NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 3 The Monsoons — DON'T MISS OUT

Book page 55 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.

Mawsynram, located in Meghalaya, receives the highest average annual rainfall in the world, about 11,000 mm (which is the same as 11 metres!).

Answer

Yes — and the number is worth pausing over. Eleven metres of rain in a year is water higher than a three-storey building, falling on the same spot.

11,000 mm = 11 m of rain in a year
Average for the whole of India ≈ 1,200 mm
So Mawsynram gets about 9 times the Indian average

Why Mawsynram, of all places? It is the chapter's five factors acting together:

Moisture-laden winds sweep north from the Bay of Bengal across the flat, wet plains of Bangladesh — a long run over water with nothing to dry them out.
They then meet the Khasi Hills head-on. This is topography at work: the hills force the air to rise sharply.
Rising air cools, the vapour condenses, and the water comes down — on the same slope, day after day, through the monsoon months.

Did you know? Nearby Cherrapunji (Sohra) holds the record for the most rain in a single year. Despite all that water, both places can face shortages in the dry season, because the steep slopes carry the rain away almost as fast as it falls.

Q2.

The monsoons have inspired many ragās in both Carnatic and Hindustani classical music. Meghamalhār and amruthavarshini are names of a couple of them.

Answer

Both names are made of rain-words, which is the point the box is making — the monsoon is not only an economic event in India, it is part of the country's art.

Rāga	Tradition	What the name means
Meghamalhār	Hindustani	megha = cloud; Malhār is the family of monsoon rāgas
Amruthavarshini	Carnatic	amruta = nectar, varṣhiṇī = she who rains — ‘she who showers nectar’

A famous tradition holds that Tansen could bring rain by singing Megh Malhār, and that the composer Muthuswami Dikshitar ended a drought with Amruthavarshini. Whether or not one takes the stories literally, they show how completely Indian culture wove the monsoon into music.

Try This: listen to one recording of each and note what the two have in common — both are usually sung in the rainy season, and both build a mood of waiting for the cloud to break.

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