How did a temple communicate the importance of a king?
Temples were build to demonstrate the power, wealth and devotion of the king.
- Often the names of king and the man deity were identical to each other. For example, rajarajeshvara temple built by king rajarajadeva. For the worship of his god namely, rajarageshvaram.
- The other subordinate deities in a temple represented the original subordinates of a king.
- The temple was a small scaled model of the world ruled by the king and his allies.
- As they worshipped their deities together in the royal temples which seemed as if they brought the just rule of the gods on earth.
What role did the Yamuna play in the layout of the new Mughal city at Shahjahanabad?
What is a shikhara?
An inscription in Shah Jahan’s diwan-i khas in Delhi stated: “If there is Paradise on Earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.” How was this image created?
The rich and powerful construct large houses today. In what ways were the constructions of kings and their courtiers different in the past?
How is the “trabeate” principle of architecture different from the “arcuate”?
What is pietra-dura?
What are the elements of a Mughal chahar bagh garden?
How did the Mughal court suggest that everyone – the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak – received justice equally from the emperor?
Look at Figure 4. How could that building be constructed faster today?
Who was considered a “foreigner” in the past?
Match the following:
Gurjara-Pratiharas Western Deccan
Rashtrakutas Bengal
Palas Gujarat and Rajasthan
Cholas Tamil Nadu
Which ruler first established his or her capital at Delhi?
Match the following:
mansab Marwar
Mongol governor
Sisodiya Rajput Uzbeg
Rathor Rajput Mewar
Nur Jahan rank
subadar Jahangir
Fill in the blanks:
(a) The Rajarajeshvara temple was built in ———.
(b) Ajmer is associated with the Sufi saint ————.
(c) Hampi was the capital of the ———— Empire.
(d) The Dutch established a settlement at ———— in Andhra Pradesh.
Match the following:
garh khel
tanda chaurasi
labourer caravan
clan Garha Katanga
Sib Singh Ahom state
Durgawati paik
The Buddha namghar
Shankaradeva worship of Vishnu
Nizamuddin Auliya questioned social differences
Nayanars Sufi saint
Alvars worship of Shiva
Anantavarman Kerala
Jagannatha Bengal
Mahodayapuram Orissa
Lilatilakam Kangra
Mangalakavya Puri
Miniature Kerala
Match the following:
subadar a revenue farmer
faujdar a high noble
ijaradar provincial governor
misl Maratha peasant warriors
chauth a Mughal military commander
kunbis a band of Sikh warriors
umara tax levied by the Marathas
State whether true or false:
(a) We do not find inscriptions for the period after 700.
(b) The Marathas asserted their political importance during this period.
(c) Forest-dwellers were sometimes pushed out of their lands with the spread of agricultural settlements.
(d) Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban controlled Assam, Manipur and Kashmir.
State whether true or false:
(a) We know the name of the architect of the Rajarajeshvara temple from an inscription.
(b) Merchants preferred to travel individually rather than in caravans.
(c) Kabul was a major centre for trade in elephants.
(d) Surat was an important trading port on the Bay of Bengal.
Raziyya Sultan was unique in the history of the Delhi Sultanate. Do you think women leaders are accepted more readily today?
How was water supplied to the city of Thanjavur?
Why did people from distant lands visit Surat?
Fill in the blanks:
(a) Archives are places where ——————— are kept.
(b) —————— was a fourteenth-century chronicler.
(c) ——, ———, ———, ——— and ——— were some of the new crops introduced into the subcontinent during this period.
In what ways was craft production in cities like Calcutta different from that in cities like Thanjavur?
Why did minstrels proclaim the achievements of heroes?
What was the relationship between the mansabdar and the jagir?
Do you think merchants and bankers today have the kind of influence they had in the eighteenth century?
Who were the parties involved in the “tripartite struggle”?