Social Science Questions & Answers

Diwali is the one Hindu festival that unites the whole of India. It is traditionally known as the “festival of lights”, for the common practice is to light small oil lamps (called diyas) and place them around the home, in courtyards, gardens, verandahs, on the walls built around the home and also on the roof tops. In cities, especially, candles …

While a furious battle between Rama and Ravana was under way, the great rishi Agastya came close to Rama and told him about the secret as to how Ravana would be killed and told Rama to pray the Sun in order to kill the demon king of Lanka. Then Rama prayed the Sun, and purified himself with water-sipping, and was …

It is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram but not the Islamic month. It is also called Yaumu-l ‘Ashurah, or simply Ashura meaning, ‘the tenth day’. It is well-known because of historical significance and mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic …

This is the equivalent of asking, ‘Can you drink through your nose?’ and of course the answer is no. The elephant‘s trunk is an extension of its nose and upper lip. It does not just hang limply but can be operated to carry out a vast range of tasks. The most important of these is food gathering. The sensitive finger …

Groups of elephants have been found buried together both in Africa and Asia. The nearness of the animals to each other may be no more than a coincidence. The areas may be no more than sites, since elevated and dried, where elephants have been drowned in bogs are while crossing rivers. However, many people will argue that old elephants, when …

You might think that the elephant‘s nearest relative would be another big lumbering animal of the African or Indian bush, but in fact its ‘nearest and dearest’ is a tiny creature called a rocky hyrax. Rock hyraxes live in rocky or wooded regions in parts of Asia and Africa. They couldn’t look less like an elephant, either, for they are …

‘The Elephant Man’ was cruel name given to a man called Joseph Merrick, who was very severely deformed. Although he died before he was thirty years old, Joseph Merrick became a celebrity in Victorian England because, despite his deformities, he was gentle, intelligent and brave man. When he was young, unscrupulous men exhibited him as a freak in fairs and …

African elephants have larger ears than Indian, or Asiatic, elephants because they live in hotter conditions and are bigger and more aggressive and active. The huge ears of the African elephant, sometimes three and a half feet wide, enable it to hear more acutely. When the animal charges its fans out its ears, augmenting its terrible appearance and striking fear …

Every year in mid-summer, Lord Jagannath, with his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, goes on vacation, traveling on grand chariots, from his temple in Puri, to his garden palace in the countryside. This belief of the Hindus has given rise to one of the biggest religious festivals in India – the Rath Yatra or the Chariot Festival. This is …

WHO has taken many steps in reducing or banning the use of tobacco or its products by establishing an event called World No Tobacco Day and various other health awareness campaigns on world level. Some of the special steps taken by the WHO towards no tobacco use are mentioned below: