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NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 7 End-of-chapter exercise — Questions, activities and projects

Book page 123 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
If you were Nachiketa, what questions would you like to ask Yama? Write them down in 100-150 words.
Answer

Recall the story first (page 111–112). A father, giving away his possessions in a ritual, is asked once too often by his son Nachiketa which god he will be given to, and snaps: “I give you to Yama.” The boy takes it seriously, goes to Yama's world, waits a long time, and meets the god of death. He asks one question and refuses to be put off: “What happens after the death of the body?” Yama tries to avoid answering; the boy persists; and Yama, pleased, explains that the ātman, the Self, is hidden within all creatures — “It is neither born, nor does it die; it is immortal.”

What makes a good question in this exercise: Nachiketa's questions are not curious, they are necessary. He asks the one thing nobody living can answer, and he asks it of the only being who can. Write questions with that seriousness — and write them as questions, not as speeches.

Kind of questionExamples you could use
About what survivesIf the ātman is neither born nor dies, what is it that does end when a person dies? Does the ātman remember the life it has left?
About karma and rebirthDo our actions follow us? Who decides what the next birth will be — you, or the person themselves?
About how to liveIf death comes to everyone, what is worth spending a life on? What do people most regret when they reach you?
About fearWhy are people so afraid of you? Is there anything about death they have understood wrongly?
About your own workIs it hard to be the god everyone dreads? Do you ever wish you could refuse to take someone?
Sample answer (about 140 words):
“If I were Nachiketa, I would keep my questions few and ask them plainly.
First: you have told me the ātman is neither born nor does it die. Then what exactly is it that ends when a body is burnt? Is the person I love still a person somewhere, or only an essence?
Second: does the ātman carry any memory across a birth? If it does not, in what sense is it still me?
Third: do our actions really follow us, and who keeps that account — you, or the person themselves?
Fourth: since you meet everyone at the end, tell me what people most often regret. I would rather know that now than find out later.
And last, one question for you alone: is it a heavy thing to be the god that everybody fears?”
Why the story ends the way it does: Nachiketa gets his answer because he would not stop asking — “Yama tried to avoid answering, but the boy persisted. Pleased, Yama explained …” This is the same lesson as the Śhvetaketu and Gārgī stories: the Upaniṣhads treat a good question as more valuable than a ready-made answer.
Q2.
Explain a few central ideas of Buddhism. Briefly comment upon them.
Answer

Five central ideas, as this chapter presents them — with a comment on each, since the question asks for one.

Central ideaWhat it saysComment
1. Suffering has a cause, and the cause can be removedUnder the pipal tree at Bodh Gaya the Buddha “realised that avidyā (ignorance) and attachment are the source of human suffering, and conceived a method to remove these two causes”Notice the structure: a diagnosis, then a treatment. He does not say suffering is a punishment or a mystery — he treats it as something with a cause that can be worked on
2. AhimsaUsually translated 'non-violence', but originally 'non-hurting' or 'non-injuring'; and it extends to violence in thought, such as ill feeling towards anyoneStated as 'non-hurting' it becomes a positive daily practice rather than a list of forbidden acts
3. Sincere inner discipline matters more than outward ritual“Not by water is one made pure, though many people may bathe here [in sacred rivers]. But one is pure in whom truth and dharma reside”A striking thing for a teacher to say in a land of sacred rivers. He does not forbid the bath; he says the bath is not what does the work
4. Conquering oneself“Conquering oneself is greater than conquering a thousand men on the battlefield a thousand times”Said in an age of kings and conquests, and said by a man who had been born a prince and walked away from it
5. The SanghaA community of bhikṣhus (monks) and later bhikṣhuṇīs (nuns) who dedicated themselves to practising and spreading the teachingsIdeas last when someone is organised to carry them. It is the Sangha that took Buddhism across India and Asia, and the chapter notes that its influence “is still perceptible today”

Along with these, Buddhism shares with the Vedic and Jain schools the concepts of dharma, karma and rebirth — the Jātaka tales, stories of the Buddha's former births, are built on rebirth and “express in simple terms the Buddhist values”, as the monkey-king story does.

Beyond the book: Buddhist tradition itself sums up the first idea above as the Four Noble Truths — there is suffering; suffering has a cause; the cause can be brought to an end; and there is a path to that ending. That path is the Eightfold Path, and its goal is Nirvāṇa, the ending of suffering. This chapter does not use these terms, but they are the tradition's own, and using them correctly is better than paraphrasing them loosely.
How to write this answer in an exam: name the idea, give the Buddha's own words where the chapter supplies them, then add one line of comment. Quotations are what separate a good answer from a vague one, and this chapter gives you two of them on a single page.
Q3.
Discuss in class the quotation of the Buddha which begins with “Not by water is one made pure, though many people may bathe here [in sacred rivers]” to make sure that its meaning has been understood by all.
Answer

The full saying is on page 113:

“Not by water is one made pure, though many people may bathe here [in sacred rivers].
But one is pure in whom truth and dharma reside.
Conquering oneself is greater than conquering a thousand men on the battlefield a thousand times.”

Line by line.

The lineWhat it means
“Not by water is one made pure”Washing cleans the body. It cannot reach whatever it is in a person that needed cleaning
“though many people may bathe here”He is not attacking an unusual practice — he is pointing at what everybody around him was doing, and asking what it actually achieves
“one is pure in whom truth and dharma reside”The test is inside: honesty, and right conduct. And reside is a strong word — not visits, not is displayed, but lives there
“Conquering oneself is greater …”The same idea aimed at pride instead of ritual. The hardest opponent is not the one across the battlefield

What the saying does not mean. Two misreadings are worth heading off in the discussion.

  • It does not say bathing in a river is wrong or foolish. It says purity of character does not come from it.
  • It does not say outward practice is worthless. It says an outward act with nothing behind it is incomplete — “one is pure in whom truth and dharma reside” is an addition, not a cancellation.
How to run the discussion (about 20 minutes):
1. Read the whole quotation aloud twice, slowly.
2. In pairs, put the first sentence into your own words in one line. Collect four or five versions on the board and compare them.
3. Ask: can you think of anything today that people do because it looks right rather than because it is right? — wearing the correct uniform on a school-cleanliness day and littering the next; posting about a cause without doing anything for it; apologising without meaning it.
4. Ask the harder question: is the Buddha saying rituals are useless? Let the class argue it out. Push them towards the careful answer above.
5. Close with the second sentence. Ask each student to write down, privately and unseen, one thing in themselves they would like to conquer.
Why the two sentences are printed together: the first says the change has to be internal; the second says the internal change is the harder of the two. Read alone, the first can sound like an easy criticism of other people. Read with the second, it turns back on the speaker — which is the point.
Q4.
Explain a few central ideas of Jainism. Briefly comment upon them.
Answer

The chapter names three Jain teachings and adds a fourth idea that runs under all of them.

Central ideaWhat it saysComment
1. AhimsaMahāvīra's own words: “All breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away.” Like Buddhism, Jainism extends it to violence in thoughtRead the five verbs. They move from killing down to driven away — a creature that has merely been chased off has still been harmed. That is why Jain ahimsa is famous for its thoroughness
2. Anekāntavāda'Not just one' aspect or perspective — “the truth has many aspects and cannot be fully described by any single statement”A remarkable idea for a tradition to hold about its own statements. It builds humility into the theory of truth itself, and it makes listening to a person who disagrees with you a duty rather than a courtesy
3. Aparigraha'Non-possession' — detachment from material possessions, “limiting oneself to what is truly necessary in life”Notice it is a limit, not a total ban. The measure is need, not display — a test anybody can apply to their own cupboard, in any century
4. Interdependence of all lifeJainism “insists on the interconnectedness and interdependence of all creatures, from humans to invisible organisms, as they support each other and cannot live without one another”This is why ahimsa is not sentimental in Jainism but structural: if everything depends on everything else, harm is never local. The chapter adds that scientists studying nature “have again and again confirmed this deep truth”

And the meaning of the name. ‘Jain’ or jaina comes from jina, meaning ‘conqueror’ — “not … the conquest of territory or enemies, but … the conquest of ignorance and attachments, so as to reach enlightenment.” Mahāvīra itself means ‘great hero’. Both words are borrowed from the world of warriors and turned inwards.

These ideas “shared to a large extent with Buddhism and the Vedantic school of thought, are central to Indian culture” — the chapter's own claim, and the reason it discusses Jainism at length in a chapter about roots.

Beyond the book: Jain tradition counts 24 Tīrthaṅkaras — literally 'ford-makers', those who make a crossing over the stream of worldly existence. Mahāvīra was the twenty-fourth, which is why the chapter says Jainism's “roots are said to be much more ancient” than the 6th century BCE. He is remembered as the last great teacher of an older tradition, not as the inventor of a new one.
The idea most worth carrying out of this chapter: anekāntavāda. It is the rarest of the three, and the most useful in an argument. It does not say every opinion is equally right; it says no single statement captures the whole of a truth — so the sensible response to someone who disagrees is to find out which aspect they are looking at.
Q5.
Consider and discuss in class André Béteille's thought (see page 122).
Answer

The quotation, in full:

“The thousands of castes and tribes on the Indian subcontinent have influenced each other in their religious beliefs and practices since the beginning of history and before. That the tribal religions have been influenced by Hinduism is widely accepted, but it is equally true that Hinduism, not only in its formative phase but throughout its evolution, has been influenced by tribal religions.”

Unpack the four moves he makes.

The phraseWhat he is claiming
“influenced each other”Not one influencing the other. He puts the traffic in both directions in the very first sentence
“since the beginning of history and before”The exchange is older than any record of it. There is no early period in which the traditions were separate and pure
“is widely accepted, but it is equally true”He is politely pointing out that people accept only half of the fact — the half in which the bigger tradition does the influencing
“not only in its formative phase but throughout its evolution”The strongest claim of the four. The borrowing is not something that happened once, long ago; it has been going on continuously

The evidence from this chapter, put on both sides:

Tribal → wider traditionWider tradition → tribal
Jagannath, worshipped at Puri, was by tradition originally a tribal deitySome tribes adopted Hindu deities long ago
Various forms of the mother-goddess worshipped across IndiaTribes possess their own versions of the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, from the northeastern States to Tamil Nadu
The sacredness of mountains, rivers, trees and stones, shared by all three systemsConcepts, legends and rituals “freely exchanged in both directions”
How to run the discussion: divide the class in two. Group A collects everything in the chapter showing influence from tribal traditions; Group B collects everything showing influence towards them. Give ten minutes. Then ask each group the same question: could you have filled your list without the other group's list existing? The answer is no, and that is Béteille's point — the two lists are the same history seen from two ends. Finish with the chapter's own word for the result: mutual enrichment.
Why a sociologist is quoted in a history chapter: a sociologist studies societies as they are now. Béteille's sentence is not about a distant past — “throughout its evolution” includes the present. It is a claim you can test in your own town, at the next local festival, by asking where a deity or a custom came from. Very often nobody can tell you, and that is the most honest evidence of all.
Q6.
Make a list of popular gods and goddesses in your region and the festivals they are associated with.
Answer

This is your own regional list — so the method matters more than the answer. Do not copy a general list off the internet; the point is to record your region.

How to build it properly.

  1. Ask three generations. A grandparent will name deities and small local festivals that no book lists.
  2. Walk your neighbourhood. Note every shrine and temple you pass, including small roadside ones. Write down the deity's name exactly as local people say it.
  3. Fill four columns — deity, festival, month or season, and what people actually do (the procession, the food, the songs, the fair).
  4. Add one line on origin where you can find it. Some local deities are village or clan deities; some are forms of a larger deity; some, as the chapter says of Jagannath, are said to have tribal origins.
DeityFestivalWhenWhat is done
Jagannath (Odisha)Ratha YātrāĀṣhāḍha (June–July)Three enormous chariots pulled through Puri by thousands of people
Durgā (West Bengal, Assam, Odisha and elsewhere)Durgā Pūjā / NavarātriĀśhvin (September–October)Pandals, clay images, music, immersion on the last day
Gaṇeśha (Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka)Gaṇeśh ChaturthīBhādrapada (August–September)Clay images at home and in the locality, then visarjan
Khandoba (Maharashtra, Karnataka)Champā Ṣhaṣhṭhī, the Jejuri fairMārgaśhīrṣha (November–December)Named in this chapter as an example of a supreme deity in parts of central India
Murugan (Tamil Nadu)Thaipusam, Panguni UthiramThai and Panguni (January–February, March–April)Hill temples, kāvaḍi processions
Donyipolo (Arunachal Pradesh)Solung, Mopin and other tribal festivalsVaries by communityThe Sun-and-Moon deity named on page 121 of this chapter
Singbonga (Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal)Sarhul, KaramSpring and monsoonThe supreme deity of the Munda and Santhal, named on page 122
Sample answer: “In our part of Maharashtra the most popular deities are Gaṇeśha, Vithobā of Pandharpur and Khandobā of Jejuri. Gaṇeśh Chaturthī in Bhādrapada is the biggest festival of our year: every lane sets up a pandal and the images are taken for immersion after ten days. In Āṣhāḍha, warkaris walk to Pandharpur singing abhangs for Vithobā. For Khandobā, families from our village go to the Jejuri fair in Mārgaśhīrṣha and throw turmeric powder, which is why the whole hill turns yellow. My grandmother says our own family deity is a goddess of a hill near our village whose name is not found in any book.”
What the exercise is really teaching: that last sentence is the most valuable line in the sample. The chapter's whole argument is that India's cultural roots include traditions carried by ordinary people without written texts. A deity whose name is in no book is not a gap in your project — it is exactly the thing the chapter is about.
Q7.
As a class activity, list two or three tribal groups from your region or State. Document some of their art and belief systems.
Answer

A documentation project, so plan it like one: find out, record accurately, present clearly, credit your sources.

Step 1 — Identify. Find the Scheduled Tribes listed for your State (a State government or tribal welfare department website, a district gazetteer, or your school library will have this). Pick two or three that live closest to you.

Step 2 — Record, under fixed headings, so that the groups can be compared:

HeadingWhat to write down
Where they liveDistricts, and the kind of country — forest, hills, plateau, coast
LanguageThe community's own language and the family it belongs to
ArtPainting, weaving, pottery, metal-casting, wood carving, tattooing; musical instruments; dance forms and when they are performed
Belief systemDeities and sacred natural places; any supreme being; festivals and the season each falls in; who conducts the rituals
Exchange with other traditionsDeities or stories shared with neighbours — the chapter's own theme, and the most interesting column of the table

Step 3 — Some well-documented examples to start from:

Tribal groupMainly inArtBelief
WarliMaharashtraWhite geometric painting on mud walls — circles, triangles, rows of dancing figuresPaintings are made for weddings and harvests; the mother-goddess Palaghata is central
GondMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, TelanganaGond painting, built from fine dots and lines; wood and metal workBig Deo and other deities; sacred groves and trees
SanthalJharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, BiharWall painting, the flute and the tamak and tumdak drums, group dancesSingbonga, the supreme deity named in this chapter; sacred groves called jaher; the spring festival Sarhul
BhilRajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya PradeshPithora wall paintings; Bhil painting built from coloured dotsDeities of hills and fields; the Baneshwar fair
TodaThe Nilgiris, Tamil NaduDistinctive red-and-black embroidery on white cloaks; barrel-vaulted hutsOver thirty peaks of the Nilgiris are residences of a god or goddess — page 121 of this chapter
Apatani, Adi, Nyishi and othersArunachal PradeshCane and bamboo work, weaving, festival dancesDonyipolo, the Sun-and-Moon deity — page 121
Three rules for documenting a living community — please follow them:
1. Use the name the community uses for itself, and spell it as they spell it.
2. Never write ‘primitive’, ‘backward’ or ‘simple’. The chapter is explicit that such judgments were biased and have been abandoned. Describe what you found; do not rank it.
3. Say where each fact came from — a book, a website, or a person you spoke to. If somebody from the community told you, thank them by name in your project, with their permission.
Why this is worth doing well: tribal art and belief have been part of India's cultural roots for millenniums, and much of it has never been written down. A careful school project, done honestly, is a small piece of real documentation. A careless one repeats the very stereotypes the chapter spends a page correcting.
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