Question : Explain the principal features of architecture during Akbar’s rule. What changes were made in them by Shahjahan?
(2002)
Answer : Akbar was a great patron of art and architecture. During his period Mughal architecture achieved maturity. Akbar’s building projects were many and varied. He constructed a large number of buildings at Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore, Allahabad and Rohtasgarh. These buildings are mostly constructed of red sand stone with limited use of marble. Being a man of liberal attitude he allowed co-minglingof indegenous Indian traditions with the West Asiatic architectural scheme. Akbar adopted areuate system only ....
Question : ‘Babarnama’ as a source of history.
(2002)
Answer : Babarnama is the autobiographyof Babar. It was originally written in Turkish language. Babar himself was a great poet of Turkish language. Basically, his Babarnama was a diary that comprised depiction of his ideas, experiences and feelings. This was earlier known as Tuzuk--i-Babari. Babar has mentioned little about his fore-fathers, the great Timurids and their mighty deed and his native place Fargana. Specially, his strong nostalgia for the panormic beauty of Fargana has been revealed in ....
Question : During the reign of Jahangir Mughal Painting reached its Zenith.
(2000)
Answer : Mughal painting witnessed a rapid change and reached its logical culmination during the reign of Jahangir. It was during the time of Jahangir that the development of miniature painting was given an impetus. Under his liberal and discerning eye, the school received encouragement. During his reign, Farrukh Beg led the school and was helped by Muhammad Nadir and Muhammad Murad. From now onwards the Mughal school was emancipated from the tutelage of Persian influences and ....
Question : Trace the development of art architecture under the Mughals and point out mingling of Hindu elements in them.
(1998)
Answer : Architecture : The imperial Mughals were great patrons of art and architecture. They look keen interest in the planning of forts, places, mosques, tombs and even the new townships. They had their own ideas about the construction of buildins by the free amalgamation of what was called the Mughal architecture which was in fact, the national Indian architecture of that age. In architecture, the Mughal period was not entirely an age of innovation and renaissance, ....
Question : “Ancient Indians had no taste for historiography; their scholars cared more for religious, spiritual and philosophical studies. Indian historiography is essentially an Islamic heritage—” Comment upon this statement with special reference to the contemporary writers and their works which help us in the reconstruction of history of the early medieval period of Indian history.
(1996)
Answer : Ancient Indians are often charged with the lack of historical sense. They could not produce historians like Herodotus or Greece or Levy of Rome. That is why western scholars presumed that there was no concept of history in ancient India. But this is not true as the concept of history was quite different to the scholars of ancient India. Modern historians make efforts to establish relation between cause and result when they study historical events. ....
