On an outline map of India, plot three major sufi shrines, and three places associated with temples (one each of a form of Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess).

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?

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

What impression of the lives of the ordinary people of Vijayanagara can you cull from the various descriptions in the chapter?

Discuss whether the term “royal centre” is an appropriate description for the part of the city for which it is used.

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

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.

On an outline map of the world, mark the areas which had economic links with the Mughal Empire, and trace out possible routes of communication.

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

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

Describe the process of manuscript production in the Mughal court.

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