NCERT Solutions Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India a Home to Many

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 7 · SOCIAL SCIENCE

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 17: India, a Home to
Many

NCERT Textbook — Exploring Society: India And Beyond (Part I)

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

Part II, 125 – 142 13 24 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 37 pages

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 7 · SOCIAL SCIENCE · EXPLORING SOCIETY: INDIA AND BEYOND (PART I)

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 17: India, a Home to Many
Complete NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many — the first chapter
of Theme C, Our Cultural Heritage and Knowledge Traditions, in Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Grade 7, Part
2). Every question the chapter asks is answered here: the three Big Questions, both THINK ABOUT IT boxes,
all seven LET’S EXPLORE boxes, the question asked inside the running text on page 140, the three points of
Before we move on …, and the four end-of-chapter Questions and activities. The DON’T MISS OUT box on
page 138, on the Tibetan system of medicine Sowa Rigpa, carries no question, so it is folded into the answers
and the revision table below. The chapter is about communities that migrated to India, and about religious
persecution elsewhere and refuge here; everything stated on this page is what the chapter itself says, in its
own framing, with the evidence it cites.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part I) (Class Part II, 125 – 142
7)

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

13 24

MEDIUM

English

The Big Questions — Page 125
Chapter opening — Theme C, Our Cultural Heritage and Knowledge Traditions

THE BIG QUESTIONS

Q1 What has made India a home for people from different parts of the world?

Two things together: a culture that accepts newcomers, and rulers and neighbours who
actually made room for them. The chapter puts it in one sentence: these stories “give us a
glimpse of the culture of acceptance and inclusion that is a part of the Indian ethos.”
1. The values people lived by. As the chapter says, “India had developed many schools of
thought. Their core teachings included ideas like sarve bhavantu sukhinah or ‘may all creatures
be happy’, atithi devo bhava or ‘a guest is like God’, and the value of compassion.” The chapter’s
opening verse from the Hitopadeśha says the same thing: “‘This is mine, that is not mine,’ so
think the narrow-minded. For the noble-minded, the whole world is family.”
2. Those values were put into practice. A value only makes a home if somebody acts on it. The
chapter gives act after act:

The Raja of Kochi granted the Jews land free of cost “as long as the world, sun, and moon
endure”, and they built a synagogue.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Raja Jadi Rāṇā of Sanjān “provided a secure place for them to settle in his kingdom” after
the Parsi wise man’s answer of sugar in milk.
The Mughal emperor Akbar “gave them permission to build a church and follow their
Christian religious practices” at Agra.
Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja of Nawanagar “provided them with a safe place
to stay, food to eat and cared for them” — around a thousand Polish orphans between 1942
and 1946.
In 1959 “the government granted him asylum”, and then “rehabilitated the Tibetan refugees,
provided education to their children, and facilitated the creation of Tibetan settlements”.

3. People could keep their faith. This is the part that matters most. India “has proved to be a
safe haven where they can practise their faith without fear.” Nobody was told to change religion
in order to stay. That is why the fire the Parsis carried still burns at Udvada, and why the Kochi
synagogue is still standing.
4. Not everyone came fleeing. Some came because India was worth coming to. Arab
merchants came for the spice trade from the 7th century; Armenian merchants “traded in Indian
spices and fine muslins”. The chapter sums up both motives: “people making India their home,
either seeking refuge or seeing opportunities for prosperity and a good life.”

Evidence from 1893: Swami Vivekananda told the World Parliament of Religions at
Chicago, “I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and
the refugees of all religions and all nations of the Earth.” He then named the two
communities this chapter begins with — “the purest remnant of the Israelites” and
“the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation”.

Q2 Why did oppressed or persecuted people from other countries seek refuge in India?

Because they were being punished at home for what they believed, and India was known
as a place where they would not be. The chapter states the reason plainly for the Jews, and it
holds for the others too: “The persecution of Jews in various countries led to them having to flee
their homes. India has proved to be a safe haven where they can practise their faith without
fear.”
Who was fleeing what.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

COMMUNITY WHAT THEY WERE FLEEING WHEN THEY
REACHED INDIA

Jews Persecution “in various countries”, in several waves — Bene Israel around 175
the Bene Israel from the ancient Kingdom of Israel, later BCE, according to some
groups “again facing persecution in their respective scholars; other groups
countries” between the 12th and 19th
centuries

Syriac Under the Roman Empire, “they were sometimes treated From the 4th century CE
Christians as heretics because some of their beliefs about Christ
were different from those of the official Church”. In the
Persian Empire “they were suspected of secretly helping
the Romans… and were persecuted as a result”

Parsis After the Arab Muslim conquest of Persia, “forced Between the 8th and 10th
conversions to Islam, religious taxes (jizya), destruction centuries
of their sacred fire temples, as well as social and legal
marginalisation”

Baha’is “The ruling religious leadership in Iran… branded them From the late 19th century
as heretics because of their different beliefs, and they
were treated badly”

Polish children The invasion of Poland in the Second World War (1939– 1942–1946
45): “Thousands of families were torn apart, and many
children were orphaned”

Tibetans From 1950 China “overran Tibet in several waves, From 1959
eventually annexing it”; in 1959, after the uprising in
Lhasa, the 14th Dalai Lama “was advised to flee across
the Himalaya”

But why India, and not somewhere nearer? Three reasons come out of the chapter.

India had a reputation. The Parsis sailed “with some hope to make a home in a place they
had heard was safe, India.” A reputation like that is built by earlier arrivals who were not
turned away.
India was reachable. The sea routes were already busy with trade. The Syriac Christians
“travelled eastward along trade routes”; the Parsis sailed “across the Arabian Sea”; the
Tibetans crossed the Himalaya, their nearest neighbour’s border.
India already held many faiths at once. As the chapter says, “India developed a culture of
peaceful coexistence and acceptance of various diverse faiths and schools of thought. This
innate character of its people and culture has created a haven for the persecuted.” A country
with one official belief has to decide whether a newcomer’s belief is allowed. A country used
to many did not have to decide.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many
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Why it happens: persecution is what the word box on page 129 defines it as —

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

COMMUNITY WHAT THEY KEPT WHAT THEY TOOK ON FROM INDIA

Bene Israel Jews Their prayer, “which says there is Language, dress and daily life — Fig. 5.4 shows
only one God”, even after their holy a Bombay Jewish family in saris, bangles and
books were lost local caps

Cochin Jews A synagogue “which enabled them A place in local society — the Maharaja of
to practise their faith” Travancore presented a gold crown for the
Torah (Fig. 5.2)

Syriac Their Syriac worship and traditions, Kerala dress and wedding customs (Fig. 5.5)
Christians and their several sects

Parsis The sacred fire, which “continues to “They combined their ancient traditions with
burn in Udvada” those of the local culture” — see the bride in
Fig. 5.7

Arab merchants Their religion, which they “brought” They “married local women, and formed new
with them communities”, becoming part of the Mappila
Muslim community

Siddis A distinctive dance “accompanied by They “adapted their language to regional
African-style drumming” influences” and follow Hinduism, Islam or
Christianity

Armenians Churches, schools and cemeteries; Roles in the Mughal household, army and
the Armenian College and Mother administration — Abdul Hai was Chief Justice
Mary Church “continue to be active” in Akbar’s court, Lady Juliana a doctor in the
royal palace

Baha’is Their faith’s “message of unity and “Most Baha’is here today are Indians who
love” joined the faith”

Tibetans Monasteries “patterned on the “Over time, Tibetan refugees in India have
original ones in Tibet”, their become part of the society”; Sowa Rigpa is now
language, and Sowa Rigpa medicine in the AYUSH programme

So what is it in Indian society that allows this? The chapter names it: “India developed a
culture of peaceful coexistence and acceptance of various diverse faiths and schools of
thought.” Three practical effects follow.

Difference is normal, not alarming. A society that already contains many languages, many
ways of worship and many customs has no single mould that a newcomer must fit.
A guest is honoured, not merely tolerated. Atithi devo bhava is why a king gives land free
of cost, or a gold crown for someone else’s holy book.
Nobody is asked to choose between belonging and believing. That is why these
communities are still here, with their traditions intact, centuries later — and why the chapter
can end with “the whole world is family”.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Did you know? Assimilation has gone the other way too. The chapter notes that
“there are also many cases where people came intending to conquer India but were
conquered instead by our diverse culture, rich philosophy and knowledge traditions,
unique geography and climate, and thriving economy” — and points back to the
Indo-Greeks and the Kuṣhāṇas in ‘The Age of Reorganisation’ in Part 1.

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 126
A stranger at the door — a class debate, and the same question at the scale of a country

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 Imagine this scenario — A stranger knocks at your door at midnight. It is raining
heavily outside, and the stranger seeks shelter for the night claiming that his car
broke down while he was driving in the vicinity. Your family goes into a huddle to
discuss the pros and cons of letting a stranger into the house at night. Form two
groups to discuss the arguments for and against in this scenario.

How to do this activity. Split the class in two. Group A argues for letting the stranger in, Group
B argues against. Each group gets five minutes to list its points, then two minutes each to
present. Nobody is “right” at the end — the purpose is to see that both sides are made of real
reasons, which is exactly why the family in the story “goes into a huddle” instead of deciding at
once.
What a good set of arguments needs: reasons, not feelings alone; at least one point about
safety, one about the stranger’s situation, and one about what you would want if you were the
stranger; and an answer to the other group’s strongest point.

GROUP A — FOR LETTING HIM IN GROUP B — AGAINST LETTING HIM IN

It is midnight and raining hard. A person left outside in We know nothing about him. The whole story — the car,
that could fall ill or be in danger. Refusing costs him a the breakdown, the road — is only his claim, and we
great deal and costs us very little cannot check any of it at midnight

Atithi devo bhava — “a guest is like God”. Shelter for a There are children and elderly people in the house. Their
night is the oldest kind of help there is, and our own safety is our first responsibility, and it is not ours to
tradition treats it as a duty gamble with

If our family were stranded far from home on such a Once someone is inside a house at night, it is very hard to
night, we would hope somebody opened a door for us undo the decision if it turns out to be wrong

There are ways to help without risk — the choice is not Helping is not the same as hosting. We can help him
only “in” or “out” without opening the door

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer: Both groups are arguing about the same two things — the stranger’s need
and our family’s safety. Our group would let him in, but not blindly. We would first call the police
helpline and tell them a stranger has come; ask his name and see an identity card; offer him the
verandah or the outer room rather than the inside of the house; give him tea, a towel and a
phone to call for help; and keep one adult awake. That way we act on atithi devo bhava without
ignoring the very real point the other group makes. If any of those steps went wrong — if he
refused to give a name, for instance — we would help him from the doorstep instead: an
umbrella, a hot drink, and the number of a mechanic.

Why this question is placed here: the chapter is about to describe communities
that arrived at India’s door with nothing but their story. Before you read about them,
the book wants you to feel how the decision to open a door actually feels —
cautious, uncomfortable, and honourable.

Q2 Now extend this scenario to a country like India — when refugees seek shelter in
India, will similar arguments apply?

Yes — the two sides are the same, but everything about them gets bigger, slower and
more official. The stranger at the door becomes people at a border; the family huddle becomes
a government decision; “letting him in” becomes shelter, food, schools and papers for years, not
one night.

ONE STRANGER REFUGEES ARRIVING IN A COUNTRY
AT A DOOR

The reason to He is cold and it is People have fled war or persecution and cannot go home — the
help raining chapter’s Polish orphans and Tibetan refugees are exactly this

The worry We do not know Security checks, and whether there is enough housing, work, water
who he is and school space where they arrive

Who decides The family, in a The government, under law, with police, officials and often
few minutes organisations like the Red Cross helping

How long it lasts One night Years, sometimes generations. Every community in this chapter is
still here

What “helping Tea, a towel, a dry The chapter’s own list for the Tibetans: the government
properly” means corner “rehabilitated the Tibetan refugees, provided education to their
children, and facilitated the creation of Tibetan settlements”

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer: Yes, similar arguments apply, but with one important difference. A family can
only decide with what it knows at midnight; a country can find out. It can register who arrives,
check their story, and decide where they can live and how they will be supported. So the honest
position is not “open the door to everyone” or “open it to nobody” — it is “open it, and organise
it”. That is what the chapter describes India doing. Maharaja Digvijaysinhji did not simply say yes
to the Polish children; he “mobilised the Red Cross and other organisations to help him rescue
the children and take them to Jamnagar”, then housed and fed them, and “the children and
others returned home safely after the war ended”. The Government of India did not simply
admit Tibetan refugees in 1959; it granted asylum, then built settlements and schools.

Keep in mind while you debate: the people being discussed are real communities,
and several of them are our fellow citizens today. Argue about the decision, never
about the worth of the people. The chapter’s own standard is the line from Sri
Sarada Devi on the opening page: “No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is
your own.”

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 128
The Kochi synagogue — Fig. 5.2, a plaque inside it, and Fig. 5.3, its interior

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Look at the two pictures below. Is the place shown in both the photographs the
same?

Yes. Fig. 5.2 is a framed painting that hangs inside the Kochi synagogue, and the room it
paints is the very room photographed in Fig. 5.3. Compare the two pictures detail by detail
and you can match them.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many
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WHAT TO IN THE PAINTING (FIG. 5.2) IN THE PHOTOGRAPH (FIG. 5.3)
LOOK FOR
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overhead the ceiling

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community stand on both sides watching. The wooden board below the painting says what the

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moment is: “THE MAHARAJAH OF TRAVANCORE
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IN 1805.”
So the two pictures are the same place, more than two hundred years apart — one as a painter
recorded it in 1805, one as a camera records it now. The building described on page 127, which
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Indian society”, is still standing and still in use.

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(religious book of the Jews)?

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Because he was honouring his own people’s holy book, not a foreigner’s. A gold crown for
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the Torah is not a payment and not a favour to visitors. It is the kind of gift a ruler gives to a
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place of worship that belongs to his kingdom.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

“Your faith is worth honouring.” The Torah is “the religious book of the Jews”, as the
question itself explains. The Maharaja was not a Jew. He still treated their scripture as
something deserving the best his treasury could make. That is respect, not mere permission.
“This is how a ruler behaves.” Indian kings had long endowed places of worship — building
them, gifting to them, protecting them. Doing the same for a synagogue simply extended a
familiar duty to one more community of the realm.

Why this matters to the chapter’s argument: the book is trying to show that
acceptance in India was a practice, not a slogan. Land “as long as the world, sun, and
moon endure”, and then a gold crown — these are acts, dated and recorded, and the
plaque is the evidence. This is what Swami Vivekananda meant in Chicago when he
said India “has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all
nations of the Earth.”

Read carefully: the chapter does not record the Maharaja’s own words about why
he gave the crown, so we are reading the act itself and the inscription under it. That
is a normal way for historians to work — when a person’s reasons are not written
down, you look at what they did and at what else was happening around them.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 129
Fig. 5.4 — a Jewish family in Mumbai, late 19th century

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Observe the picture Fig. 5.4. What clues do you get about the integration of the
Jewish community into Indian society over time?

The clue is that nothing in the photograph looks foreign. Cover the caption and it is simply a
large Indian family portrait of the late 1800s. You would not be able to tell that this family’s
ancestors came from West Asia — and that is exactly the point the picture is making.
What you can actually see in the picture.

The women wear saris, draped in the local way, with the loose end drawn up over the head
as older women still do. Their blouses are full-sleeved.
Indian ornaments — bangles on both wrists, necklaces, earrings, and a nose ornament on
one of the women.
The men wear long buttoned coats over a tunic, with caps on their heads — one an
embroidered skull-cap, another a taller stiff cap. An elderly bearded man stands at the back.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The children sit cross-legged on the ground in front of the adults, barefoot, exactly as
children are arranged in Indian family photographs of that period.
A hookah stands among the seated group, its long curved pipe held in the middle of the
picture — an everyday household object in India then.
The family is grouped in a courtyard or garden, elders seated on chairs and benches,
younger people standing behind.

What that tells you. Dress, ornament, furniture, seating, even the way a photograph is posed
— all of it is local. Meanwhile the family is still Jewish; that is why the caption can call them so.
Look back at page 127: the Bene Israel “lost their holy books”, but “they remembered their
prayer, which says there is only one God”, and grew “to become the largest Jewish community in
India, numbering over 25,000 shortly after India gained independence.”

Why it happens: the Bene Israel had been in India for a very long time by the late
19th century — around two thousand years, if the date of about 175 BCE on page
126 is right. Over that many generations, a community lives in the local language,
wears local cloth, eats local food and marries within its own group but inside the
local world. The faith stays; the way of life becomes the country’s. That is what the
chapter means by integration — not the loss of an identity, but the growing of a
second one alongside it.

Check it yourself: one photograph is one family on one day, and a family that could
afford a photographer in the 1890s was not a poor one. So treat it as one good clue,
not as proof about everybody. Historians read pictures the same careful way.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 130
Fig. 5.5 — a Syriac (Syrian) Christian wedding ceremony

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Observe the pictures below. What are the clues you get about the integration of the
Syriac Christian community into Indian society?

The faith in these pictures is Christian; almost everything else in them is Kerala. The
ceremony takes place in a church, led by a priest — and the bride is dressed and married in the
way brides of Kerala are.

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IN THE PICTURES WHAT IT TELLS YOU

The bride’s clothes — a gold-and-yellow silk sari Not a Western wedding gown. This is South Indian silk, worn
with a broad red and gold border as a sari

Her ornaments — gold jhumka earrings, a gold The standard jewellery of an Indian bride
necklace and chain, bangles

The white veil pinned over her hair, edged with This one is Christian. It sits on top of the sari — the two
gold embroidery traditions worn together, literally

The groom ties a thread with a small gold Tying a thread or chain around the bride’s neck is a
pendant around her neck (top right picture) marriage custom of South India. Here it has been taken into
the church service

A red-and-gold silk is draped over the bride’s Another local wedding custom, again performed inside the
head by the groom, with the priest holding it (lower church, in front of the congregation
pictures)

The priest in a black head-cap and a red-and-gold The Church’s own tradition, kept — the community “used
embroidered vestment the ancient Syriac language in their worship and traditions”

The groom in a grey suit and tie; guests in shirts Ordinary modern Indian wedding clothes
and saris

So what is the clue? That the community did not have to choose. It kept a Christian faith
carried from West Asia in the 4th century CE, and it married the way its neighbours in Kerala
marry. A Syriac Christian wedding is a Kerala wedding held in a church.

Why it happens: worship and custom are different layers of life. Worship — the
language of prayer, the priest, the belief about Christ — is what the community fled
West Asia to protect, so it was guarded carefully. Custom — dress, jewellery, food,
the shape of a celebration — is shared with the people you live among, work with
and celebrate beside. After sixteen centuries on the Malabar coast, the customs are
simply Malayali. That is why the chapter says these Christians are called ‘Syrian
Christians’ in India: the name records where the tradition came from, while the life
around it is Indian.

THINK ABOUT IT — Page 131

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The legend of the Parsi wise man, the milk and the sugar

THINK ABOUT IT

Q1 What do you think dissolving the sugar in the milk without spilling it meant?

It was an answer given in the same silent language as the question. The Raja and the Parsis
“were unfamiliar with each other’s languages”, so Raja Jadi Rāṇā did not speak his refusal — he
showed a jug full of milk, “indicating that the kingdom was full and could not accommodate
more people.” The wise man replied by stirring a spoon of sugar into that milk “without allowing
the milk to spill over.”
Three promises are packed into that one action.

“We will not push anyone out.” The milk did not spill. The level of the jug did not rise.
Taking us in will not cost your people their place, their land or their living.
“We will not stay separate.” The sugar dissolved. You will not be able to point at us
afterwards and say those are the outsiders. We will mix into your kingdom.
“We will make life better, not merely take from it.” Sugar does not just disappear — it
sweetens. We will add something you will be glad of.

The Raja understood at once: “Jadi Rāṇā was pleased and provided a secure place for them to
settle in his kingdom.”
Did it come true? The chapter says it did. “They combined their ancient traditions with those of
the local culture… The Parsis continue to live in India and enrich various aspects of its society.”
And they kept what they came with — “the ancient sacred fire continues to burn in Udvada, a
short distance from where the Parsis first arrived.” Today “India has the largest population of
followers of Zoroastrianism in the world.”

Remember what kind of story this is: the chapter says “according to a legend”. We
cannot check whether the jug of milk really happened. But a legend that a
community tells about itself for a thousand years is still evidence of something — of
how that community understood the bargain it made, and how it meant to keep it.

Why it happens: when two groups share no language, they must argue with things.
A full jug says “no room” without insult. Sugar in the same jug says “we will fit”
without argument. It is a good example of how people who cannot talk still manage
to negotiate — and of the chapter’s wider idea, that welcome is not only the host’s
work; the newcomer also promises something.

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LET’S EXPLORE — Page 132
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Fig. 5.7 — Decking the Bride, a painting by Raja Ravi Varma
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LET’S EXPLORE

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This painting of a Parsi bride getting ready for her wedding shows many aspects of
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Indian culture. Do any of them seem familiar to you?
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Almost all of them will. Anyone who has been in a house on the morning of a wedding has

co m
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seen this scene. Here is what the painting actually shows.

o m l a se
The bride wears a sari, with the loose end drawn up over her head and pinned, over a full-

m .c blouse. The women around her wear saris the same way.ag
se jewellery, being put on then and there — one woman is holding out a bangle for her,
sleeved

g l aGold
a another is fastening something at her shoulder. The bride already wears necklaces, earrings
and a fine ornament along the parting of her hair.
m a s
.co
Flowers — a long strand of white flowers hangs beside the low table.
m agl
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Silver vessels and a lamp stand on a round table draped with cloth, with folded clothes
beside them. a g
The women of the household are dressing the bride together. Nobody is doing this alone;

. c om
three of them are helping and one is watching. This is a family ceremony, not a private one.
The setting is the inner part of a stone house with arched doorways. m
The o m l a sefrom Travancore in
.c painter
a g
is Raja Ravi Varma, one of India’s best-known painters,

se m
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present-day Kerala.

agl Every one of these is familiar from weddings across India — the sari, the pallu over the head,
the gold, the flowers, the silver lamp, and above all the crowd of aunts and sisters getting the
se m
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bride ready.
m . a
ase
agl
Based on what you see, can you draw any conclusions about the integration of Parsi
m
Q2
culture in India?
. co
se m
o m g l a
m .c a
se That by the time this was painted, a Parsi wedding morning looked like an Indian wedding

a
agl c
.
morning. The clothes, the ornaments, the flowers, the vessels and the custom of the household

s e m
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women dressing the bride are all local. Nothing in the room says “Persia”.
Three conclusions you can safely draw.
e m . co agl
g l as
a
The community had become Indian in its way of life. The Parsis reached the Gujarat coast
between the 8th and 10th centuries. By the 19th century, when Ravi Varma painted this,

m
roughly a thousand years had passed — and the painting shows the result. The chapter says

. co
e m
m l as
.co a g
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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

it in words: “They combined their ancient traditions with those of the local culture.”
Its faith stayed its own. The picture shows a wedding, not a temple, so we cannot see the
religion in it — but the chapter tells us the sacred fire “continues to burn in Udvada”, and that
India now holds the largest Zoroastrian population in the world. Custom became Indian;
belief remained Zoroastrian.
Other Indians saw them as part of the picture — literally. Ravi Varma painted brides of
many Indian communities. A Parsi bride is here among them, painted with the same care, as
one Indian subject among others.

Why it happens: a marriage is where a community meets its neighbours most — in
what it wears, what it cooks and how it celebrates. So marriage customs are usually
the fastest part of life to take on local colour, and worship is usually the slowest. That
is the pattern behind every ‘integration’ picture in this chapter: the Jewish family in
Fig. 5.4, the Syriac Christian wedding in Fig. 5.5, the Siddi dancers in Fig. 5.11, and
this Parsi bride.

Check it yourself: a painting is composed by an artist, so the arrangement of the
figures is his choice, not a photograph of a real morning. Read it for the details of
dress, ornament and custom, which Ravi Varma observed closely — not as proof of
any single family’s wedding.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 134
Figs. 5.9 to 5.12 — Siddi dancers, a Siddi girl and woman from Karnataka, and Hirabai Lobi

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 What clues do you get about African and Indian cultural integration from the
pictures here and above?

The clue is that the dance is African and the daily life is Indian. The chapter says the same
thing in one line: their “cultural identity represents a fusion of African and Indian traditions”. The
five pictures let you see both halves.

Page 15 of 37

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

PICTURE WHAT IS VISIBLE WHICH TRADITION IT
POINTS TO

Fig. 5.11, left — Men dancing with tall headdresses and skirts of African — the chapter says
Siddi dancers dried grass or straw, bold white patterns painted on “the Siddis have a distinctive
their faces, strings of beads crossed over the chest dance accompanied by African-
and arm bands; one holds a small drum under his style drumming”
arm

Fig. 5.11, right — Women dancing in green, white and red costumes Both — a dance costume, but
Siddi dancers with a frilled skirt; bangles on both wrists, a beaded wearing bangles, a flower and a
necklace, a flower in the hair, a white mark on the forehead mark
forehead and a crown-like headband; the hands
held up in dance gestures

Fig. 5.9 — a An ordinary school-style shirt worn over an orange Indian — she is dressed exactly
young Siddi girl kurta, hair tied in two small bunches, small ear like any other schoolgirl in
from Karnataka studs Karnataka

Fig. 5.10 — a A sari with a striped gold border, its loose end Indian
Siddi woman drawn over her head as a covering; a nose stud
from Karnataka

Fig. 5.12 — Seated cross-legged on a mat on the ground, in a Indian
Hirabai Lobi printed sari with the loose end over her head;
bangles on both wrists; spectacles

What the two halves add up to. The African inheritance survives most strongly in performance
— the drumming, the grass costume, the face paint. Everyday life — clothes, ornament, the way
of sitting, school — is that of Karnataka and Gujarat. The chapter lists the same mixture beyond
the pictures: “they have adapted their language to regional influences and integrated African
religious practices with adopted faiths of Hinduism, Islam, or Christianity.”

Read this section with care. The Siddis did not choose to come. They “were brought
to India as slaves of Arab, Portuguese, and British traders between the 7th and 19th
centuries.” They are today “designated as a scheduled tribe”, and the chapter states
plainly that “the Siddis’ overall economic condition remains poor and efforts are
being made to provide them with better access to education and livelihood options.”
Hirabai Lobi’s Padma Shri in 2023 came for exactly that work — banking, organic
farming and other livelihood options for the women of her community.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 Identify and name a few features that are distinctly Indian.

Six that you can point to in the pictures themselves:

1. The sari, worn with the loose end drawn over the head — Fig. 5.10 and Fig. 5.12.
2. Bangles on both wrists — Hirabai Lobi in Fig. 5.12, and the women dancers in Fig. 5.11.
3. A nose stud — the Siddi woman in Fig. 5.10.
4. A mark on the forehead, and a flower worn in the hair — the dancers in Fig. 5.11, right.
5. Sitting cross-legged on a mat on the ground — Fig. 5.12.
6. School clothes of the ordinary Karnataka kind — Fig. 5.9.

And four more that the text around the pictures gives you:

Indian names and homes — Hirabai Lobi, of the Siddi community “that settled in Gujarat”;
the girl and the woman are “from Karnataka”.
Indian languages — the Siddis “have adapted their language to regional influences”.
Indian faiths — African religious practices integrated “with adopted faiths of Hinduism,
Islam, or Christianity”.
Indian citizenship and its institutions — they are “designated as a scheduled tribe”, and
Hirabai Lobi received the Padma Shri, an Indian civilian honour, in 2023.

Why it happens: the Siddis have been in India for centuries, mostly in Gujarat and
Karnataka, and have lived among Gujarati- and Kannada-speaking neighbours all
that time. What people wear, speak and eat comes from the place they live in. What
people dance and drum often comes from where they came from, because a dance
is performed by the community for itself and is handed down inside it. Both are real;
the chapter calls the result a fusion.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 140 (first box)

Page 17 of 37

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

“The Whole World is Family” — communities in your own neighbourhood

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Are there communities in your neighbourhood whose ancestors might have come
to India centuries ago and made it their home? Have a class discussion on what
their experience may have been.

This one you answer from your own town, so the work is finding evidence rather than
remembering facts. Here is how to do it, and what a good answer must contain.
Method — where the clues usually are.

Places of worship. A synagogue, a fire temple (agiary), an Armenian or Syrian church, a very
old mosque, a Tibetan monastery. Note the date on the gate.
Names on the map. Street and locality names often remember a community long after it
has grown small — the chapter’s own example is Armenian Street in George Town,
Chennai.
Old cemeteries and memorial stones. The Armenians “built schools, churches, and
cemeteries”. Dates and surnames on the stones are hard evidence.
Schools, hospitals and trusts founded by a community, and shop boards with community
surnames.
People. Ask your grandparents, a long-settled shopkeeper, a local librarian, the priest or
caretaker of the building — and above all ask members of the community itself.

What a good answer needs. (1) The name of the community. (2) Roughly when and why their
ancestors came. (3) One piece of evidence you actually saw or were told, not something you
assumed. (4) An honest account of what their experience may have been — the welcome and
the difficulties. (5) Where you got each fact.
Sample answer: In our part of Kochi there is a synagogue in the lane still called Jew Town, with
a plaque inside recording that the Maharaja of Travancore presented a gold crown for the Torah
in 1805. The Jewish families here trace their arrival to different waves, some as early as the 12th
century, and the Raja of Kochi granted them land free of cost “as long as the world, sun, and
moon endure”. Their experience seems to have had two sides. They were safe — they built a
synagogue and used it for centuries, and a ruler honoured their holy book in public. But they
were also always a very small community, far from where they began, and many families later
moved away, so the ones who remain now keep a large heritage with few hands. In our class
discussion we agreed that being welcomed and being few can be true at the same time.

Two rules for the discussion. First, ask the community about itself instead of
guessing about it — a family’s own account of its history is the best source you will
get. Second, do not turn a community into a single story; families inside it will have
had different experiences.

Page 18 of 37

as e
Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Why the chapter asks this here: it has just finished nine examples from all over

m l a se
India, and it wants you to test the claim against your own street. If communities like
o
these live.c a g
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near you, then “the whole world is family” is not only something in a book
—a it sisea description of your neighbourhood.
ag l

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as
In-text Question — Page 140
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A question the chapter asks in the running text, and then answers

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How did India develop a reputation for being a compassionate country that
m with a place
Q1
welcomed people from different parts of the world and providedethem
m a s
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to call
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a g l

The chapter answers its own question in two steps: India had the ideas, and India acted
m a s
.co agl
on them again and again until the acting became a reputation.

a s em
gl teachings included ideas like sarve bhavantu sukhinah or
Step 1 — the ideas. “As we saw in earlier chapters in ‘Tapestry of the Past’, India had developed
many schools of thought. Theiracore
‘may all creatures be happy’, atithi devo bhava or ‘a guest is like God’, and the value of

c o m
compassion.” To these the chapter adds the Buddhist Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta, ‘The Buddha’s Words
.
m so with a boundless
s e
on Loving-Kindness’: “Even as a mother protects with her life her only child,

.
heart should laentire world…”
com one cherish all living beings; radiating kindness overagthe
a s em2 — the acts, spread over two thousand years. A reputation is built by a habit, not by a
Step

agl sentence. Count them:
se m
WHEN WHAT WAS DONE
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl
Around 175 BCE, and Shipwrecked Bene Israel settle on the Konkan coast; the Raja of Kochi grants later
again 12th–19th centuries Jewish arrivals land free of cost “as long as the world, sun, and moon endure”

co m
From the 4th century CE Syriac Christians reach the Malabar coast “where they could live and worship

m .
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freely”

m l as
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em 16th century
8th–10th centuries Raja Jadi Rāṇā “provided a secure place” for the Parsis in Sanjān

a s
agl Akbar gives the Armenians “permission to build a church and follow their Christian

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religious practices” at Agra

m a s e
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1942–1946 Maharaja Digvijaysinhji saves around a thousand Polish orphans and welcomes

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“several thousand Polish refugees”

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1959 onward agThe government grants the 14th Dalai Lama asylum, then rehabilitates Tibetan
refugees, educates their children and helps create Tibetan settlements

co m
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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Step 3 — the reputation travels. Once a country has done this often enough, people
elsewhere hear of it. The Parsis sailed for “a place they had heard was safe, India.” And by 1893
an Indian could say it out loud on a world stage: Swami Vivekananda told the World Parliament
of Religions in Chicago, “I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted
and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the Earth.” In our own century the recognition
came back the other way — the President of Poland honoured Digvijaysinhji, and a monument
to him stands in the Good Maharaja Square in Warsaw.

Why it happens: the chapter’s explanation is that the welcome came out of
something India already had — “India developed a culture of peaceful coexistence
and acceptance of various diverse faiths and schools of thought. This innate
character of its people and culture has created a haven for the persecuted.” A society
already used to many faiths did not have to make an exception in order to take in
one more.

LET’S EXPLORE — Page 140 (second box)
Collecting stories that carry the same values — a class manuscript

LET’S EXPLORE

Q1 Identify similar values in any story or local tradition etc. known to you. You could
ask your guardians or relatives too. Collect these stories and create a class
manuscript. You could include illustrations.

The value to look for is the one the chapter has been describing: treating a stranger as
one of your own. Stories carrying it exist in every Indian language, and most families have one.
Method — three steps.

1. Collect. Each student brings one story or one custom from home. Ask a grandparent, an
aunt, a neighbour. Write down who told it to you and when — that line makes your page a
source instead of a rumour.
2. Sort. On the board, group the stories by the value they carry: welcoming a guest, feeding
whoever comes, sharing water, protecting someone weaker, forgiving. You will find several
stories land in the same group even though they come from different districts and different
faiths.
3. Make the manuscript. One story to a page. Give every page the same four parts — title,
the story in about ten lines, an illustration, and one closing line naming the value and
the source (“told to me by my grandmother, October 2025”). Add a title page and a contents
list, stitch or tie the pages, and keep it in the class library.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What a good entry needs: a real source, the story in your own words, one sentence saying
what the story is for, and no borrowed pictures — draw your own.
Sample answer (one page of the manuscript):

Title: “Every town our town”
The tradition: In summer my grandmother sets out an earthen pot of water and a
steel tumbler on the wall outside our gate, and refills it twice a day. Anyone passing
may drink — the postman, a labourer, a stranger asking for an address. She calls it a
pyaau. She says her own mother did it in the village, and that you never ask who a
thirsty person is before giving water.
The value: a stranger has the same claim on water as a neighbour. It is atithi devo
bhava in its smallest, cheapest form. The classical Tamil poet Kaṇiyan Pūngundranār
said the same thing in a famous line — yāthum ūrē yāvarum kēḷir, “every town is our
town, everyone is our kin” — which is very close to the Hitopadeśha verse at the start
of this chapter, vasudhaiva kutumbakam.
Illustration: the pot, the tumbler and the gate.
Source: told to me by my grandmother, and the Tamil line was shown to me by our
language teacher.

Why the chapter ends with this activity: the whole chapter has been an argument
that vasudhaiva kutumbakam “is not just a slogan but has been a practice for
millennia”. A class manuscript full of small local practices is the proof, gathered by
you — and it is exactly how such traditions have always been passed on, one
household telling the next.

Before we move on … — Page 141
The chapter in three points

BEFORE WE MOVE ON …

Q1 India has been a haven for people persecuted in their respective homelands, or
simply looking for a new land with new opportunities.

The point has two halves, because people came for two different reasons — refuge and
opportunity — and, in one case, for neither: the Siddis were brought by force.

Page 21 of 37

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

COMMUNITY WHEN THEY WHY WHERE THEY SETTLED
CAME

Bene Israel Jews Around 175 BCE, Fleeing the ancient The Konkan coast, just south
according to some Kingdom of Israel; of Mumbai; over 25,000
scholars shipwrecked in a storm shortly after Independence
near the coast

Cochin Jews 12th–19th Persecution “in their Near Cochin (Kochi); land
centuries respective countries” granted free “as long as the
world, sun, and moon
endure”; they built a
synagogue

Syriac Christians From the 4th Treated as heretics under The Malabar coast (Kerala);
century CE Rome; suspected of called ‘Syrian Christians’,
helping Rome, in Persia “divided into several sects”

Parsis 8th–10th centuries Persecution in Persia after The Gujarat coast, at Sanjān;
the Arab conquest — the sacred fire still burns at
forced conversions, jizya, Udvada
fire temples destroyed

Arab merchants From the 7th Trade, not persecution — Kerala, Gujarat, Karnataka;
century onward “peaceful traders, not as part of the Mappila Muslim
conquerors” community; helped build the
Cheraman Juma Masjid

Siddis 7th–19th centuries Neither — “enslaved Karnataka, Gujarat and
there, they were brought elsewhere; some “briefly
to India as slaves of Arab, controlled parts of Bengal” in
Portuguese, and British the 18th century
traders”

Armenians A first settlement in Trade in Indian spices and Agra first, then Surat, Kolkata
the 8th century; fine muslins, and later and Chennai (Madras)
many more from Mughal patronage
the 16th century

Baha’is From the late 19th Branded heretics by the Across India; “most Baha’is
century ruling religious leadership here today are Indians”
in Iran

Polish orphans 1942–1946 The Second World War; Nawanagar (present-day
and refugees families torn apart, Jamnagar), Gujarat; around a
children orphaned thousand orphans. They
“returned home safely after
the war ended”

Page 22 of 37

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

COMMUNITY WHEN THEY WHY WHERE THEY SETTLED
CAME

Tibetans From 1959 China’s takeover of Tibet Dharamshala and settlements
and the uprising in Lhasa elsewhere; many monasteries
in Karnataka

The word ‘haven’ is the right one. A haven is a safe harbour. It is not a promise of wealth —
the chapter is honest that the Siddis’ “overall economic condition remains poor”. It is a promise
of safety, and of being left free to be yourself.

Q2 India’s cultural values such as vasudhaiva kutumbakam, atithi devo bhava, or sarve
bhavantu sukhinah are the basis for the sense of inclusion and acceptance that
have enabled even small communities to find India a secure place and maintain
here their traditions over centuries.

Start with what the three phrases mean.

PHRASE MEANING WHAT IT ASKS OF YOU

vasudhaiva “The whole world is Stop sorting people into ‘mine’ and ‘not mine’. The
kutumbakam family” Hitopadeśha verse says that sorting is what “the narrow-
minded” do

atithi devo bhava “A guest is like Receive the person who arrives — the duty is on the host, not
God” on the guest to prove himself

sarve bhavantu “May all creatures Wish well to everyone, not only to your own people
sukhinah be happy”

Now the second half of the point — “maintain here their traditions over centuries”. This is
the test of whether the values were real, and the chapter supplies the evidence:

The Bene Israel lost their holy books but “remembered their prayer, which says there is
only one God”.
The Cochin Jews built a synagogue, and Figs. 5.2 and 5.3 show it still standing and still in
use.
The Parsis’ ancient sacred fire “continues to burn in Udvada”, close to where they first
landed — an unbroken flame across a thousand years.
The Armenians’ 18th-century Armenian College and Mother Mary Church in Kolkata
“continue to be active”, and St. Mary’s Armenian Church still stands in Chennai, kept up by
“a handful of families and heritage groups” even though their numbers have dwindled.

Page 23 of 37

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many
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The Tibetans built monasteries “patterned on the original ones in Tibet”, mainly in
co m
se
Karnataka, “created a space for Tibetan Buddhists to pursue their way of life and spiritual
m.
o m l a
gnear Lhasa, and itself
.c of medicine, Sowa Rigpa — codified in the 8th century CE
practices without fear or hindrance”.

m a
se of Ayurveda with inputs from China, Central Asia, Persia and Greece — is practised at
Their system
a
alblend
agMen-Tsee-Khang in Dharamshala and has been taken into the Government of India’s AYUSH
m
programme.

. co ag
se m
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Why the values matter for small communities in particular: a large community
g sheer numbers. A few hundred families cannot.
can protect its own traditions a
by
They can only keep a language, a scripture or a fire alive if the society around them

co m
m.
lets them — and, better still, honours them for it. That is what a gold crown for the

m l a se
Torah means, and what Akbar’s permission to build a church at Agra means. Sri
o
.cDevi’s last message, quoted on the chapter’s first page,
a gis the same idea in a
m
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sentence: “No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own.”
a
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These values have universal relevance
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facing the world.

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The chapter names the crises: “wars, climate change, increasing inequality and

o m l a
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.c
discrimination” — and says that “the idea of the fundamental unity of humankind is one of the
m a
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core civilisational values of India, which can help the world resolve

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Take the four crises one at a time and apply the idea.

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CRISIS WHAT CHANGES IF “THE WHOLE WORLD IS FAMILY”

Wars A war stops being a fight against strangers and becomes a quarrel inside one household —
something to be settled, not won. The Dalai Lama’s ‘Four Commitments’ put the same values
first: compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, and religious harmony

Climate change The air and the sea are shared property. No country can protect its own share of the
atmosphere alone. Sarve bhavantu sukhinah extends the circle beyond people — “may all
creatures be happy”

Increasing Inside a family, you do not let one member go hungry while another has plenty. Hirabai
inequality Lobi’s work — banking services, organic farming, livelihood options for Siddi women — is
this value in practice, and it earned her the Padma Shri in 2023

Discrimination Discrimination begins exactly where the Hitopadeśha verse says it does: with “this is mine,
that is not mine”. Every community in this chapter left a country that had made that
judgement about them

Two pieces of evidence the chapter offers that this travels well.

Indians abroad. “Wherever there is a sizeable community of Indians living today, it has been
perceived as a peaceful, law-abiding, progressive and prosperous minority that contributes
to the economy and integrates well in the society of the respective country.” The same
values, carried the other way.
Newcomers who came to conquer and stayed to belong. “There are also many cases
where people came intending to conquer India but were conquered instead by our diverse
culture, rich philosophy and knowledge traditions, unique geography and climate, and
thriving economy” — the Indo-Greeks and the Kuṣhāṇas, from ‘The Age of Reorganisation’ in
Part 1.

Worth remembering: the chapter is careful to say that “religious persecution has
been experienced for centuries in many parts of the world”. It does not claim India is
the only country that ever sheltered anyone. Its claim is narrower and better
supported — that acceptance here grew out of a culture of peaceful coexistence,
and that this culture is worth offering to a world that needs it.

Questions and activities — Page 142

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

End-of-chapter exercise

Q1 On the outline of a world map, try to trace the routes that the communities
mentioned in this chapter may have used to reach India. What types of physical
geographies did they have to negotiate?

How to draw it. Take a blank outline map of the world. Mark India in the centre-right. Mark the
nine starting points — Israel, Syria/Iraq (West Asia), Persia (Iran), the Arabian peninsula, East
Africa, Armenia, Poland and Tibet. Then draw each route in a different colour: blue for sea,
brown for land. Add a legend, and mark the seas and mountain ranges each line crosses. Use
an atlas beside you — do not draw from memory.

Page 26 of 37

Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

COMMUNITY FROM LIKELY ROUTE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
TO NEGOTIATE

Bene Israel Jews Ancient Kingdom By sea — the chapter says Ocean sailing, and the storms
of Israel (eastern “their ship was caught in a of the Arabian Sea. Their
Mediterranean) storm and shipwrecked near voyage ended in a wreck
the coast”, so they came by
water to the Konkan coast

Cochin Jews West Asia and Sea routes to the Malabar The Arabian Sea; monsoon
other countries coast, near Cochin winds, which decide when a
sailing ship can cross and
when it cannot

Syriac West Asia — the The chapter says they Overland: the dry plateaus
Christians Roman and Persian “travelled eastward along and deserts of West Asia and
empires trade routes and reached the Iran, and mountain country.
Malabar coast” Then, for the last stretch, the
sea

Parsis Persia (modern-day Overland to the coast, then Desert and mountain inside
Iran) “sail across the Arabian Sea” Persia; then open sea. They
to Gujarat landed on the Gujarat coast,
at Sanjān

Arab merchants The Arabian Across the Arabian Sea to The Arabian Sea, sailed with
peninsula Kerala, Gujarat and the monsoon winds — out
Karnataka with one season, home with
the other

Siddis East Africa Across the Indian Ocean, in A long ocean crossing, in
the ships of Arab, conditions they had no control
Portuguese and British over
traders. They did not choose
this journey — they were
brought as slaves

Armenians Armenia — Two ways: by sea to the High mountain country in and
“between Turkey Malabar coast (the 8th- around Armenia; the Iranian
and Azerbaijan, just century settlement), and plateau, its deserts and
north of Iran” overland from Persia in passes; then the plains of
Mughal times, to Agra and north India
later Surat, Kolkata and
Madras

Baha’is Persia (modern-day The same overland and sea Deserts and mountains of
Iran) routes from Iran, in the late Iran; the Arabian Sea
19th century

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

COMMUNITY FROM LIKELY ROUTE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
TO NEGOTIATE

Polish children Poland, during the A long journey to Jamnagar Wartime Europe and Asia; the
Second World War on the Gujarat coast. The last stretch by sea to the
chapter says the Maharaja Gujarat coast
“mobilised the Red Cross
and other organisations to
help him rescue the
children”, but does not give
the route

Tibetans Tibet — “located on Overland: the 14th Dalai The Himalaya — the highest
the other side of Lama “was advised to flee mountains on Earth. High
the Himalayan across the Himalaya and passes, snow, thin air and
range” take refuge in India” cold. Also, earlier, the monks
who “left for Tibet” with
Sanskrit manuscripts crossed
the same range the other way

So what types of physical geography, in short?

Seas and oceans — the Arabian Sea and the wider Indian Ocean above all, plus the Red Sea
or the Persian Gulf on the way out of West Asia.
Monsoon winds and storms — the wind decided the sailing season, and a storm decided
the Bene Israel’s landing place.
Deserts and dry plateaus — the Arabian peninsula and the Iranian plateau.
Mountain ranges — the highlands of Armenia and Iran, and, for the Tibetans, the Himalaya
itself.
Coasts and river plains at the end of the journey — the Konkan and Malabar coasts, the
Gujarat coast, and the Ganga plains for those who went inland to Agra and Kolkata.

Be honest on your map. The chapter names some routes (“across the Arabian Sea”,
“eastward along trade routes”, “across the Himalaya”) and leaves others open. Draw
the named ones as solid lines and the reconstructed ones as dotted lines, and say so
in your legend. That is how a historian shows the difference between evidence and a
reasonable guess.

Q2 What are the key values intrinsic to Indian culture that enable it to welcome people
of different backgrounds?

The chapter names six, and quotes five of them directly.

Page 28 of 37

as e
Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

VALUE WHAT IT SAYS
. c
WHERE THE CHAPTERom
QUOTES IT m
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narrow-minded. For the noble-minded, the whole Family”
world is family”

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atithi devo bhava “A guest is like God” Page 140

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sarve bhavantu agbe happy”
“May all creatures Page 140
sukhinah

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Compassion — The Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta: “Even as a mother protects Page 140; and karuṇā and

com
karuṇā — and with her life her only child, so with a boundless heart
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ahimsa again in the Dalai
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em
loving-kindness should one cherish all living beings; radiating

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kindness over the entire world…” page 139

No one is a Sri Sarada Devi’s last message: “Learn to make the Opening page

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stranger whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child;

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the whole world is your own”

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Peaceful
coexistence of
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“India developed a culture of peaceful coexistence
and acceptance
Page 141

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many faiths of thought”; and “the idea of the fundamental unity
of humankind is one of the core civilisational values
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as
of India”
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But values only welcome people when they are turned into rules of behaviour. Three habits

agl follow from the list above, and it is these that actually did the welcoming:
Give the newcomer land and permission, not just kind words. Land free of cost “as long
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as the world, sun, and moon endure”; “a secure place to settle”; permission “to build a church
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and follow their Christian religious practices”; asylum, settlements and schools.

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Never demand a change of faith as the price of staying. This is why every community in
the chapter is still recognisably itself.
Honour what the newcomer holds sacred. A gold crown for the Torah in 1805 is the
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clearest single example in the chapter.
m l as
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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 Homi Bhabha, Sam Maneckshaw, Ratan Tata, Fali Nariman, Nani Palkivala, and
Cornelia Sorabji are a few names of Parsis who excelled in their respective fields.
Find out more about people from other communities that made India their home
and their contributions.

This is a find-out question, so the answer is a method plus the start of a list. The chapter
itself already names three people from the communities it describes, so begin with them and
then go looking.
Start from the chapter.

NAME COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION, AS THE CHAPTER STATES IT

Hirabai Siddi, settled in “Worked hard for the upliftment of the women of her community,
Lobi Gujarat connecting them with banking services, educating them on organic
farming and other livelihood options.” Awarded the Padma Shri in
2023

Abdul Armenian Chief Justice in Akbar’s court
Hai

Lady Armenian A doctor in the Mughal royal palace
Juliana

Method — how to find more, and be sure of them.

1. Pick a community from the chapter — Bene Israel or Cochin Jews, Syriac Christians,
Mappilas, Siddis, Armenians, Baha’is, Tibetans.
2. Go where that community keeps its own records. Its school, college, trust, church,
synagogue or monastery usually maintains a history, and often a website. The chapter
points to two by name — the Armenian College in Kolkata and Men-Tsee-Khang in
Dharamshala.
3. Use two independent sources for every fact — a reference book or encyclopaedia in the
school library, plus one more. Never a single forwarded message.
4. Write each person on one card: name · community · years · field · one specific
achievement (not “was great”) · where you found it.
5. Check the dates against each other. If two sources disagree, say so on the card. Historians
do this all the time.

What a good answer needs: at least four people from at least three different communities; one
concrete achievement each, with a date; and the source named. Vague praise is not an answer.
Sample answer (one card, filled in from the chapter itself):

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Name: Hirabai Lobi · Community: Siddi (African origin, settled in Gujarat) · Field:
social work
Contribution: She organised the women of her community, linked them to banking
services so they could save and borrow, and trained them in organic farming and
other ways of earning a living. This matters because, as the chapter says, “the Siddis’
overall economic condition remains poor and efforts are being made to provide
them with better access to education and livelihood options” — her work is one of
those efforts, done from inside the community.
Recognition: Padma Shri, 2023, “for her selfless service to the community”.
Source: Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Grade 7 Part 2, page 134, Fig. 5.12 and its
box.

One rule while you research: write about a person’s work, not about their
community as a type. The chapter’s own way of doing this is a good model — it
names what each person did.

Q4 Take up a class project. Divide the class into groups. Each group takes up a small
project to study a little more about the communities that we have been listed here.
Share what you have gathered with your classmates through one of these ways —
drama, posters, song, painting, etc.

Plan for the project.
Step 1 — divide the communities. The chapter gives nine, so nine groups (or fewer groups
taking two each):

1. The Bene Israel of the Konkan coast
2. The Jews of Cochin
3. The Syriac (Syrian) Christians of the Malabar coast
4. The Parsis of Gujarat
5. The Arab merchants and the Mappila community
6. The Siddis of Karnataka and Gujarat
7. The Armenians of Agra, Surat, Kolkata and Chennai
8. The Baha’is
9. The Polish refugees at Nawanagar, and the Tibetans

Step 2 — every group answers the same five questions, so that the presentations can be
compared at the end:

Where did they come from, and when?

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why did they leave?
Where in India did they settle, and who received them?
What did they keep? (language, scripture, a building, a festival, a craft, a system of
medicine)
What did they give? (trade, buildings, medicine, service, art, food)

Step 3 — choose the form, and match it to what you found.

FORM WHAT IT HOW TO DO IT WELL
SUITS

Drama A single decisive The milk-and-sugar scene at Jadi Rāṇā’s court needs almost no words —
moment which is the point of it. Keep it under four minutes

Poster Journeys and One map, one timeline, four captions. Leave white space; do not fill
dates every corner

Song Values and Set the Hitopadeśha verse or Sri Sarada Devi’s words to a simple tune the
feelings whole class can join in

Painting A building or a Copy from a photograph you can name, and write the source under the
ceremony painting

Step 4 — the class rules for this project. Speak about a community the way you would want
your own spoken about. Use the community’s own name for itself. Quote your source when you
state a date. Do not act out a community’s religious ritual on stage — show the history around it
instead. And if a classmate belongs to one of these communities, invite them to check your facts
before you present.
Sample answer (Group 4’s five-minute plan — the Parsis):

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Form: drama, three short scenes, with two poster boards behind the actors.
Scene 1 (1 min) — Persia, 7th century. A family decides to leave. Their lines come
straight from the chapter: forced conversions, the jizya tax, the fire temples
destroyed. They gather the sacred fire and go.
Scene 2 (2 min) — Sanjān. Raja Jadi Rāṇā holds up a jug of milk; nobody can speak
the other’s language. The Parsi wise man stirs in a spoon of sugar. The Raja smiles
and points to a place on the ground. No dialogue at all — only actions.
Scene 3 (1 min) — Udvada, today. A narrator says the fire is still burning “a short
distance from where the Parsis first arrived”, that India now has the largest
Zoroastrian population in the world, and reads out the names in Question 3 of
people who came from this small community.
Closing line: the Hitopadeśha verse from page 125 — “For the noble-minded, the
whole world is family.”
Poster boards: (1) a map with the sea route from Persia to Gujarat; (2) a timeline —
7th century Persia falls · 8th–10th centuries the Parsis arrive · today, the fire at
Udvada.

Chapter at a glance
A second kind of migrant. In Grade 6 we read that “many Indians may be called migrants,
in the sense of people not living near their birthplace or with their original community.” This
chapter looks at the other kind — “people who came to India from other parts of the world
and settled here, adding another dimension to the diversity.” The book is clear that it cannot
cover them all and has “selected only a few representative examples.”
Those who came fleeing persecution. Jews arrived “in several waves” — the Bene Israel
on the Konkan coast (around 175 BCE, according to some scholars) and later groups near
Cochin between the 12th and 19th centuries. Syriac Christians reached the Malabar coast
from the 4th century CE. Parsis reached the Gujarat coast between the 8th and 10th
centuries. Baha’is came from the late 19th century. Polish orphans came during the Second
World War, and Tibetans from 1959.
Those who came for trade — and those brought by force. Arab merchants came from
the 7th century as “peaceful traders, not as conquerors”, and in Kerala “became part of the
Mappila Muslim community”. Armenian merchants traded in Indian spices and fine muslins
and later gained Mughal patronage. The Siddis, however, “were brought to India as slaves
of Arab, Portuguese, and British traders between the 7th and 19th centuries” — a different
kind of story, as the chapter says.
Rulers who made room. The Raja of Kochi granted the Jews land free of cost “as long as the
world, sun, and moon endure”; Raja Jadi Rāṇā of Sanjān gave the Parsis “a secure place”;
Akbar allowed the Armenians to build a church at Agra; Maharaja Digvijaysinhji

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Ranjitsinhji Jadeja of Nawanagar saved “around a thousand Polish orphans between 1942
co m
and 1946”; and in 1959 the government granted the 14th Dalai Lama asylum.
se m.
o m l a
.c their prayer”; the sacred Parsi fire “continues to burn inagUdvada”; the 18th-
What integration looked like. Nobody was asked to give up their faith. The Bene Israel
m
se Armenian College and Mother Mary Church in Kolkata “continue to be active”;
“remembered
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Tibetan monasteries in Karnataka were “patterned on the original ones in Tibet”. At the

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same time the Parsis “combined their ancient traditions with those of the local culture”, and

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Siddi identity “represents a fusion of African and Indian traditions”.

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The idea behind it all. vasudhaiva kutumbakam, “the whole world is family”, from the
agchapter — together with atithi devo bhava, sarve bhavantu
Hitopadeśha verse that opens the
sukhinah and the Buddhist Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta. The chapter’s claim is that this “is not just a

c o m
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slogan but has been a practice for millennia”, and that “the idea of the fundamental unity of
humankind… can help the world resolve some of the crises we face todaym
s e — wars, climate

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT WORTH REMEMBERING
APPEARS IN THE
CHAPTER

vasudhaiva “The whole world is The Hitopadeśha The full verse says: “‘This is mine, that is
kutumbakam family” verse on the not mine,’ so think the narrow-minded.
opening page, and For the noble-minded, the whole world
the section “The is family.” The chapter argues it “is not
Whole World is just a slogan but has been a practice for
Family”, page 140 millennia”

Persecution “Hostility, generally Word box, page This is the single reason the chapter
arising from religious, 129 gives for most of these migrations —
ethnic, social or political Jews, Syriac Christians, Parsis and
motives, often Baha’is all left homes where they were
accompanied by persecuted
harassment or violence”

Heretic “A person considered to be Word box, page The same charge is made twice in this
holding beliefs (especially 129 chapter, centuries apart — against
religious ones) contrary to Syriac Christians under the Roman
those of the dominant Empire, and against the Baha’is in 19th-
view” century Iran

Jews “Members of the people Word box, page A Jew “may be identified either by
and the cultural 126 descent from Jewish ancestry or
community originating through conversion”, so Jewish identity
from the ancient Hebrews “may be defined on the basis of
of Israel and traditionally religion, culture, history, or ethnicity”
linked to the religion of
Judaism”

Synagogue “A place of worship for Word box, page The Jews near Cochin “built a
Jews where religious 127 synagogue, which enabled them to
services and special practise their faith even as they became
ceremonies like weddings part of the Indian society”. Figs. 5.2 and
are held” 5.3 show its interior

Bene Israel The Jewish community “The Story of According to some scholars they came
that lived on the Konkan Indian Jews”, around 175 BCE from the ancient
coast, just south of pages 126–127 Kingdom of Israel, shipwrecked near
Mumbai the coast. They lost their holy books but
“remembered their prayer, which says
there is only one God”, and grew to
over 25,000 shortly after Independence

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT WORTH REMEMBERING
APPEARS IN THE
CHAPTER

Syriac (Syrian) Christian groups who used “The Syriac They came to the Malabar coast from
Christians the ancient Syriac Christian the 4th century CE — treated as
language in their worship Community”, page heretics under Rome, suspected of
and traditions 129 helping Rome in Persia. In India they
“are divided into several sects”

Zoroastrianism “One of the world’s oldest Word box, page Its followers in India are the Parsis.
religions… founded by the 130 Today “India has the largest population
prophet Zarathushtra in of followers of Zoroastrianism in the
Central Asia. It is based on world”
the worship of one God,
Ahurā Mazdā. Choosing
good over evil is an
important aspect of this
faith”

jizya A religious tax “The Legend of the One of the forms persecution took in
Parsi Wise Man, Persia after the Arab conquest, along
Milk, and Sugar”, with “forced conversions to Islam…
page 130 destruction of their sacred fire temples,
as well as social and legal
marginalisation”

Avesta “The Parsis’ ancient sacred Page 132 Old Avestan and Vedic Sanskrit “share
text”; its language is Old many word roots and also grammatical
Avestan features”: soma = haoma, hotar = haotar,
yajña = yasna. But devas are good in the
Vedas while daevas are evil in the Avesta

Mappila Muslim The community in Kerala “The Arab They “helped build India’s oldest
community that Arab merchants Merchant mosque, the Cheraman Juma Masjid”
became part of, after Community”, page (Fig. 5.8). The chapter is careful to say
settling and marrying local 133 these settlers “came as peaceful
women traders, not as conquerors”

Siddi A community of African “The African Their identity “represents a fusion of
origin, brought to India as Connection”, African and Indian traditions” — a
slaves between the 7th and pages 133–134 distinctive dance with African-style
19th centuries drumming, language adapted to
regional influences, African religious
practices integrated with Hinduism,
Islam or Christianity. They are
“designated as a scheduled tribe”, and
their “overall economic condition
remains poor”

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Class 7 Social Science Chapter 17 India, a Home to Many AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

TERM WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT WORTH REMEMBERING
APPEARS IN THE
CHAPTER

Hirabai Lobi A Siddi woman from the Fig. 5.12 and its She connected the women of her
community settled in box, page 134 community with banking services and
Gujarat taught them organic farming and other
livelihood options, and was awarded
the Padma Shri in 2023

Baha’i A religion begun in Persia “The Baha’i Branded heretics in Iran, some came to
in the mid-1800s, led by Community in India from the late 19th century. “Most
Baha’u’llah, whose India”, page 136 Baha’is here today are Indians who
teachings “spoke of unity believe in the faith’s message of unity
among all people and and love.” The Lotus Temple in New
harmony between Delhi is theirs (Fig. 5.14)
religions”

Sowa Rigpa The traditional Tibetan DON’T MISS OUT, Codified in the 8th century CE by a
system of medicine, also page 138 medical council near Lhasa; it “blends
known as the ‘Art of ancient principles and practices of
Healing’ Ayurveda with inputs from China,
Central Asia, Persia and even Greece”.
Practised in India at Men-Tsee-Khang,
Dharamshala, and now part of the
Government of India’s AYUSH
programme

The ‘Four The 14th Dalai Lama’s “Tibetan Refugees Human values like compassion,
Commitments’ four stated commitments in India”, page 139 forgiveness and tolerance; religious
harmony; the preservation of Tibetan
culture; and the revival of India’s
civilisational heritage, “particularly
Indian values like karuṇā (compassion)
and ahimsa (nonviolence)”

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