Class 12 History - Themes in Indian History - II - Chapter Peasants, Zamindars and the State NCERT Solutions | Describe the role played by women in agr

How were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

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

Examine the role played by zamindars in Mughal India.

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.

To what extent do you think caste was a factor in influencing social and economic relations in agrarian society?

Discuss, with examples, the significance of monetary transactions during the period under consideration.

Examine the evidence that suggests that land revenue was important for the Mughal fiscal system.

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

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

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?

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.

How were the water requirements of Vijayanagara met?

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

What impression of the lives of the ordinary people of Vijayanagara can you cull from the various descriptions in the chapter?

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

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

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.