Unity in Diversity, or 'Many in the One' — Hard

Q1. Consider: (i) 325 languages were counted. (ii) These used 25 scripts. (iii) 4,635 communities were surveyed. Which statements correctly describe the 'People of India' project?

• A. Only (i)
• B. (i), (ii) and (iii)
• C. Only (ii) and (iii)
• D. Only (i) and (iii)

Q2. Sri Aurobindo wrote that the principle of unity in diversity, the 'Many in the One', would place India on the foundation of her Swabhava and Swadharma. This idea is best paraphrased as

• A. Unity in diversity expresses India's own nature and way of being.
• B. India should abandon its diverse traditions.
• C. Diversity is foreign to India's nature.
• D. Only one community defines India.

Q3. Which statement about the Panchatantra is correct as per the chapter?

• A. Its original Sanskrit text is at least 2,200 years old.
• B. It was written only 200 years ago.
• C. It exists only in Sanskrit.
• D. It never travelled outside India.

Q4. Why did England and France eventually decide to ban the import of chintz from India?

• A. Chintz was of poor quality
• B. To protect their own products, as chintz was so popular that European dress sales fell
• C. India refused to sell chintz
• D. Chintz could not be made in cotton

Q5. A scholar's survey in Tamil Nadu alone counted 'about a hundred versions' of which epic in folklore forms?

• A. The Panchatantra
• B. The Mahabharata
• C. The Hitopadesha
• D. The Brihat Samhita

Q6. The 'Pancha Pandavar' carved stone (Fig. 8.7) in the Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu is maintained by the Irula tribals to commemorate

• A. The Pandavas' passing through the area
• B. A Gupta king's coronation
• C. The arrival of chintz traders
• D. Makara Sankranti's first celebration

Q7. Together, the Ramayana and Mahabharata in their original versions might fill roughly how many pages, and in which language?

• A. About 7,000 pages, in Sanskrit
• B. About 200 pages, in Tamil
• C. About 50 pages, in Persian
• D. About 1,000 pages, in Greek

Q8. Which set is correctly identified in the chapter as common spices used throughout the country?

• A. Turmeric, cumin, cardamom and ginger
• B. Bajra, jowar and ragi
• C. Rice, barley and wheat
• D. Banarasi, Kanjivaram and Muga

Q9. Which group is listed in the chapter as famous types of silk saris?

• A. Banarasi, Kanjivaram, Paithani, Patan Patola, Muga, Mysore
• B. Bajra, jowar, ragi, rice
• C. Pongal, Lohri, Bihu, Uttarayan
• D. Bhils, Gonds, Mundas

Q10. Which conclusion best fits the festival map (Fig. 8.5) showing many names around January 14?

• A. A shared harvest festival expresses unity, while its many regional names express diversity.
• B. Each name marks a completely different and unconnected event.
• C. Festivals prove India has no shared culture.
• D. Only one region in India celebrates this festival.

Q11. Anthropologist K.S. Singh observed about the Mahabharata that 'there is hardly a place in the country which the epic heroes... did not visit'. This best shows that the epics

• A. created a dense web of cultural interactions across India
• B. were known only in one region
• C. had no link with folk traditions
• D. were invented in the 20th century

Q12. The phrase 'Many in the One' in the chapter title is best understood as meaning

• A. Many diverse expressions held together by one underlying unity
• B. One single culture with no diversity
• C. Many separate nations within India
• D. One language replacing all others

Q13. The chapter notes that ways of draping the sari vary by region and community, and new ways are still invented, yet it remains the sari. This emphasises

• A. Diversity of style within the unity of a single garment
• B. That the sari is being abandoned
• C. That draping styles are fixed and unchanging
• D. That only one community wears the sari

Q14. The chapter opens 'A Rich Diversity' by imagining a train journey across India. The point of this example is to show that

• A. Diversity in landscapes, dress, food, languages and scripts is the first thing one notices
• B. Trains run only in one part of India
• C. All regions look exactly alike
• D. Diversity exists only in big cities

Q15. Both epics narrate heroes who fight to re-establish dharma and contain shorter stories that constantly ask

• A. What is right and what is wrong
• B. How to trade chintz in Europe
• C. When the harvest begins
• D. How many scripts India uses