Class 12 History - Themes in Indian History - II - Chapter Bhakti-Sufi Traditions NCERT Solutions | On an outline map of India, plot three m

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

Examine how and why rulers tried to establish connections with the traditions of the Nayanars and the sufis.

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

To what extent do you think the architecture of mosques in the subcontinent reflects a combination of universal ideals and local traditions?

Explain with examples what historians mean by the integration of cults.

Analyse, with illustrations, why bhakti and sufi thinkers adopted a variety of languages in which to express their opinions.

Describe the major teachings of either Kabir or Baba Guru Nanak, and the ways in which these have been transmitted.

Discuss the major beliefs and practices that characterised Sufism.

Read any five of the sources included in this chapter and discuss the social and religious ideas that are expressed in them.

Choose any two of the religious teachers/thinkers/saints mentioned in this chapter, and find out more about their lives and teachings. Prepare a report about the area and the times in which they lived, their major ideas, how we know about them, and why you think they are important.

Write a note on the Kitab-ul-Hind.

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 problems in using the Ain as a source for reconstructing agrarian history? How do historians deal with this situation?

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.

How were the water requirements of Vijayanagara met?

To what extent is it possible to characterise agricultural production in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries as subsistence agriculture? Give reasons for your answer.

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.

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

What are the architectural traditions that inspired the architects of Vijayanagara? How did they transform these traditions?

Identify the elements that went into the making of the Mughal ideal of kingship.

To what extent is it possible to characterise agricultural production in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries as subsistence agriculture? Give reasons for your answer.

What were the concerns that shaped Mughal policies and attitudes towards regions outside the subcontinent?

Discuss the picture of urban centres that emerges from Bernier’s account.

How were the water requirements of Vijayanagara met?

Compare and contrast the perspectives from which Ibn Battuta and Bernier wrote their accounts of their travels in India.

What were the elements of the practice of sati that drew the attention of Bernier?

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.

Discuss the ways in which panchayats and village headmen regulated rural society.