuguese reached India in 1498.
Prelims MCQ practice
Each question below tests one specific concept on the topic. Click to reveal the answer and a full option-wise explanation.
Q1. Krishnadevaraya, the greatest king of Vijayanagara, belonged to which one of the following dynasties?
- The Sangama dynasty
- The Saluva dynasty
- The Tuluva dynasty
- The Aravidu dynasty
Show answer and explanation
Answer: The Tuluva dynasty
Explanation.
Option (c) is correct. Krishnadevaraya was the third ruler of the Tuluva dynasty, not the founder of the empire or of his line; the Sangama was the founding dynasty. Hence option (c).
Q2. The Battle of Raichur, in which Krishnadevaraya won the doab from his rival in 1520, was fought against which one of the following?
- The Gajapati of Kalinga
- Bijapur
- The Bahmani Sultanate
- Golconda
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Bijapur
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. Krishnadevaraya won the Battle of Raichur in 1520 against Ismail Adil Shah of Bijapur; the Bahmani had by then already broken up. Hence option (b).
Q3. The Telugu work Amuktamalyada, on the god and on the art of kingship, was composed by which one of the following?
- Allasani Peddana
- Krishnadevaraya
- Domingo Paes
- Saluva Narasimha
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Krishnadevaraya
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. Krishnadevaraya himself wrote the Telugu Amuktamalyada; Allasani Peddana was one of the poets of his court. Hence option (b).
Q4. The Ashtadiggajas, the eight celebrated poets of Krishnadevaraya's court, wrote chiefly in which one of the following languages?
- Sanskrit
- Telugu
- Kannada
- Tamil
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Telugu
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. The Ashtadiggajas were the eight great Telugu poets of Krishnadevaraya's court, chief among them Allasani Peddana; his reign was the golden age of Telugu letters. Hence option (b).
Q5. With reference to Krishnadevaraya, consider the following statements:
- He was the third ruler of the Tuluva dynasty.
- He won the Battle of Raichur against Bijapur in 1520.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Explanation.
Both statements are correct. Krishnadevaraya was the third Tuluva king, and he won the Battle of Raichur against Bijapur in 1520. Hence option (c).
Q6. Under the revenue system of Krishnadevaraya, the rate of the land tax was fixed chiefly according to which one of the following?
- The religion of the cultivator
- The quality of the land
- The distance from the capital
- The size of the village
Show answer and explanation
Answer: The quality of the land
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. The Vijayanagara land tax under Krishnadevaraya was fixed according to the quality of the land, so that rich land paid more; workshops paid a separate industries tax. Hence option (b).
Sources and Further Reading
Editorial Disclaimer
This article is for UPSC preparation. The history of Krishnadevaraya rests on the inscriptions, the foreign accounts and the standard scholarship on the medieval Deccan.
