Heritage of India Class 10 GSEB Solutions Social Science Chapter 1

I. Answer the following question in detail.
Question 1. Give detail of the Aryan and Dravidian Culture.
Answer:
The Dravidians: They originally belonged to India. They were the direct descendants of Stone Age civilization. They created the Mohenjodaro culture. It is said that the tribe that came to India from the north was later called as Dravidian. They had their own language and culture.

They gave India the concept of mother as a goddess and father as a ‘God’. As a result, the thought of Parvati and Shiva as mother and father developed in India. They gave the tradition of worshipping nature and animals. They also gave the tradition of worshipping using ‘dhup’ (incense stick, ‘deep’ (lamp) and ‘aarti’. The Dravidians also believed in deities. The Aryans accepted these deities of Dravidians as their God and developed their own culture.

Going forward, the Dravidians got highly influenced with the Aryan culture. This resulted in inter-caste marriage between the two tribes. They had matriarchal (i.e. woman as the head) system of family. They made tremendous progress in a variety of crafts and arts like making boats and rafts, weaving, spinning dyeing, etc.

When the dominance of Aryans increased the Dravidians shifted to South India and settled there. The people of South India are considered the Dravidians shifted to south India and settled there. The people of South India are considered Dravidians and they speak Dravidian languages such as Tamil, Telugu Kannada and Malayalam, etc.

The Aryans: The Nordic-Aryans created the Aryan civilization in India. The Hindus were called Aryans in the ancient time. The northwest area where they were densely populated and first found called ‘Aiyavarta’. Seven rivers used to flow in the Aryavarta region and so that region was also known as ‘Sapta Sindhu’. During post-vedic period, the ‘Aryavarta’ reign extended up to Mithila (Bihar) in the east, and up to Vindhyachal in the south.

The Aryans were the most developed of all the tribes. The vast region where the Aryans were spread was known with several names such as Bharatbhumi, Bharatkhand, Bharat Varsha, etc. owing to the name of the king Arya Bharat or Bharat tribe. Aryans were nature lovers. They loved and worshipped trees, rivers, mountains, sun, wind and rain.

They also composed hymns for praying to various natural elements. Due to Aryans, India learnt the practices of performing some specific religious ceremonies like recitation of Vedas, performing yagyas, etc.

Question 2. Explain the meaning of culture and give its details.
Answer:
Culture: It is a sum of habits, values, customs, traditions and conduct of lifestyle of humans. In other words, it is a way people live their lives. Culture comprises of the behavioral patterns and interactions between members of societies. Culture is a kind of knowledge that is passed down the generations. It comprises of all the traditions, habits, customs, beliefs, and capabilities that are acquired by the people by virtue of being a member of the society. For example, Hindu culture, culture of Gujarat, American culture, etc.

Question 3. “ Cultural Heritage of Gujarat”- Explain in detail.
Answer:
Gujarat is a home to a very rich and varied cultural heritage. Some of the important examples depicting richness of the culture of Gujarat are listed below:

(A) Places having cultural, legendary and archaeological importance:

• Lothal (Dholka Taluka)
• Rangpur (Limdi taluka in Surendranagar district)
• Dholavira (Kachchh district)
• Rozadi or Shrinathgadh (Rajkot district).

(B) Important tourist spots having historical values:

• Victory tower of Vadnagar
• Stone inscription of King Ashoka at Junagadh
• Sun Temple of Modhera
• Gate of Champaner
• Rudra Mahalaya of Siddhpur
• Mansar Lake of Viramgam
• Jama Masjid (Ahmedabad)
• Jhoolta Minara (Shaking towers) Ahmedabad
• Sidi Saiyed Jali (Ahmedabad)
• Hathisinh temple (Ahmedabad)
• Sahastralinga lake of Patan
• Rajmahal of Vadodara
• Tomb of Mohabat Khan

(C) Places having religious importance:

• Parsi agiyari of Navsari
• Dwarkadhish temple of Dwarka
• Shardapeeth of Jagadguru Shankaracharya
• Somnath temple which is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas.
• Ambaji in north Gujarat (Banaskantha District)
• Bahucharaji temple (Mehsana district)
• Ranchhodrai temple in Dakor (Kheda district)
• Shamlaji (Aravalli district)

(D) Well known religious, social and tourist places and events:

• Polo forest in Vijayanagar (Sabarkantha district)
• Kite festivals
• Kankaria carnival (Ahmedabad)
• Tana-Riri festival (Vadnagar)
• Northern dance festival (Modhera)
• Rannotsava (Kachchh district).

(E) Jain and Buddhist tourist places:

• Jain and Buddhist caves can be seen at various places of Gujarat. Some of them are at Vadnagar, Taranga, Khamb- haliya, Shamlaji, Koteshwar, Talaja, Dhank, and Jhagadiya.

II. Answer the following questions pointwise. 
Question 1. Explain our Constitutional duties for preservation & conservation of heritage.
Answer:
Constitutional duties for preservation and conservation of Heritage.

• Indian heritage is the result of thousands of years of cultural amalgamation, richness of artists and their works, trade and commerce.
• Together these have made our heritage extremely beautiful, varied, rich and attractive.
• Our heritage and culture has brought us tremendous glory, prosperity and worldwide appreciation.
• Hence, it becomes our moral and primary duty to preserve and conserve our heritage.
• Every citizen of India should observe that nobody harms the ancient memorials and also to preserve places having historical importance and values.
• Article 51 (A) of our Constitution contains fundamental duties for Indian citizens.
• In that, (6), (7) and (9) especially describes the following duties for preserving our cultural heritage. The duties are:
  1. To understand the importance of our harmonious culture and prosperity and understand how to preserve it.
  2. To maintain the natural environment such as forests, tanks, rivers, ponds and wild animals and birds. They should be compassionate towards living creatures.
  3. To protect public property and giving up violence.

Question 2. Explain the meaning of Natural Heritage of India and state what does it comprise of?
Answer:
Natural Heritage of India:

• Natural heritage refers to the sum total of the elements of biodiversity, including flora and fauna, ecosystems and geological structures.
• India’s natural heritage is unique and varied. It includes features like mountains, forests deserts, rivers, streams, oceans, trees, plants, creepers, flowers, leaves, insects and varied landscapes, wise range of minerals, vegetation, plants and animals.
• India’s natural heritage provides food, water, fresh air and dwelling to carer our all needs.
• Since ancient times we treat nature with respect and faith and also worship it.
• Stories of ‘Panchatantra and Jataka Tales’ of Buddhist religion are live examples of our close relation with nature.
• Our ancestors have bestowed us with classical and folk music and several ragas based on ‘Prahar’ (period of a day).
• Similarly, Ayurveda, Unani and Naturopathy are three very ancient medical treatments based purely on nature.
• Thus, India shares a very close and strong relation with nature and has a rich natural heritage.

Question 3. Write about cultural heritage of India.
Answer:
Cultural Heritage of India:

• India has gifted to the world a di¬verse and rich heritage.
• Cultural heritage is a man-made heritage. Whatever is received or created by humans with his ability, wisdom, art and skills is called cultural heritage.
• Since ancient times people of many castes and tribes such as Aryans, Kshatrap, Kushan, Huns, Persians, Turks, Arabs, Mughal, Brit-ish, French, etc. came to India. So, Indian culture kept on becoming rich with mutual exchanges with all these people.
• Our art of architecture and sculpture is more than 5000 years old. We can find evidence of this in the remains of Indus Valley Civilisation.
• By observing the remains of the figures of Gods and Goddesses, humans, animals and several toys, as well as sculpture of a bearded man and the statue of a dancer we can proudly boast about rich cultural heritage.
• The figure of bullock or lion on the inverted Lotus of Mauryan Era, the statue of Gautam Buddha in a meditative form, the Kalkhand statues of Jain Tirthankaras the caves of Ellora of Rashtrakuta dynasty, etc. also reveal the richness of our cultural heritage.
• Our cultural heritage consists a vast range of palaces, buildings, sculptures, stupas, viharas, chaityas, temples, mosques, tombs, forts and gates.
• Over and above these, important historical places of the freedom movement are also part of our cultural heritage. Some of these places are Sabarmati Ashram, Dandi, Bardoli, Vardha, Shantiniketan (Kolkata), Delhi, etc.

Important discoveries that enriches cultural heritage:

Other important things that make our cultural heritage extremely rich and varied are – our languages, scriptures, discovery of zero, mathematics, our calendars, astronomy, iron structures, varied literature, religion, yuddhashashtra, ancient chariots, works and references of political science, zoology, botany, Vastu shastra, republic system, judiciary, legislation, environment protection, etc.

III. Answer the following questions in short.
Question 1. What is the other name by which Aryans were called?
Answer:
Aryans were also called Nordic- Aryans. They belonged to Aryavrata region and were also called Aiyavrats.

Question 2. Write a short note on Negritoit (Habsi)
Answer:
Some historians believe that Negritoit or Negrose are the most ancient inhabitants of India. They came to India from Africa via Baluchistan. They were black, had curly hair and were 4-5 feet high.

Question 3. Which animals are shown on our national currency?
Answer:
Our currency bears the symbol called the National Emblem. National Emblem consists horse on the left and the bull on the right of the Ashoka Chakra in the circular base on which the four Indian lions are standing back to back.

IV. Answer each of the following questions by selecting the correct option from those given below: 
Question 1. The word ‘Lokmata’ is used for:
(A) Bharat
(B) Nature
(C) Rivers
(D) Paniharies
Answer:
(C) Rivers

Question 2. Find out the correct match.
(A) Shardapeeth – Somnath
(B) Polo Festival – Vadnagar
(C) Northern Dance Festival – Modhera
(D) Sidi Saiyed Grill – Bhavnagar
Answer:
(C) Northern Dance Festival – Modhera

Question 3. Which language does not belong to Dravid language group?
(A) Hindi
(B) Tamil
(C) Kannada
(D) Malayalam
Answer:
(A) Hindi