Class 12 History - Themes in Indian History - II - Chapter Peasants, Zamindars and the State NCERT Solutions | To what extent do you think caste was a

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.

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

Describe the role played by women in agricultural production.

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?

On an outline map of India, plot three major sufi shrines, and three places associated with temples (one each of a form of Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess).

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

How were the water requirements of Vijayanagara met?

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?