Page 66

Question 1.
What was the language used to compose the Vedas?
Answer:
The “Vedic Sanskrit” was the language used to compose the Vedas.

Page 67

Question 1.
What was Budha trying to teach the sorrowing mother?
Answer:
Buddha was trying to tell the sorrowing mother that death will come to all. No one can escape death. All households have faced the deaths in their families.

Page 68

Question 1.
How did the beggar convince the sages to share their food with him?
Answer:
The beggar convinced the sages that all people are part of the universe would i.e. god and he is also a part of the universal soul. If the sages refused food to the beggar, they are refusing it to the god. So the sages shared their food with him.

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Question 1.
List any two ways in which the sangha described in this chapter was different from the Sangha in chapter 6. were there any similarities.
Answer:

Similarities: In the Sungha in chapter 1, children, slaves, and women had to take the permission of their parents, master, and husbands respectively, if they wanted to join the sangha. In the sangha in chapter 6, women, slaves and Kammakaras could not participate in these assemblies.

Page 72

Question 1.
In what ways was the system of ashrams different from life in the sangha. What are the varnas mentioned here? Were all four veritas allowed to participates in the system of ashrams?
Answer:

The four varnas are the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas The fourth were the Shudras. Only Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vais’nya men were expected to follow the ashramas.

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Question 1.
Imagine you want to go to listen to one of the preachers who lived about 2500 years. Describe your conversation with your parents as you try to persuade them to let you go.
Answer:
I: Father, I wish to listen to the sermons which will be delivered by Lord Mahavira.
Father: You are too young to hear religious discourses.
I: But father he does not give religious sermons. He mainly tells about the way of life.
Father: If you are so keen to hear him, tell me one thing about him.
I: I know that he tells about ahimsa or non-injury. We should kill any animal for food. I want to know more about him. Father, have you not heard the pitiful cries of the animals when they are killed.
Father: If my child you are so keen to go then we will go with you.

Class 6 History Chapter 7 New Questions and Ideas Exercise Questions and Answers

Let’s Recall

Question 1.
Describe the ways in which the Buddha tried to spread his message to the people.
Answer:
The Buddha preached about life being full of suffering and unhappiness. He spoke of ‘tanha’ the desire to have more. He taught about ‘Karma’our actions which affect us in the current life and also in the later lives. He taught people to be kind and to respect the lives of others. He used the language of the ordinary people, Prakrit, to talk to them.

Question 2.
Write whether true or false.

(a) The Buddha encouraged animal sacrifices.
Answer:
False

(b) Samath is important because it was the place where Buddha taught for the first time.
Answer:
True

(c) The Buddha taught that karma has no effect on our lives.
Answer:
False

(d) The Buddha attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya.
Answer:
True

(e) Upanishadic thinkers believed that atman and brahman were ultimately ones.
Answer:
True

Question 3.
What were the questions that Upanishadic thinkers wanted to answer ?.
Answer:

1. Some of them wanted to know about life after death, others wanted to know why sacrifices should be performed.
2. Many Upanishadic thinkers felt that there was something permanent in the world, something that would last even after death. They described this as the atman or the individual soul and the brahman or the universal soul. They believed that ultimately, both the atman and the brahman were one.

Question 4.
What were the main teachings of Mahavira?
Answer:
The main teachings of Mahavira are :

1. He taught a simple derive: men and women who wished to know the truth must leave their homes.
2. They must strictly follow the rules of arhinia, which means not, hurting, or killing living beings.
3. To all things life is dear.

Let’s Discuss

Question 5.
Why do you think Anagha’s mother wanted her to know 4he story of Buddha?
Answer:
We think that Anagha’s mother wanted her to know the story of the Buddha because the story of the Buddha would tell her about Buddha’s life as well as about his teachings and ideas.

Question 6.
Do you think it would have been easy for slaves to join the sangha? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer:
Those who wanted to join the sangha had to take permission from their parents or their masters. If the slave wanted to join the sangha, they had to take the permission of their masters. The masters would not give permission easily, because the slaves worked very hard and did not get any wages. So it was difficult for the islands to join the sangha.

Let’s Do

Question 7.
Make a list of at least five ideas and questions mentioned in this lesson. Choose three from the list and discuss why you think that they are important even today.
Answer:
A list of five ideas and questions mentioned in the lesson:

1. What is the true meaning of life?
2. Why life is full of suffering and unhappiness?
3. What is Ahimsa or Non-violence? Why is it important even today?
4. What is the relation between atman and brahman?
5. Why should we lead a simple life and why should we be honest in our life?

Selection and discussion of three ideas and questions mentioned in the above list:
1. What is the true meaning of life?
Answer:
It is very important even today to know the true meaning of life. Because this idea will make us truthful. We will lead a simple life. A simple way of life takes us towards honesty and makes us peaceful. This way of life also takes us nearer to God or Brahma.

2. Why life is full of suffering and unhappiness?
Answer:
Gautam, the Buddha taught us that worldly life is full of suffering and unhappiness. This is caused because we have cravings and desires (which generally cannot be fulfilled). Sometimes, even if we get what we desire, we are not satisfied and want even more (or other things). This is tanha or Trishna or thirst. This craving could be removed by the following moderation in everything.

3. What is Ahimsa or Non-violence? Why is it important even today?
Answer:
Ahimsa or Non-violence’s word meaning is not killing any other living person, creature, cattle, or insect. Ahimsa is useful even today. It makes us kind and teaches us to respect the fives of others, including animals.

Question 8.
Find out more about men and women .who renounce the world today. Where do they live, what kinds of clothes do they wear, what do they eat? Why do they renounce the world?
Answer:
Religious saints, monks, nuns, philosophers, jainmunnies (rien as well as women), men and women who have joined the Buddha- Sangha renounce the world even today.

They live in ashrams, vihars, sanghas, dargah as or lonely places of meditation or worship. Some of them even live in remote forests or near some permanent rivers or on the peak of mountains. They meditate most of the time.
They wear very simple clothes or clothes of particular colour and design.

Generally, they eat vegetarian food, simple rice or chapatis along with milk, fruit, vegetables, and pulses.
They renounce the world because they feel that only those who leave their homes can gain true knowledge.