Describe some of the distinctive features of Mohenjodaro.
Harappa as a planned urban centre. It had two parts. One part of the city was small. It was built on a higher place.
The second part was comparatively large. It was built on a lower floor. The first part was designed as a citadel and the second part was as a lower town. The citadel owed its height to the fact that it was built on mud brick platforms. It had walls on all sides and these walls were separated from the lower town. The
Lower Town: It was also a walled town. Most of the buildings were built on platforms. In fact, these platforms were considered as foundation stones. It required a huge quantity of labour to build these platforms. It is obvious that settlement was first planned and then implemented as per the building plan. Quality of sun-dried bricks or baked bricks also prove the concept of planning.
All the bricks were of standard ratio. The length and width was four times and twice the height of the bricks respectively. These bricks were used in the settlements of the Harappan Civilisation.
Drainage System: The drainage system was well planned. All the roads and streets were laid out on a grid pattern. They intersected one another at the right angles. It seems that streets featuring drains were laid out first and houses were built thereafter along with them. To make the flow of domestic water, every house had at least one wall along the street.
The Citadel: There were many buildings in the citadel. These buildings were used for many special public purposes. The Warehouse and the Great Bath were the two most important constructions.
Discuss whether the Mahabharata could have been the work of a single author.
How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?
Discuss whether kings in early states were invariably Kshatriyas.
How important were gender differences in early societies? Give reasons for your answer.
On Map 1, use a pencil to circle sites where evidence of agriculture has been recovered. Mark an X against sites where there is evidence of craft production and R against sites where raw materials were found.
Look at Fig. 1.30 and describe what you see. How is the body placed? What are the objects placed near it? Are there any artefacts on the body? Do these indicate the sex of the skeleton?
Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.
Describe the salient features of mahajanapadas.
Were the ideas of the Upanishadic thinkers different from those of the fatalists and materialists? Give reasons for your answer.
Discuss how and why stupas were built.
How important were gender differences in early societies? Give reasons for your answer.
Would you agree that the drainage system in Harappan cities indicates town planning? Give reasons for your answer.
In what ways was the Buddhist theory of a social contract different from the Brahmanical view of society derived from the Purusha sukta?
Discuss the role of the begums of Bhopal in preserving the stupa at Sanchi.
Why do you think women and men joined the sangha?
This is what a famous historian of Indian literature, Maurice Winternitz, wrote about the Mahabharata: “just because the Mahabharata represents more of an entire literature ... and contains so much and so many kinds of things, … (it) gives(s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk.” Discuss.
Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.
To what extent were agricultural practices transformed in the period under consideration?
Look at Fig. 1.30 and describe what you see. How is the body placed? What are the objects placed near it? Are there any artefacts on the body? Do these indicate the sex of the skeleton?
Discuss how archaeologists reconstruct the past.