Who among 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?

The answer is C, Harihara I. Along with his brother Bukka I, he founded Vijayanagara around 1336 CE on the south bank of the Tungabhadra, a tributary of the Krishna. Their kingdom was run in the name of Virupaksha, a form of Shiva, the presiding deity of Hampi. The rulers saw themselves as his agents, so all land south of the Krishna was treated as his. This ideal is the core of the 'deity as sovereign' concept, which is important for understanding medieval Deccan polity and the Mains theme of religion and state in pre-modern India.

• A (Amoghavarsha I): A Rashtrakuta ruler who founded Manyakheta (Malkhed). It is not on the Tungabhadra, and he did not rule as a deity's agent.
• B (Ballala II): A Hoysala king whose capital was Halebidu. He did not found a city on this tributary.
• D (Prataparudra II): A Kakatiya ruler of Warangal, north of the Krishna. He founded no such city on the Tungabhadra.

Trap: Aspirants often pick a famous southern dynasty name without checking the river, the city, or the deity clue. Anchor the question on Vijayanagara and Virupaksha.