Class 12 History - Themes in Indian History - II - Chapter Through the Eyes of Travellers NCERT Solutions | Discuss Al-Biruni’s understanding

Write a note on the Kitab-ul-Hind.

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

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

Analyse the evidence for slavery provided by Ibn Battuta.

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

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

Do you think Ibn Battuta’s account is useful in arriving at an understanding of life in contemporary urban centres? Give reasons for your answer.

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.

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

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?

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

Describe the process of manuscript production in the Mughal court.

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.

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?

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

Describe the role played by women in agricultural production.

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

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?

Examine the role played by zamindars in Mughal India.

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

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

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