This document provides an introduction to an interactive website about Arampur, a virtual village in northern India. The website allows users to navigate through Arampur and learn about various aspects of life in the village. It provides background information and questions to guide exploration of topics like Arampur's neighborhoods, religious sites, economic activities, and connections to other communities. Users can also view pictures of daily life in the village and read interviews with residents to learn about the village's social structure.

1. Today you will visit an interactive website that gives background information and allows you to navigate through
Arampur, a virtual village of about 5,000 located in the north of India. Although Arampur is a pseudonym, the village
is real. The authors of the website emphasize that this is only one of almost 600,000 Indian villages, and should not
be seen as "representative" or "average." Go to the Virtual Village website at http://virtualvillage.wesleyan.edu/ ,
click on "About Arampur" and answer the questions that correspond to each subsection.
This activity modified from one created by Janet Espinosa
Introduction
1. What is the basis of Arampur's neighborhoods?
2. What is "the Arampur nexus" and what is its focus?
3. Who is the focus of worship at the temple of Shastri Brahm? (use highlighted words for definition or image.)
4. What other religious sites in Arampur are visited by pilgrims?
The Village Nexus
5. In what way is the concept of the urban hierarchy illustrated in the description of the Arampur nexus?
6. Both Muslims and Hindus within the nexus come to visit Sufi tombs located there. What is a Sufi?
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2. 7. What evidence exists that Arampur has gone through a period of decline?
The Natural Environment
8. What is the economic focus of Arampur?
9. What is the historical importance of the Ganges River?
10. How is the mountain country of the Deccan Plateau viewed?
11. How has human activity altered the environment?
Within Bihar
12. What role does Arampur play in the state of Bihar?
13. What service is provided to Arampur by the town of Kendra? by Patna?
14. How does the state of Bihar compare with the rest of India in terms of economic development? (Support
your statement with specifics.)
Banaras Connections
15. How is the concept of the urban hierarchy reflected in this reading?
16. What is the religious significance of Banaras (Varanasi)?
17. What is the evidence of a Muslim presence in Banaras?
18. What linkages to the outside world exist in Banaras that are not found elsewhere in the region?
Glue this area and paste into the notebook.

3. Within India
19. What factors have encouraged a sense of national identity among Arampur's residents?
20. What factors, both historical and contemporary, have contributed to emigration from Bihar?
Globalization
21. How do Indians see themselves in terms of British imperialism?
22. What is the goal of organizations such as the National Awareness Association?
23. What forms of Western cultural influence are particularly pervasive?
24. What parts of the world have received migrant laborers from this region?
Topics in Village Life (Access this from the home page.)
Select three categories to investigate and summarize new information below:
25. Category ___________________________
Summary:
26. Category ___________________________
Summary:
27. Category ___________________________
Summary:
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4. Thematic Maps
Experiment with navigating your way around these maps. You may need to maximize and minimize the map in
order to see the pictures in full.
28. How does the layout of Arampur reflect its social life? How does this compare to your own neighborhood
and the city in which you live?
29. Compare the images of the Hindu temples to those of Hindu shrines. How do they differ?
30. What aspects of Arampur most surprised or interested you?
My Life
Experiment with viewing the pictures. You will need to move the bar at the bottom of the window to see all of
the photos in each row.
31. What do the pictures suggest about the focus of daily life in the village?
32. Did you note any differences in the subject of the photographs taken by the females and those taken by
the males? Be specific.
Interviews
Read several of the interviews and support your responses to the following questions with specific references.
33. What are the divisions of society to which Arampur residents most commonly refer in their interviews?
How do these compare to the social divisions to which your family and friends most commonly refer?
34. What aspects of village life are emphasized?
Updates
35. What changes have occurred in the village since the project began?
Glue this area and paste into the notebook.