Examine how and why rulers tried to establish connections with the traditions of the Nayanars and the sufis.

Discuss the major beliefs and practices that characterised Sufism.

Analyse, with illustrations, why bhakti and sufi thinkers adopted a variety of languages in which to express their opinions.

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

To what extent do you think the architecture of mosques in the subcontinent reflects a combination of universal ideals and local traditions?

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

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

Read this excerpt from Bernier:

Numerous are the instances of handsome pieces of workmanship made by persons destitute of tools, and who can scarcely be said to have received instruction from a master. Sometimes they imitate so perfectly articles of European manufacture that the difference between the original and copy can hardly be discerned. Among other things, the Indians make excellent muskets, and fowlingpieces, and such beautiful gold ornaments that it may be doubted if the exquisite workmanship of those articles can be exceeded by any European goldsmith. I have often admired the beauty, softness, and delicacy of their paintings.

List the crafts mentioned in the passage. Compare these with the descriptions of artisanal activity in the chapter.

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.

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

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

Analyse the evidence for slavery provided by Ibn Battuta.

What were the elements of the practice of sati that drew the attention of Bernier?

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

Write a note on the Kitab-ul-Hind.

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

Write a python program to check whether the given string is palindrome or not, using deque. (Hint : refer to algorithm 4.1)

Show the status of deque after each operation

• peek ( )

• insertFront(12)

• insertRear(67)

• deletionFront()

• insertRear(43)

• deletionRear()

• deletionFront()

• deletionRear()

Show the status of queue after each operation

• enqueue(34)

• enqueue(54)

• dequeue( )

• enqueue(12)

• dequeue( )

• enqueue(61)

• peek( )

• dequeue()

• dequeue( )

• dequeue( )

• dequeue( )

• enqueue(1)

Write a menu driven python program using queue, to implement movement of shuttlecock in it's box.