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NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 17 Chapter opening — The Big Questions

Book page 125 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.
What has made India a home for people from different parts of the world?
Answer

Two things together: a culture that accepts newcomers, and rulers and neighbours who actually made room for them. The chapter puts it in one sentence: these stories “give us a glimpse of the culture of acceptance and inclusion that is a part of the Indian ethos.”

1. The values people lived by. As the chapter says, “India had developed many schools of thought. Their core teachings included ideas like sarve bhavantu sukhinah or ‘may all creatures be happy’, atithi devo bhava or ‘a guest is like God’, and the value of compassion.” The chapter’s opening verse from the Hitopadeśha says the same thing: “‘This is mine, that is not mine,’ so think the narrow-minded. For the noble-minded, the whole world is family.”

2. Those values were put into practice. A value only makes a home if somebody acts on it. The chapter gives act after act:

  • The Raja of Kochi granted the Jews land free of cost “as long as the world, sun, and moon endure”, and they built a synagogue.
  • Raja Jadi Rāṇā of Sanjān “provided a secure place for them to settle in his kingdom” after the Parsi wise man’s answer of sugar in milk.
  • The Mughal emperor Akbar “gave them permission to build a church and follow their Christian religious practices” at Agra.
  • Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja of Nawanagar “provided them with a safe place to stay, food to eat and cared for them” — around a thousand Polish orphans between 1942 and 1946.
  • In 1959 “the government granted him asylum”, and then “rehabilitated the Tibetan refugees, provided education to their children, and facilitated the creation of Tibetan settlements”.

3. People could keep their faith. This is the part that matters most. India “has proved to be a safe haven where they can practise their faith without fear.” Nobody was told to change religion in order to stay. That is why the fire the Parsis carried still burns at Udvada, and why the Kochi synagogue is still standing.

4. Not everyone came fleeing. Some came because India was worth coming to. Arab merchants came for the spice trade from the 7th century; Armenian merchants “traded in Indian spices and fine muslins”. The chapter sums up both motives: “people making India their home, either seeking refuge or seeing opportunities for prosperity and a good life.”

Evidence from 1893: Swami Vivekananda told the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago, “I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the Earth.” He then named the two communities this chapter begins with — “the purest remnant of the Israelites” and “the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation”.
Q2.
Why did oppressed or persecuted people from other countries seek refuge in India?
Answer

Because they were being punished at home for what they believed, and India was known as a place where they would not be. The chapter states the reason plainly for the Jews, and it holds for the others too: “The persecution of Jews in various countries led to them having to flee their homes. India has proved to be a safe haven where they can practise their faith without fear.”

Who was fleeing what.

CommunityWhat they were fleeingWhen they reached India
JewsPersecution “in various countries”, in several waves — the Bene Israel from the ancient Kingdom of Israel, later groups “again facing persecution in their respective countries”Bene Israel around 175 BCE, according to some scholars; other groups between the 12th and 19th centuries
Syriac ChristiansUnder the Roman Empire, “they were sometimes treated as heretics because some of their beliefs about Christ were different from those of the official Church”. In the Persian Empire “they were suspected of secretly helping the Romans… and were persecuted as a result”From the 4th century CE
ParsisAfter the Arab Muslim conquest of Persia, “forced conversions to Islam, religious taxes (jizya), destruction of their sacred fire temples, as well as social and legal marginalisation”Between the 8th and 10th centuries
Baha’is“The ruling religious leadership in Iran… branded them as heretics because of their different beliefs, and they were treated badly”From the late 19th century
Polish childrenThe invasion of Poland in the Second World War (1939–45): “Thousands of families were torn apart, and many children were orphaned”1942–1946
TibetansFrom 1950 China “overran Tibet in several waves, eventually annexing it”; in 1959, after the uprising in Lhasa, the 14th Dalai Lama “was advised to flee across the Himalaya”From 1959

But why India, and not somewhere nearer? Three reasons come out of the chapter.

  • India had a reputation. The Parsis sailed “with some hope to make a home in a place they had heard was safe, India.” A reputation like that is built by earlier arrivals who were not turned away.
  • India was reachable. The sea routes were already busy with trade. The Syriac Christians “travelled eastward along trade routes”; the Parsis sailed “across the Arabian Sea”; the Tibetans crossed the Himalaya, their nearest neighbour’s border.
  • India already held many faiths at once. As the chapter says, “India developed a culture of peaceful coexistence and acceptance of various diverse faiths and schools of thought. This innate character of its people and culture has created a haven for the persecuted.” A country with one official belief has to decide whether a newcomer’s belief is allowed. A country used to many did not have to decide.
Why it happens: persecution is what the word box on page 129 defines it as — “hostility, generally arising from religious, ethnic, social or political motives, often accompanied by harassment or violence.” When a group cannot worship, work or live safely at home, leaving stops being a choice and becomes the only way to survive as a community. What each of these groups looked for was not wealth. It was permission to go on being themselves.
Q3.
What is it about the nature of Indian society that enables people to assimilate here?
Answer

That it never asked them to stop being who they were. Assimilation here did not mean giving up a faith and taking another. It meant keeping the faith and picking up the life around it — the language, the clothes, the food, the ceremonies, the work. Both halves of that are visible in every example in the chapter.

CommunityWhat they keptWhat they took on from India
Bene Israel JewsTheir prayer, “which says there is only one God”, even after their holy books were lostLanguage, dress and daily life — Fig. 5.4 shows a Bombay Jewish family in saris, bangles and local caps
Cochin JewsA synagogue “which enabled them to practise their faith”A place in local society — the Maharaja of Travancore presented a gold crown for the Torah (Fig. 5.2)
Syriac ChristiansTheir Syriac worship and traditions, and their several sectsKerala dress and wedding customs (Fig. 5.5)
ParsisThe sacred fire, which “continues to burn in Udvada”“They combined their ancient traditions with those of the local culture” — see the bride in Fig. 5.7
Arab merchantsTheir religion, which they “brought” with themThey “married local women, and formed new communities”, becoming part of the Mappila Muslim community
SiddisA distinctive dance “accompanied by African-style drumming”They “adapted their language to regional influences” and follow Hinduism, Islam or Christianity
ArmeniansChurches, schools and cemeteries; the Armenian College and Mother Mary Church “continue to be active”Roles in the Mughal household, army and administration — Abdul Hai was Chief Justice in Akbar’s court, Lady Juliana a doctor in the royal palace
Baha’isTheir faith’s “message of unity and love”“Most Baha’is here today are Indians who joined the faith”
TibetansMonasteries “patterned on the original ones in Tibet”, their language, and Sowa Rigpa medicine“Over time, Tibetan refugees in India have become part of the society”; Sowa Rigpa is now in the AYUSH programme

So what is it in Indian society that allows this? The chapter names it: “India developed a culture of peaceful coexistence and acceptance of various diverse faiths and schools of thought.” Three practical effects follow.

  • Difference is normal, not alarming. A society that already contains many languages, many ways of worship and many customs has no single mould that a newcomer must fit.
  • A guest is honoured, not merely tolerated. Atithi devo bhava is why a king gives land free of cost, or a gold crown for someone else’s holy book.
  • Nobody is asked to choose between belonging and believing. That is why these communities are still here, with their traditions intact, centuries later — and why the chapter can end with “the whole world is family”.
Did you know? Assimilation has gone the other way too. The chapter notes that “there are also many cases where people came intending to conquer India but were conquered instead by our diverse culture, rich philosophy and knowledge traditions, unique geography and climate, and thriving economy” — and points back to the Indo-Greeks and the Kuṣhāṇas in ‘The Age of Reorganisation’ in Part 1.
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