NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 8 How the Land Becomes Sacred
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
Sacredness, in this chapter, means something of deep religious or spiritual significance — holy, divine, worthy of respect and reverence. That ‘something' need not be a building. It can be a special location or shrine, a journey of a special kind (a pilgrimage), the route the journey takes, or even the very land covered . So sacredness is tied not only to religion and spirituality but also to geography and to living traditions. Every school of thought and religion in India has its own sacred places. Religions that came from outside — Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism — have shrines like the Dargah Sharif of Ajmer and the Velankanni Church, visited by followers of other faiths too. Buddhism has sites the Buddha visited or where his relics are kept (the Great Stūpa at Sanchi, the
- Chapter opening
- Fig. 8.2 and the chapter-opening pictures of Fig. 8.1
- Becoming Aware of Sacred Geography
- Prayagraj, the Kumbh Mela and the confluence of three rivers
- Figs. 8.7 and 8.8
- Fig. 8.12, a seal from Mohenjo-daro
- From pilgrimage to trade
- Restoring and conserving the sacred
- The chapter's four closing statements, explained
- End-of-chapter exercise
Quick revision
| Term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Worth remembering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sacredness | Finding something of deep religious or spiritual significance, worthy of respect and reverence, holy or divine | Page 168 | It may be a place, a journey, a route, or the land itself |
| Pilgrimage | A journey to a sacred place that is significant within a religion or belief system | Margin note, page 169 | In India, an unbroken tradition for at least 3,000 years |
| Shrine | A place regarded as holy because of its associations with the divine, a sacred relic, or a spiritual figure | Margin note, page 169 | Ajmer Dargah Sharif and Velankanni Church draw people of many faiths |
| Relic | A part of a saint's or other spiritual figure's body, or sometimes one of their belongings, kept as an object of reverence | Margin note, page 169 | The Great Stūpa at Sanchi is a relic stūpa |
| Takht | A seat or centre of spiritual authority in Sikhism | Page 169 | Takht Sri Patna Sahib · Akal Takht, Amritsar · Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur |
| Tīrtha | Literally a place where one can cross a river; symbolically, a place where one crosses from ordinary life to a higher, spiritual life | Margin note, page 170 | The word explains why sacred sites sit on riverbanks and confluences |
| Tīrthankara | Literally, one who makes a tīrtha — who guides the crossing from ordinary to higher life; in Jainism, the supreme preachers of dharma | Margin note, page 171 | Jain tīrthas: Mount Abu, Girnar, Śhatruñjaya |
| Wārī | A pilgrimage held regularly — in Pandharpur's case, annually | Fig. 8.4, page 171 | An 800-year-old Maharashtra tradition; pilgrims walk 21 days to the Vithoba temple |
| Chār dhām | Four sacred sites that some Hindus aspire to visit, placed at the four corners of India | Page 173, mapped in Fig. 8.6 | Badrinath (N) · Puri (E) · Rameswaram (S) · Dwarka (W) |
| Jyotirlinga / Shakti pīṭha | 12 shrines of Śhiva, each with its own name and mythology; and the 51 places where parts of Satī's body are said to have fallen | Page 173 and margin note | The Shakti pīṭhas reach even present-day Bangladesh and Pakistan |
| Puṇyakṣhetra | Sacred space — the natural landscape itself perceived as holy | Sacred Ecology, page 175 | Geography, culture and spirituality fuse in these kṣhetras |
| Nadīstuti sūkta | A hymn (sūkta) of the Ṛigveda in praise (stuti) of rivers (nadī) | Page 175 | It invokes 19 major rivers of ancient northwest India |
| Kumbh Mela | A vast gathering at Haridwar, Prayagraj, Nashik and Ujjain, where drops of amṛita are said to have fallen | Page 176, Fig. 8.7 | UNESCO ‘intangible heritage of the world'; 660 million people at the 2025 Kumbh |
| Sacred grove | A natural forest protected by a community as the abode of a deity, safe from hunting, felling and mining | Pages 179–180 | kāvu · kovilkādu · devare kādu · devarāī · khlaw kyntang · dev van · sarnā · devgudi · oraṇ |
Exercises
- Chapter opening — The Big Questions Page 167
- Fig. 8.2 and the chapter-opening pictures of Fig. 8.1 — LET'S EXPLORE Page 168
- Dharampal's account of pilgrims travelling from Rameswaram to Haridwar — LET'S EXPLORE Page 171
- Becoming Aware of Sacred Geography — LET'S EXPLORE Page 173
- Fig. 8.6, a map showing a few networks of traditional tīrthas — LET'S EXPLORE Page 174
- Prayagraj, the Kumbh Mela and the confluence of three rivers — DON'T MISS OUT Page 176
- Figs. 8.7 and 8.8 — THINK ABOUT IT Page 177
- Fig. 8.12, a seal from Mohenjo-daro — In-text Questions Page 179
- The table of names for sacred groves in regional languages of India — In-text Questions Page 180
- From pilgrimage to trade — LET'S EXPLORE Page 181
- Restoring and conserving the sacred — THINK ABOUT IT Page 182
- The chapter's four closing statements, explained — Before we move on … Page 183
- End-of-chapter exercise — Questions and activities Page 183–184