Q. Who of the following founded a new city on the south bank of a tributary to river Krishna and undertook to rule his new kingdom as the agent of a deity to whom all the land south of the river Krishna was supposed to belong?
(a) Amoghavarsha I
(b) Ballala II
(c) Harihara I
(d) Prataparudra II
Ans: (c) Harihara I
Explanation: The correct answer is (c) Harihara I.
Harihara I, along with his brother Bukka Raya I, founded the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century. Harihara I established a new city on the south bank of the Tungabhadra River, a tributary of the Krishna River, and made it the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. The city was named Vijayanagara, which means “City of Victory.”
Harihara I and Bukka Raya I were initially subordinate rulers under the Kakatiya dynasty, which ruled parts of present-day Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in South India. However, they rebelled against the Kakatiya rule and established their own kingdom with Vijayanagara as its capital.
As part of their political and religious ideology, Harihara I and Bukka Raya I proclaimed themselves as the agents (or representatives) of the deity to whom all the land south of the Krishna River was believed to belong. This ideology of divine mandate and their claim to rule on behalf of the deity played a significant role in shaping the religious and political culture of the Vijayanagara Empire.
Therefore, the correct answer is (c) Harihara I.