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An Imperial Capital : Vijayanagara
What do the buildings that survive tell us about the way spaces were organised and used? State very briefly.
Buildings that survive tell us about the way spaces were organised and used, how they were built, with what materials and techniques. For example, we can assess the defence requirements and military preparedness of a city by studying its fortifications. Buildings also tell us about the spread of ideas and cultural influences if we compare them with buildings in other places. They convey ideas which the builders or their patrons wished to project. They are often stuff used with symbols which are a product of their cultural context. These we can understand when we combine information from other sources like literature, inscriptions and popular traditions.
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Discuss whether the term “royal centre” is an appropriate description for the part of the city for which it is used
What does the architecture of buildings like the Lotus Mahal and elephant stables tell us about the rulers who commissioned them?
What are the architectural traditions that inspired the architects of Vijayanagara? How did they transform these traditions?
What impression of the lives of the ordinary people of Vijayanagara can you cull from the various descriptions in the chapter?
On an outline map of the world, mark approximately Italy, Portugal, Iran and Russia.Trace the routes the travellers mentioned on p.176 would have taken to reach Vijayanagara.
Find out more about any one of the major cities which flourished in the subcontinent during c. fourteenth-seventeenth centuries. Describe the
architecture of the city. Are there any features to suggest that these were political centres? Are there buildings that were ritually significant? Is there
an area for commercial activities? What are the features that distinguish the urban layout from that of surrounding areas?
Give a brief description of Lotus Mahal, situated in the Royal Centre in the Vijayanagara empire.
Mention two characteristic features of the temple complexes in Vijayanagara.
Mention any two ceremonies performed on the occasion of Mahanavami dibba.
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