Discuss the role of the begums of Bhopal in preserving the stupa at Sanchi.
Begums of Bhopal made a great contribution to the preservation of the Stupa of Sanchi.
Following are the major contributions made by them.
(a) Shahejahan Begum and her successor Sultan Jahan Begum of Bhopal were the rulers of Bhopal, who made generous grants to the preservation of the Stupa of Sanchi.
(b) A museum was built near the stupa and it was built mainly on the financial support of Begum Sultan Jahan Begum.
(c) The support to preserve the stupa came from the Europeans also.
(d) French and British both took the plaster cast copies of the pillars of the stupas to be displayed in the museums in France and Britain. They also contributed financially to preserve the stupa.
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?
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 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 the main features of Mauryan administration. Which of these elements are evident in the Asokan inscriptions that you have studied?
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?
List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these.
Discuss the evidence of craft production in Early Historic cities. In what ways is this different from the evidence from Harappan cities?
Discuss the functions that may have been performed by rulers in Harappan society.
Discuss whether the Mahabharata could have been the work of a single author.
To what extent were agricultural practices transformed in the period under consideration?
Read this short inscription and answer:
In the year 33 of the maharaja Huvishka (a Kushana ruler), in the first month of the hot season on the eighth day, a Bodhisatta was set up at Madhuvanaka by the bhikkhuni Dhanavati, the sister’s daughter of the bhikkhuni Buddhamita, who knows the Tipitaka, the female pupil of the bhikkhu Bala, who knows the Tipitaka, together with her father and mother.
(a) How did Dhanavati date her inscription?
(b) Why do you think she installed an image of the Bodhisatta?
(c) Who were the relatives she mentioned?
(d) What Buddhist text did she know?
(e) From whom did she learn this text?
Discuss the evidence that suggests that Brahmanical prescriptions about kinship and marriage were not universally followed.
In what ways was the Buddhist theory of a social contract different from the Brahmanical view of society derived from the Purusha sukta?