What were the similarities and differences between the be-shari‘a and ba-shari‘a sufi traditions?

Write a note on the Kitab-ul-Hind.

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

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

Discuss the ways in which panchayats and village headmen regulated 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?

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

Examine the role played by zamindars in Mughal India.

What were the distinctive features of the Mughal nobility? How was their relationship with the emperor shaped?

Analyse the evidence for slavery provided by Ibn Battuta.

What do you think was the significance of the rituals associated with the mahanavami dibba?

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.

Discuss the major features of Mughal provincial administration. How did the centre control the provinces?

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

What were the concerns that shaped Mughal policies and attitudes towards regions outside the subcontinent?

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

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

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

Identify the elements that went into the making of the Mughal ideal of kingship.

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

Discuss the ways in which panchayats and village headmen regulated rural society.