Compare and contrast the dharma or norms | Class 12 History - Themes in Indian History - I Chapter Kinship, Caste and Class, Kinship, Caste and Class NCERT Solutions

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

How do historians reconstruct the lives of ordinary people?

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.

How important were gender differences in early societies? Give reasons for your answer.

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

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.

Describe some of the distinctive features of Mohenjodaro.

Describe the salient features of mahajanapadas.

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.

List the items of food available to people in Harappan cities. Identify the groups who would have provided these.

Explain why patriliny may have been particularly important among elite families.

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

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?

Compare and contrast the list of things given to the Pandyan chief (Source 3) with those produced in the village of Danguna (Source 8). Do you notice any similarities or differences?

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.

Discuss how archaeologists reconstruct the past.

Discuss how and why stupas were built.

Describe the salient features of mahajanapadas.

Figs. 4.32 and 4.33 are two scenes from Sanchi. Describe what you see in each of them, focusing on the architecture, plants and animals, and the activities. Identify which one shows a rural scene and which an urban scene, giving reasons for your answer.