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NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 3 –56Rivers, sacred sites and tourist destinations — LET'S EXPLORE

Book page 55 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
Can you give examples of river sources or confluences from your region that are regarded sacred by any community?
Answer

Yes — almost every part of India has one. A confluence is the meeting point of two or more rivers, and a source is the place where a river is born; both are widely held sacred.

RegionSacred source or confluenceWhat it is
UttarakhandGaumukh (Gangotri glacier)The source of the Bhagirathi–Ganga; a major pilgrimage
UttarakhandDevprayagConfluence of the Alaknanda and the Bhagirathi — below it the river is called the Ganga. Four more prayags lie upstream: Vishnuprayag, Nandaprayag, Karnaprayag and Rudraprayag
Uttar PradeshPrayagraj (Triveni Sangam)Confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna; the Magh Mela and Kumbh Mela are held here
Madhya PradeshAmarkantakThe source of the Narmada and the Son
MaharashtraTrimbakeshwar, near NashikThe source of the Godavari
KarnatakaTalakaveri, KodaguThe source of the Kaveri
KarnatakaTirumakudalu Narasipura (T. Narasipura)Confluence of the Kaveri and the Kapila; a Kumbh Mela is held here
BiharSonepur / HajipurConfluence of the Ganga and the Gandak; the great Sonepur fair
PunjabKiratpur / Anandpur areaSites along the Sutlej associated with Sikh tradition
Sample answer: “In our district the Betwa meets the Yamuna near Hamirpur. People bathe there on Kartik Purnima and immerse idols after festivals, and a small fair is held on the bank every year.”
Why sources and confluences, of all places? A source is where water appears out of the Earth — a beginning, and beginnings feel sacred. A confluence is where two separate streams become one — a meeting, which stands for union. Communities all over the world, not only in India, have marked such places with shrines and festivals.
Q2.
Visit a nearby river and observe all activities there, whether economic or cultural. Note them down and discuss with your classmates.
Answer

This is a field visit, so the answer has to come from what you see. Go with an adult, stay away from the water's edge, and carry a notebook ruled into two columns — economic and cultural.

Economic activities to look forCultural activities to look for
Fishing with nets or lines; boats ferrying people or goods; sand being dug from the bed; washermen at work; water being pumped for fields; cattle being watered; a pumping station or waterworks; a bridge or ferry ghat; small shops and tea stalls on the bank; a watermill or a small damA temple, mosque, gurdwara or shrine on the bank; steps (ghats) built for bathing; morning prayers and evening aarti; lamps or flowers floated on the water; immersion of idols after a festival; last rites; a fair or mela; songs and stories about the river; a picnic spot

What a good report contains:

  1. The name of the river, where you stood, and the date and time.
  2. A quick sketch of the stretch — bank, water, bridge, ghat, fields.
  3. A list of activities, with roughly how many people were doing each.
  4. Two or three sentences from people you spoke to — a boatman, a fisherwoman, a shopkeeper.
  5. What you noticed about the river's health: is the water clear or dirty, is there rubbish on the bank, is the bed being dug up?
Sample answer: “We visited the Gomti at 7 a.m. Four men were fishing from a boat and two more were repairing a net. Sand was being loaded onto a tractor near the bridge. On the ghat about twenty people were bathing, and a priest was performing a small puja; marigold garlands and diyas were floating in the water. A tea stall and a flower shop stood at the top of the steps. There was a lot of plastic waste caught in the weeds, which our whole group noted as a problem.”
What the exercise teaches: the same river is a workplace and a place of worship at the same time. That is exactly the chapter's point — “rivers around the world have carried immense cultural value”, and “river navigation is easy and supports a lot of economic activities”. You are seeing both sentences happen on one bank.
Q3.
Name some popular tourist destinations in India and identify the category of landform they are associated with.
Answer

Sort the destinations you name by landform. Here is a ready list you can add your own favourites to:

LandformTourist destinationsWhat draws people
MountainsShimla and Manali (Himachal Pradesh), Mussoorie, Nainital and Auli (Uttarakhand), Srinagar, Gulmarg and Leh (Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh), Darjeeling and Gangtok (West Bengal, Sikkim), Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh), Ooty and Kodaikanal (Nilgiris and Palani hills), Munnar (Kerala, Western Ghats), Mount Abu (Aravalli, Rajasthan)Cool climate, scenery, snow, trekking and skiing, tea gardens, monasteries
PlateausHampi and Badami (Karnataka, Deccan Plateau), Ajanta and Ellora caves (Maharashtra, Deccan Plateau), Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar (Deccan edge), Ranchi and Netarhat with Hundru Falls (Chhota Nagpur Plateau), Cherrapunji/Sohra and Nohkalikai Falls (Meghalaya Plateau), Jog Falls (Sharavati river, Western Ghats)Rock-cut caves and temples, waterfalls, viewpoints at the plateau edge
PlainsVaranasi, Prayagraj, Ayodhya, Mathura–Vrindavan and Agra (Ganga–Yamuna plain), Bodh Gaya and Nalanda (Bihar), Amritsar (Punjab plain), Kaziranga (Brahmaputra plain)Ghats and temples, historic monuments, river fairs, wildlife of the floodplain
DesertJaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner and the Sam sand dunes; the Rann of Kutch (Gujarat)Forts, camel safaris, folk music and dance, the Rann Utsav
Coasts and islands (a further landform)Goa, Kovalam and Varkala (Kerala), Puri (Odisha), Rameswaram and Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu), the Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep IslandsBeaches, temples by the sea, coral reefs and water sports
Sample answer in sentence form: “Shimla and Manali are in the mountains; Hampi and the Ajanta caves are on the Deccan Plateau; Varanasi and Agra are in the Ganga–Yamuna plain; Jaisalmer is in the Thar Desert; and Goa is on the coastal plain.”
What the pattern tells you: the landform decides the attraction. Mountains sell cool air and snow, plateaus sell waterfalls and rock-cut caves (because there is hard rock to carve and a cliff for the water to fall from), plains sell river ghats and great cities, deserts sell dunes and forts. Tourism is one more way in which landforms shape human life — and, as Fig. 3.6 warns, uncontrolled tourism can also damage the very place people come to see.
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