Compare and contrast the dharma or norms | Class 12 History - Themes in Indian History - I Chapter Kinship, Caste and Class, Kinship, Caste and Class NCERT Solutions

The following is an excerpt from the Mahabharata, in which Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava, speaks to Sanjaya, a messenger:

Sanjaya, convey my respectful greetings to all the Brahmanas and the chief priest of the house of Dhritarashtra. I bow respectfully to teacher Drona ... I hold the feet of our preceptor Kripa ... (and) the chief of the Kurus, the great Bhishma. I bow respectfully to the old king (Dhritarashtra). I greet and ask after the health of his son Duryodhana and his younger brother ... Also greet all the young Kuru warriors who are our brothers, sons and grandsons ... Greet above all him, who is to us like father and mother, the wise Vidura (born of a slave woman) ... I bow to the elderly ladies who are known as our mothers. To those who are our wives you say this, “I hope they are well-protected”... Our daughters-in-law born of good families and mothers of children greet on my behalf. Embrace for me those who are our daughters ... The beautiful, fragrant, well-dressed courtesans of ours you should also greet. Greet the slave women and their children, greet the aged, the maimed (and) the helpless ...

Try and identify the criteria used to make this list – in terms of age, gender, kinship ties. Are there any other criteria? For each category, explain why they are placed in a particular position in the list.

In what ways was the Buddhist theory of a social contract different from the Brahmanical view of society derived from the Purusha sukta?

This is what a famous historian of Indian literature, Maurice Winternitz, wrote about the Mahabharata: “just because the Mahabharata represents more of an entire literature ... and contains so much and so many kinds of things, … (it) gives(s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk.” Discuss.

Explain why patriliny may have been particularly important among elite families.

Discuss whether the Mahabharata could have been the work of a single author.

Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.

Discuss whether kings in early states were invariably Kshatriyas.

How important were gender differences in early societies? Give reasons for your answer.

How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?

Look at Fig. 1.30 and describe what you see. How is the body placed? What are the objects placed near it? Are there any artefacts on the body? Do these indicate the sex of the skeleton?

On Map 1, use a pencil to circle sites where evidence of agriculture has been recovered. Mark an X against sites where there is evidence of craft production and R against sites where raw materials were found.

Describe the salient features of mahajanapadas.

Describe some of the distinctive features of Mohenjodaro.

This is a statement made by one of the best-known epigraphists of the twentieth century, D.C. Sircar: “There is no aspect of life, culture and activities of the Indians that is not reflected in inscriptions.” Discuss.

Discuss the role of the begums of Bhopal in preserving the stupa at Sanchi.

Discuss how and why stupas were built.

Discuss the main features of Mauryan administration. Which of these elements are evident in the Asokan inscriptions that you have studied?

Discuss the evidence of craft production in Early Historic cities. In what ways is this different from the evidence from Harappan cities?

List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these.

Discuss how and why stupas were built.

Discuss the role of the begums of Bhopal in preserving the stupa at Sanchi.

List the materials used to make beads in the Harappan civilisation. Describe the process by which any one kind of bead was made.

List some of the problems faced by epigraphists.

Describe some of the distinctive features of Mohenjodaro.

Describe the salient features of mahajanapadas.

Read this short inscription and answer:

In the year 33 of the maharaja Huvishka (a Kushana ruler), in the first month of the hot season on the eighth day, a Bodhisatta was set up at Madhuvanaka by the bhikkhuni Dhanavati, the sister’s daughter of the bhikkhuni Buddhamita, who knows the Tipitaka, the female pupil of the bhikkhu Bala, who knows the Tipitaka, together with her father and mother.

(a) How did Dhanavati date her inscription?
(b) Why do you think she installed an image of the Bodhisatta?
(c) Who were the relatives she mentioned?
(d) What Buddhist text did she know?
(e) From whom did she learn this text?

Discuss the functions that may have been performed by rulers in Harappan society.

List the raw materials required for craft production in the Harappan civilisation and discuss how these might have been obtained.