State any two characteristic features of the towns built by the Mughals in India during sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

OR

State any two characteristic features of the ‘new Black Town’ developed during the colonial period in Madras.

Mughal towns, particularly Agra, Delhi, and Lahore, were important centres of imperial control and administration. Some characteristic features of these towns were:

a. These towns contained gardens, bazaars, mosques, temples, tombs, colleges, and caravanserais.

b. The focus of the towns was centred around the palace and the principal mosque.

OR

The old Black Town of Madras was demolished in the mid-1700s, and a new Black Town was then developed. Some characteristic features of the new Black Towns of Madras were:

a. They resembled traditional Indian towns, where living quarters were built around the peoples’ own bazaars and temples.

b. There were caste specific neighbourhoods in the narrow lanes that crisscrossed the town.