61. Reading Skills Comprehension: HERITAGE

HERITAGE

 Read the following passage carefully:

  1      Sacred trees form an important part of the ecological heritage of India. Most temples, towns, and villages —and sometimes even Muslim dargahs — are associated with trees. Some plants are sacred to the individual deity; others are sacred to the place… Several plants have been worshipped in India from time immemorial. Wherever the tulsi grows — from the Indo-Gangetic plains to the shores of the Indian Ocean at Kanyakumari — it occupies a position of pride in the central courtyard of the house, tended to, carefully, by the housewife.

        2      Apart from the elaborate myths connecting it to Krishna, the ((Ai plant has several medicinal properties.

        3      To protect and revere this plant with so many medicinal properties, it was designated as sacred, a fitting tribute to its role in providing invaluable healthcare. The worship of plants is an ancient phenomenon in India. It is probably the oldest form of worship. The association of a single tree with a sacred sthata or sthana is reflected in the chaitya vriksha and sthata vriksha of literature and society.

      4       When people turned to food production, the Mother Goddess or the Earth Mother became the chief deity. Fertility, creation, and the world of plants and animals became her blessings to her devotees. The worship of the tree was the adoration of her creative abilities, symbolising fertility so essential for the survival of the early people. Spirits — good or bad — were believed to reside in trees. If the trees were worshipped, then the resident spirits were pleased. As sacred forests were replaced by agriculture, a single tree was left and was designated as ‘sacred’ tree.

        5      The earliest temples were little more than images placed under trees. Later, the tree and the image were enclosed by a fence made of wood, followed even by stone Numerous references are made in the literature to trees as abodes of gods.

 Read the given questions and write the answer in a sentence.

1. What forms an important part of Indian ecological heritage?

2. What kind of trees are found in religious places?

3. Where all can we find the Tulsi plant?

4. What is the myth regarding the Tulsi plant?

5. What is one of the oldest forms of worship in India?

6. How did Mother Goddess become the chief deity?

7. Why did people in the past worship plants and trees?

8. How were the temples constructed in the past?

Download the above Passage in PDF

More Comprehension Passages:-

Passage 1-  Homeopathy (205 words Objective & Matching Solved )

Passage- 2 Travelling By Air (247 words Objective & Sentence Completion)

Passage 3- President (300 Words Objective)

Passage 4 -THE SACRED FRUIT OF ACTION (250 Words Objective)

Passage 5- BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN (220 Words Objective)

Passage 6- PRAFULLA  CHANDRA  RAY (250 Words Objective)

Passage 7- FLAG (250 Words Objective)

Passage 8- CACTUS (250 Words Objective)

Passage 9- BESSIE SMITH (250 Words Objective)

Passage 10- MONEY  (250 Words Objective)

Need our help or have some question