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.

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.

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 some of the distinctive features of Mohenjodaro.

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.

In what ways was the Buddhist theory of a social contract different from the Brahmanical view of society derived from the Purusha sukta?

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 whether the Mahabharata could have been the work of a single author.

Discuss the role of the begums of Bhopal in preserving the stupa at Sanchi.

Discuss the notions of kingship that developed in the post-Mauryan period.

This is a statement made by one of the best-known epigraphists of the twentieth century, D.C. Sircar: “There is no aspect of life, culture and activities of the Indians that is not reflected in inscriptions.” Discuss.

How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?

Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.

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 whether kings in early states were invariably Kshatriyas.