What do you think were the advantages and disadvantages of enclosing agricultural land within the fortified area of the city?
Advantages of enclosing agriculture land within fortified area:
(i) It had an elaborate canal system which drew water from the Tungabhadra to provide irrigation facilities.
(ii) It enclosed agricultural tracts, cultivated fields, gardens and forests.
(iii) This enclosure saved crops from being eaten by wild animals.
(iv) In the medieval period, sieges were laid to starve the defending armies into submission. These sieges lasted for many months or many years. So the rulers of Vijayanagara adopted and elaborated a strategy to protect the agricultural belt and built large granaries.
Disadvantages
(i)This system was very expensive.
(ii)During adverse, circumstances this system proved inconvenient to the farmers.
(iii)The farmers had to seek the permission of gate-keeper to reach their field.
(iv)If enemy encircled the field the farmer could not look after their field.
What do you think was the significance of the rituals associated with the mahanavami dibba?
Fig. 7.33 is an illustration of another pillar from the Virupaksha temple. Do you notice any floral motifs? What are the animals shown? Why do you think they are depicted? Describe the human figures shown.
On an outline map of the world, mark approximately Italy, Portugal, Iran and Russia. Trace the routes the travellers mentioned on p.176 would have taken to reach Vijayanagara.
How were the water requirements of Vijayanagara met?
Discuss whether the term “royal centre” is an appropriate description for the part of the city for which it is used.
What impression of the lives of the ordinary people of Vijayanagara can you cull from the various descriptions in the chapter?
What does the architecture of buildings like the Lotus Mahal and elephant stables tell us about the rulers who commissioned them?
What have been the methods used to study the ruins of Hampi over the last two centuries? In what way do you think they would have complemented the information provided by the priests of the Virupaksha temple?
What are the architectural traditions that inspired the architects of Vijayanagara? How did they transform these traditions?
Write a note on the Kitab-ul-Hind.
What are the problems in using the Ain as a source for reconstructing agrarian history? How do historians deal with this situation?
Explain with examples what historians mean by the integration of cults.
Describe the process of manuscript production in the Mughal court.
Compare and contrast the perspectives from which Ibn Battuta and Bernier wrote their accounts of their travels in India.
To what extent is it possible to characterise agricultural production in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries as subsistence agriculture? Give reasons for your answer.
To what extent do you think the architecture of mosques in the subcontinent reflects a combination of universal ideals and local traditions?
In what ways would the daily routine and special festivities associated with the Mughal court have conveyed a sense of the power of the emperor?
Discuss the picture of urban centres that emerges from Bernier’s account.
Describe the role played by women in agricultural production.
On an outline map of the world, mark the areas which had economic links with the Mughal Empire, and trace out possible routes of communication.
How were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?
Discuss, with examples, the distinctive features of Mughal chronicles.
Discuss the ways in which panchayats and village headmen regulated rural society.
Examine the role played by zamindars in Mughal India.
Examine the evidence that suggests that land revenue was important for the Mughal fiscal system.
Write a note on the Kitab-ul-Hind.
Describe the major teachings of either Kabir or Baba Guru Nanak, and the ways in which these have been transmitted.
Describe the role played by women in agricultural production.
To what extent do you think caste was a factor in influencing social and economic relations in agrarian society?