1)How have geographical features influence the political social and cultural development of india?
The Himalayan mountains in the north of India act as a natural buffer from China. This is important, because China to the North has been a powerful country in history. The natural break has caused both nations to be separate and free from war. The Ganges river is one of the longest in the world and has been used to cultivate crops. The Ganges is the 7th longest in the world. The Ganges river becomes all the most important, because India is also home to huge stretches of deserts. The Thar is also the 7th largest desert in the world. Another important point is that India is not landlocked. So, it has had good contact with other people groups and developed a fishing industry. India also have some good natural resources - oil, metals and natural gasses.
2) What factors made it possible for the Mauryan and Gupta empires to unite substantial parts of the subcontinent?
One factor that made it possible for the Mauryan and Gupta Empires to unite the substantial parts of the subcontinent was that the Mauryan Empire were a highly centralized and hierarchical government with a large staff, which regulated tax. They both blossomed under the control of their rulers. They both had a large army to take over. And lastly, they both fell under the army of invaders. Both of the army used lots of war elephants and advance weapons. Gupta India (320 B.C.E-550 C.E.) and Imperial Rome (31 B.C.E.-476 C.E.) both had very distinctive methods of political control based on everything from cultural reasons to geographic limitations.
3) What do the textbook authors mean by theater state?
Historians' term for a state that acquires prestige and power by developing attractive cultural forms and staging elaborate public ceremonies (as well as redistributing valuable resources) to attract and bind subjects to the center.
4) What are the origins of varna and