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NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 3 Two verses from Kālidāsa's Kumārasambhava — In-text Questions

Book page 46 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
What are the ‘western to the eastern oceans’? Can you locate them as well as the ‘Lord of mountains’ on Fig. 5.2?
Answer

Kālidāsa is describing the whole width of the Indian Subcontinent. Read as geography, the verse names three things:

In the verseWhat it is todayWhere it is
The western oceanThe Arabian SeaOn the west (left) of the subcontinent, off Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala — an arm of the Indian Ocean
The eastern oceanThe Bay of BengalOn the east (right), off West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu — also an arm of the Indian Ocean
The ‘Lord of mountains’ (Himālaya)The HimalayasThe great range across the whole north, from Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh through Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan to Arunachal Pradesh

How to locate them on Fig. 5.2 (the physical map of the Indian Subcontinent, in Chapter 5):

  1. Find the brown band running right across the top of the map — that is the Himalayas, the ‘Lord of mountains’.
  2. Follow the band west until it comes near the sea: the water on that side is the Arabian Sea.
  3. Follow it east to where the Brahmaputra turns south: the water on that side is the Bay of Bengal.
  4. Now sweep your finger along the mountains from one sea to the other — that single sweep is exactly what the verse means by “stretches from the western to the eastern oceans”.
Why the poet calls it a measuring rod: the verse says Himālaya “measures the Earth”. Lay a scale across the top of the map and you see why — the range is a straight, unbroken line about 2,400 km long that touches sea to sea. To an ancient poet with no satellite, that was the natural yardstick of the whole land.
Both are the same ocean: the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are not separate oceans at all. As you learnt in Chapter 2, they are two arms of the Indian Ocean, and all the oceans are interconnected.
Q2.
Why is Gangā mentioned? (Hint: There could be several reasons.)
Answer

The hint is important — there is no single right answer. Kālidāsa brings in the Gangā for several reasons at once, and a good answer gives more than one.

  • Because the Gangā is born in the Himalayas. The river rises from the Gangotri glacier in Uttarakhand. Naming her is the quickest way to say how great the mountain is: it does not merely stand there, it gives India her largest river.
  • Because she carries the mountain's cool touch down to people. In the verse, the wind carries “spray from descending Gangā” which shakes the deodar trees and cools the mountain people after they hunt. The river is the mountain's breath reaching human life.
  • Because the Gangā is the most sacred river of India. Countless festivals and rituals take place along her banks and at her source and confluences. Mentioning her makes the mountain sacred too.
  • Because of the story of her descent. In the Purāṇic account, Gangā comes down from the sky with such force that Shiva catches her in his hair on the Himalaya and lets her out gently. The word “descending” in the verse points straight at that story.
  • Because of family. In the same tradition Gangā and Pārvatī are both daughters of Himavan, the Himalaya. Kumārasambhava is the story of Pārvatī's marriage to Shiva — so naming Gangā at the very beginning quietly introduces the family the poem is about.
What the two verses together show: for Kālidāsa the Himalaya is not scenery. It is a living presence — a god who measures the Earth, a father, the source of a sacred river, and the provider of shade, wind and water to the people living on it. That is precisely the chapter's point about landforms and culture.
Some geography from the same chapter: the Gangā is the largest river originating in the Himalayas, nearly 2,500 km long. Tributaries such as the Yamuna and the Ghagara also rise in the Himalayas, while the Son comes from the Vindhya Range south of the Ganga plain.
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