Hinglish

Pilgrimage, Trade and Conserving the Sacred

Class 7 Social Science · Chapter 8: How the Land Becomes Sacred · NCERT Exploring Society: India and Beyond section 8.4

Learn

Pilgrims need food, shelter and supplies, and traders provide them, so pilgrimage routes and trade routes often overlap; some traders were pilgrims too. The Uttarāpatha and Dakṣhiṇāpatha carried both, with gems, pearls, cotton, spices and sandalwood. The epics' heroes are said to have passed through countless villages, whose shrines mark those journeys, helping many communities make the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata their own. Even today sacred places support local livelihoods.

Sacred geography exists beyond India too: ancient Greece had sacred mountains and groves; Native Americans saw nature as sacred; and New Zealand's Māori regard Mount Taranaki as an ancestor, which a law now treats like a person with rights. In India, many sacred rivers like the Yamuna, Mahanadi and Kāveri are badly polluted, and sacred groves and hills face damage. Protecting them is everyone's duty, as our Constitution reminds us. Kabir's class adopts a stretch of their local river bank to clean every month.

Explore: protects or harms the sacred?

  1. Sort each action.

Remember

  • Pilgrimage and trade routes overlapped, and sacred places still support livelihoods.
  • Sacred geography exists worldwide; protecting polluted sacred rivers and groves is our shared duty.

Quick check

Why do pilgrimage and trade routes often overlap?

  1. pilgrims need supplies that traders bring
  2. kings banned trade elsewhere
  3. traders disliked pilgrims
  4. there was only one road
Answer

pilgrims need supplies that traders bring. Some traders were pilgrims themselves.

Think about it

"The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it." What does this mean for how we treat a forest?

One answer

If we see a forest only as timber we may cut it all; if we see it as a living, sacred home for many beings, we will protect it and use it carefully.

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.