Class-8 English Reader (Special), Lesson-4 The Narmada : The Lifeline of Madhya Pradesh / M.P. Board

Lesson-4

The Narmada : The Lifeline of Madhya Pradesh

Glossary

 Proud -  the feeling of pride

 Consider -  think about something carefully

 Worship -  strong feeling of love and respect for God or somebody

 Holy -  pious

 Purified -  one which is cleaned

 Irrigate -  supplying water to fields

 Major -  main

 Pacific -  not general

 Pleasure -  joy

 Westwards -  towards west

 Eastwards -  towards east

 Pour -  flow in a continuous stream

 Depict -  represent by a drawing, painting, or other art form

 Detail -  small particular aspects of something

Meditation -  act of thinking deeply in silence

Soothing - giving comfort

Splendour - grand beauty

Maiden - unmarried girl

Bow - to show respect / to move head down

Creation- act of making something

Pure - clean

Valley - deep place between two mountains

Abundant - in large quantity

Zigzag - not in a straight line

Gurgle - Sound of water flowing through a narrow space

Manner - the way something is done

Purity - state of being cleaned

Serenity - calm peace

Origin- point of start

Appear - to come into existence

Form- make

Adorn- decorate

Gracefully - elegently

Enormous - huge

Absolved- declared (someone) free from guilt or obligation

Word Power

(A)         Make words by adding suffixes as given in the example:

a.    graceful – gracefully

b.   furious – furiously

c.    anxious – anxiously

d.   pure – purity

e.    serene – serenity

f.     rare – rarity

g.   meditate – meditation

h.   create – creation

i.     generate – generation

j.     consider – consideration

k.    specific – specification

l.     limit - limitation

(B)         Rearrange the jumbled letters to form words:

a.    dorna – adorn

b.   slebs – bless

c.    hylo – holy

d.   wob – bow

e.    girion - origin

Comprehension

(A)         Answer these questions:

Q1.       Name some of the holy rivers of the country mentioned in the lesson.

Ans- The Ganga, the Yamuna, the Brahmaputra, the Sindhu, the Godavari, the Kaveri, the Krishna, the Satluj are some of the holy rivers of the country mentiones in the lesson.

Q2.       Why does the Narmada say that she feels proud?

Ans- The Narmada says that shee feels proud to flow in India where a river is considerd as a living being and worshipped as a goddess.

Q3.       Why do we call the Narmada the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh?

Ans- We call the Narmada the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh because it has abundant water throughout the year and it irrigates a major part of the state.

Q4.       What is the meaning of ‘Narmada’?

Ans- The meaning of ‘Narmada’ is ‘one who soothes and gives pleasure to all’.

Q5.       What blessing did Lord Shiva give to Narmada?

Ans- Lord Shiva blessed Narmada to remain maiden and flow free and pure for ever.

Q6.       What are the places the Narmada flows through?

Ans- Originating at Amarkantak, Narmada flows through Dindori, Mandla, Jabalpur, Narsinghpur, Raisen, Hoshangabad, Handia, Nemawar, Khandwa district, Dhar, Barwani, Maharashtra, Gujrat and finally meets the Gulf of Khambat at Vimleshwar.

Q7.       What is Maheshwar famous for?

Ans- Maheshwar is famous for the scenic beauty of the Ghat of Narmada where the humble palace of Devi Ahilya Bai stands.

Q8.       What do people, from all over the world, come to see at Bheraghat near Jabalpur?

Ans- People from all over the world, come to see the banks of Narmada, adorned with marble rocks at Bheraghat. In the light of full moon, these banks appear to be the abode of God.

(B)         Match the columns:

A	B
Jabalpur	Mountains
The lifeline of Madhya Pradesh	Origin of the Narmada
Amarkantak	The marble rocks
Sethani Ghat	The Narmada
Vindhyachal	Hoshangabad

Ans-

  

A	B
Jabalpur	The marble rocks
The lifeline of Madhya Pradesh	The Narmada
Amarkantak	Origin of the Narmada
Sethani Ghat	Hoshangabad
Vindhyachal	Mountains

Let’s Learn

(A) See the use of ‘among’ and ‘between’ in the following sentences:

1.    I am one among the main rivrs of Madhya Pradesh.

2.    I flow between the Vindhyachal and the Satpura mountains.

     * among is used when three or more people or things are involved.

     * between is used when two people or things are involved.

Now fill in the blanks with between or among:

1. We distributed sweets among the children.

2. Rani is standing between Shreya and Sonal.

3. Everest is one among the mountains of Himalaya.

4. Nepal lies between India and China.

5. Wild animals live among the woods.

(B) See the picture given below carefully and fill in the blanks in the paragraph given below with the appropriate prepositions in the box. Some prepositions may need to be repeated.

into, in on, for, from, of, to, with

     This is the scene of a bus stop. There is a dustbin at the corner of the bus stop. The passengers who want to go from Mhow to Pithampur can catch the bus from here. The passengers are waiting for their turen to board the bus. Some passengers are already in  the bus. There is some luggage on the roof of the bus. Some passengers are carrying small bags, lunch boxes etc. in their hands. No one should break the queue to get into the bus. Travelling with a lot of luggage may cause trouble.

Let’s Talk

Choose any one river and talk about it in your group, with the help of the following clues:

Name of the river of your choice. The ___________________________ It originates from_________. It is about _________kms long. It flows through __________________________________________________ There are____________________(important places on its banks) There are ___________________dams built across it. It flows / does not flow_________ It’s ___________________

Name of the river of your choice.

The Kaveri

It originates from a small pond called Kundike at a place called Talakaveri in Brahmagiri Hills.

It is about 805 kms long.

It flows through the state of Karnataka and Tamilnadu.

Talakaveri, Abbe falls, Dubare forest, Nisargadhama island, Srirangapatana, Somanathapura are the important places on its banks.

There are several dams built across it. The most popular ones being the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam (KRS) in Mandya, Upper Anicut in Tamil Nadu, Amaravthi Dam, Mettur Dam and Kallani Dam in Tamil Nadu.

The river flows over the southern Deccan terrains across the plains in the southeast and pours into the Bay of Bengal

It’s one of the sacred rivers which flows in the southern part of India.

Let’s Read

Read the passage carefully.

According to Indian mythology, King Sagar, an ancestor of Lord Ram decided to perform a hundred Ashwamedh Yagnas. He completed ninety-nine Yagnas and it was the hundredth when the horse of the Yagna was stolen by Devraja Indra. A great search for the horse was made. Ultimately Indira left the horse in the Ashram of Kapil Muni. It was found by the sons of King Sagar. They insulted the Muni, thinking that it was he who had brought the horse there.  Kapil Muni Rose from his deep meditation and his anger soon turned the sons of Sagar into ashes.

King Sagar had one more son Anshuman from his second queen. After his father, King Anshuman decided to make the Ganga descend on earth and immerse in it the ashes of his brothers so that their souls could rest in heaven. He started great Tapa (severe penance) for this. After his death, his son King Dilip did similar Tapa to please the Ganga but could not succeed. After King Dilip his son King Bhagirath continued the Tapa. Thus it was the third generation that underwent penance to please the Ganga. The fierce penance of King Bhagirath pleased the Ganga. She appeared before him, blessing him, asked who would bear her force and current. King Bhagirath prayed to Lord Shiva to come for his help. Lord Shiva caught the powerful current of the Ganga in the locks of hair on his head. He tied her too tight to come out. Again Bhagirath prayed to him to release the holy current. When she was released, she violently flowed after the chariot of Bhagirath. On her way came the ashram of Janhu Muni, and it too swept away in the strong current. The Muni got furious and drank the whole of its water and dried the river. Once again King Bhagirath had to pray to the Muni, and he released the Ganga from his thigh. Thus she was called Janhavi, the daughter of Janhu Muni.

Onwards she continued her journey to the Gangasagar and ultimately reached the ashes of the sons of King Sagar.

Answer the following questions.

Q1.     Who was King Sagar?

Ans- King Sagar was an ancestor of Lord Ram.

Q2.     What happened when Kapil Muni was insulted by the sons of King Sagar?

Ans- When Kapil Muni was insulted by the sons of King Sagar, he rose from deep meditation and his anger turned them into ashes.

Q3.     Why did King Anshuman, King Dilip and King Bhagirath want to bring the Ganga on earth?

Ans- King Anshuman, King Dilip and King Bhagirath wanted to bring the Ganga on earth to immerse the ashes of the sons of King Sagar in it so that their souls could rest in peace.

Q4.     What happened when the Ganga descended?

Ans- When the Ganga descended, it flowed over the chariot of Bhagirath, and swept away the ashram of Janhu Muni.

Q5.     Why do we call it Janhavi?

Ans- We call it Janhavi, the daughter of Janhu Muni because he released the Ganga from his thigh.

Q6.     Give a title to the above passage.

Ans- Descent of the Ganga

Let's Write

You know that the rivers are very much polluted these days. Even the Ganga needs to be cleaned. Suggest how we can keep the rivers clean. Use the following clues:

§  People throw garbage, wastes and other things in the river.

§  Some orthodox people leave the dead bodies of the members of their families in the water of the river to perform the rites.

§  Factories dump their chemical waste in the river.

§  Drainage is merged in the river in most of the cities, towns and villages.

§  Some people in the villages excrete near the river.

§  People,  why bathing in the rivers,  wash clothes and make the water dirty. They even with their cattle in the rivers.

Now write in your own words.

People pollute the river by throwing  garbage and many other things in the river. We need to educate people to stop polluting rivers. There should be strict laws to prevent the chemical waste of factories from flowing into the rivers. Municipal waste should be treated properly before letting it merge into the river water. People should also be educated to prevent excretion near the rivers, washing clothes and bathing cattles in the river water. Immersion of of dead bodies, idols and other things should also be prevented. Most important step is to bring public awareness to save rivers.

Let's do it

Observe the map of Madhya Pradesh. Find out the names of the rivers shown in it and list them below.

Narmada River

Chambal River

Betwa River

Kshipra River

Son River

Mahi River

Tapi River

Tawa River

Kali Sindh River

Dhasan River

Parbati River

Wainganga River

Pahuj River

Wardha River

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