Class 12 History - Themes in Indian History - II - Chapter An Imperial Capital Vijayanagara NCERT Solutions | Fig. 7.33 is an illustration of another

What do you think was the significance of the rituals associated with the mahanavami dibba?

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 do you think were the advantages and disadvantages of enclosing agricultural land within the fortified area of the city?

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.

Analyse the evidence for slavery provided by Ibn Battuta.

Describe the process of manuscript production in the Mughal court.

On an outline map of the world mark the countries visited by Ibn Battuta. What are the seas that he may have crossed?

Discuss the major beliefs and practices that characterised Sufism.

Discuss the ways in which the Alvars, Nayanars and Virashaivas expressed critiques of the caste system.

Discuss the extent to which Bernier’s account enables historians to reconstruct contemporary rural society.

Read this excerpt from Bernier:

Numerous are the instances of handsome pieces of workmanship made by persons destitute of tools, and who can scarcely be said to have received instruction from a master. Sometimes they imitate so perfectly articles of European manufacture that the difference between the original and copy can hardly be discerned. Among other things, the Indians make excellent muskets, and fowling- pieces, and such beautiful gold ornaments that it may be doubted if the exquisite workmanship of those articles can be exceeded by any European goldsmith. I have often admired the beauty, softness, and delicacy of  their paintings.

List the crafts mentioned in the passage. Compare
these with the descriptions of artisanal activity in
the chapter.

Assess the role played by women of the imperial household in the Mughal Empire.

Discuss Al-Biruni’s understanding of the caste system.

What were the similarities and differences between the be-shari‘a and ba-shari‘a sufi traditions?