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CLASS 11 · WOVEN WORDS · CHAPTER 24

Tribal Verse

Original student-friendly answers to the essay activities for Tribal Verse.

15 worked answersOriginal sample responses
Open the official NCERT chapter ↗← All chapters

15 worked answers · short steps first, explanations when you need them

Understanding the Text

Textbook pages Understanding the Text

Question Understanding the Text

What common characteristics of tribal communities does Devy identify?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

He describes close community ties, oral knowledge, and a close connection among people, nature, and the sacred.

Question Understanding the Text

What distinguishes tribal imagination from secular imagination?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

Tribal imagination freely joins different beings and times; secular imagination usually follows ordinary time and space. Tribal art still has conventions.

Question Understanding the Text

How does G.N. Devy show the importance of oral literary tradition?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

Oral songs and stories are literature and help preserve community history. A written-only definition risks losing them.

Question Understanding the Text

List the distinctive features of tribal arts.

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

Dreamlike imagery, flexible sequence, strong conventions, playful changes, ritual links, and performance with an audience.

Question Understanding the Text

“New literature” is a misnomer for the wealth of the Indian literary tradition. How does G.N. Devy explain this?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

The traditions are old; only their recognition as literature is new. The label hides their long history.

Talking About the Text

Textbook pages Talking About the Text

Question Talking About the Text

Why should oral literature be included in a literary canon?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

Include oral songs and stories alongside written works; otherwise, important traditions may be overlooked or lost.

Question Talking About the Text

“Tribal arts are not specifically meant for sale.” Does this help or hamper their growth and preservation?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

It protects community meaning, but fair support can help artists continue. Communities should guide sharing and benefit from it.

Question Talking About the Text

Why can bilingualism lead people to mistake tribal languages for dialects of major languages?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

Stories may mix a tribal language with a wider language. Without understanding that bilingual pattern, people may wrongly call the tribal language a dialect.

Question Talking About the Text

What ideas from tribal conventions could enrich modern societies?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

Respect for nature, shared responsibility, and using resources for need rather than greed can guide modern life.

Appreciation

Textbook pages Appreciation

Question Appreciation

How does “A Munda Song” show that the tribal perspective on the girl child differs from that of some mainstream communities?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

The song pictures the cowshed filling when a daughter is born, showing that she is valued. The text links this to women’s important roles in Munda society.

Question Appreciation

How does “A Kondh Song” show the tribal wish to influence time by communicating with dead ancestors?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

The family offers a fowl and speaks to the dead person’s spirit, asking it to leave peacefully. The ritual links the living with ancestors across time.

Question Appreciation

How does the use of Miri Agom for the Adi healing song show the community’s sensitivity to language? Give another example of literary and everyday language varieties.

Steps only

Connect the language variety to its purpose and give a familiar comparison.

Answer

Miri Agom is for ritual chanting, while Adi Agom is for daily conversation. Similarly, people may use formal language in a speech or prayer and informal language with friends.

Language Work

Textbook pages Language Work

Question Language Work

Comment on the symbols used in “A Munda Song”. What aspect of the tribal worldview do they reflect?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

The sun and moon link birth to nature’s cycles; the changing cowshed shows the value given to daughters and the link between people and animals.

Question Language Work

Explain the significance of the lines “I tie this Ridin creeper / To fasten your soul to your body.”

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

The Ridin creeper is used as a healing symbol to call the spirit of good health back and keep it with the body.

Question Language Work

What is the central argument of the speaker in the Adi song?

Steps only

Connect the example in the text to the writer’s main idea.

Answer

The speaker asks the spirit of good health to return to the sick person’s body.

Questions and activities were checked against the official NCERT chapter PDF ↗. Answers are written in original wording; no literary passage or illustration is reproduced.

Learnivelle is not affiliated with NCERT.

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