NCERT Solutions for Class 6th Social Science Chapter 8 Unity In Diversity Or Many In The One
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
The chapter's one idea: India's variety is real, and so is what lies under it. Travel across India and the landscapes, dresses, foods, languages and scripts keep changing — this is usually the first thing a visitor notices. With over 1.4 billion people (about 18 percent of the world's population), that is not surprising. But the British historian Vincent Smith asked how a history of so bewildering a country could be written at all, and answered himself: “India offers unity in diversity .” Sri Aurobindo's name for the same thing gives the chapter its title — the ‘Many in the One’ . The numbers come from one big survey. Late in the 20th century the Anthropological Survey of India carried out the ‘People of India’ project — a survey of 4,635 communities across all States of the country. It co
- Chapter opening
- A Rich Diversity
- Food for All
- Textiles and Clothing
- Festivals Galore (Fig. 8.5)
- An Epic Spread
- The chapter in three points
- End-of-chapter exercise
Quick revision
| Term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Worth remembering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unity in diversity | Many different forms of life, dress, food, speech and worship that nevertheless share something underneath | Chapter title; page 126 | Vincent Smith's answer: “India offers unity in diversity” |
| ‘Many in the One’ | Sri Aurobindo's phrase for the same idea — the many are forms of one thing, not fragments of nothing | Page 125, opening quotation | Unity is not uniformity |
| ‘People of India’ project | A massive survey by the Anthropological Survey of India, directed by K.S. Singh | Pages 126 and 135 | 4,635 communities, 325 languages, 25 scripts |
| Migrant (as used here) | A person not living near their birthplace or with their original community | Page 126 | The survey found many Indians may be called migrants in this sense |
| Staple grains | The basic food grains of most Indians | Pages 126–128, Fig. 8.1 | Cereals: rice, barley, wheat. Millets: bajra, jowar, ragi. Pulses: dals and grams |
| Sari | A plain, unstitched length of cloth worn in most parts of India | Pages 128–131 | Silks: Banarasi, Kanjivaram, Paithani, Patan Patola, Muga, Mysore |
| Relief | A design that stands out from the surface of a panel of stone, wood, ceramic or another material | Page 129, margin | Fig. 8.2 — a woman in a sari, from Vaiśhali, a few centuries BCE |
| Chintz | A beautiful kind of printed cotton made in India | Page 129, Don't Miss Out | So popular in 17th-century Europe that England and France banned its import |
| Makara Sankrānti | The festival on or around 14 January that marks the beginning of the harvest season in many parts of India | Pages 131–132, Fig. 8.5 | One festival, about a dozen names on the map |
| Pañchatantra | A Sanskrit collection of stories with animals as the main characters, teaching life skills | Page 133 | At least 2,200 years old; about 200 adaptations in more than 50 languages |
| Epic | A long poem generally narrating the adventures of heroes and other great figures of the past | Page 133, margin | The Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata — about 7,000 pages together |
| Folk version | A retelling of an epic kept alive orally by a community rather than in a written text | Pages 134–135 | About a hundred folk Mahābhāratas in Tamil Nadu alone |
Exercises
- Chapter opening — The Big Questions Page 125
- A Rich Diversity — In-text Questions Page 126
- A Rich Diversity — LET'S EXPLORE Page 126
- Food for All — LET'S EXPLORE Page 128
- Textiles and Clothing — LET'S EXPLORE Page 129
- Textiles and Clothing — LET'S EXPLORE Page 130–131
- Festivals Galore (Fig. 8.5) — LET'S EXPLORE Page 132–133
- An Epic Spread — In-text Questions Page 133
- An Epic Spread — LET'S EXPLORE Page 134
- The chapter in three points — Before we move on … Page 136
- End-of-chapter exercise — Questions, activities and projects Page 136