2.3THE RAYAS AND THE NAYAKAS

1 NAYAKAS AS MILITARY CHIEF

Military chief exercised power in the empire and usually controlled fort and had armed supporters.

These chiefs often moved from one area to another and looking for fertile land to settle.

These chief were known as Nayakas, that spoke Telugu or Kannada.

They often rebelled and had to be subdued by military action

2 AMAR NAYAKA SYSTEM

•The Amar nayaka system was a major political innovation of

the Vijaynagara empire .•Some feature of the system were derived from the Iqta

system of the Delhi Sultanate.

3 AMAR NAYAKA AND THEIR TERRITORIES

Amar Nayakas were military commanders who were given territories by the Raya. They collected taxes from Peasants, craftsperson's and the Traders in the area.

They retained some part of the revenue for personal use and for maintaining of horses and elephants.

The Amara Nayakas sent tribute to the king annually and personally appeared in the court with gifts to express their loyalty.

Kings some time showed their control over them by transferring them from one place to another.

By the 17th CE many Nayakas established independent kingdoms.

3 VIJAYANAGARA THE CAPITAL AND ITS ENVIRONS

3.1 WATER RESOURCES

1 Tungabhadra and Natural basin

The most striking feature about the location of Vijayanagara is the Natural basin formed by the river Tungabhadra which flow in the north-east direction.

A number of streams flow down to the river from these rocky hills

2 TANKS—DAM--KAMALPURAM

The Embankments were built along side these streams to create reservoirs of different sizes.

This area is in the most arid zones so the arrangements had to be made to store the rain water and conduct it to the city

In the 15th CE the most important tank was built called KAMALPURAM TANK. this tank was used to irrigated the near by fields and conducted to the Royal centre

3 RUINS OF HIRIYA CANAL

One of the most important water works can be seen as the ruins of the Hiriya Canal.

This canal drew water from a dam across the TUNGABHADRA and irrigated the cultivated valley that separated the ‘Sacred centre” from the “Urban core”