Class 12 History - Themes in Indian History - I - Chapter Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings NCERT Solutions | Discuss the development in sculpture and

Were the ideas of the Upanishadic thinkers different from those of the fatalists and materialists? Give reasons for your answer.

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

Discuss how and why stupas were built.

Summarise the central teachings of Jainism.

Why do you think women and men joined the sangha?

To what extent does knowledge of Buddhist literature help in understanding the sculpture at Sanchi?

Figs. 4.32 and 4.33 are two scenes from Sanchi. Describe what you see in each of them, focusing on the architecture, plants and animals, and the activities. Identify which one shows a rural scene and which an urban scene, giving reasons for your answer.

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?

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

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

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

How do archaeologists trace socio-economic differences in Harappan society? What are the differences that they notice?

Describe the salient features of mahajanapadas.

Discuss whether kings in early states were invariably Kshatriyas.

Would you agree that the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning? Give reasons for your answer.

How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?

Compare and contrast the dharma or norms mentioned in the stories of Drona, Hidimba and Matanga.

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

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

How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?

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

Discuss whether kings in early states were invariably Kshatriyas.

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

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.

Compare and contrast the dharma or norms mentioned in the stories of Drona, Hidimba and Matanga.

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.

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