NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 10

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 10 – The Sermon at Benares

Here Are The Best NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 10 – The Sermon at Benares

Question 1: When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she ask for? Does she get it? Why not?

Answer: Kisa Gotami’s only son passed away, and she was tormented by sadness. With her dead kid in her arms, she traveled from home to house pleading for a medication that might heal her son, but no one could assist her. It was impossible for anyone to give her medicine and make her kid come back to life since he was dead.

Question 2: Kisa Gotami again goes from house to house after she speaks with the Buddha. What does she ask for, the second time around? Does she get it? Why not?

Answer: In a household where no one had lost a child, spouse, parent, or friend, Gautama Buddha instructed Kisa Gotami to bring a handful of mustard seeds. Despite going door to door, she was unable to locate a single home where death had not struck and taken the life of a loved one. She was unable to locate such a home since everyone who is a mortal who enters this planet would eventually pass away.

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 10 – The Sermon at Benares

Question 3: What does Kisa Gotami understand the second time that she failed to understand the first time? Was this what the Buddha wanted her to understand?

Answer: Kisa Gotami was tired and powerless and stopped by the side of the road after failing to obtain a handful of mustard seeds from a residence where death had never claimed any loved one. As she sat there, she watched as lights began to flicker and then go out, leaving everything in complete darkness. She learned from this experience that death is inevitable and that her anguish and sadness were self-serving. She realized that, despite the valley’s misery, there is always a way for man to reach immortality after giving up all of his selfishness.

Indeed, this is what the Buddha intended her to know—that all people born into this world are destined to die at some point.

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 10 – The Sermon at Benares

Question 4: Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?

Answer:

In the first case, Kisa Gotami saw only her own sorrow at losing her young son. But when she visited houses a second time in an attempt to save her dying son, she realized that every household was grieving the loss of a loved one; no home was spared from death, where someone had not lost a son, husband, parent, friend, or other family member.

Everyone had felt the anguish of death and losing a loved one at some point in their lives. She sat down, despondent, and realized that death is inescapable and that all mortal people will eventually die. Gautama Buddha used this incident to teach her that everyone must eventually die and that death is a common experience for all mortal creatures.

Question 5: How do you usually understand the idea of ‘selfishness’? Do you agree with Kisa Gotami that she was being ‘selfish in her grief’?

Answer: An individual who is too self-absorbed is considered selfish. Due to her attention focusing only on her personal suffering, Kisa Gotami in the novel was also being selfish in her mourning. Because of her desire to do all methods necessary to bring her kid back to life after his death, she eventually turned to Buddha for assistance. The most important lesson he could impart to her was that all people are mortal and that death is a part of life. passing is unavoidable and will inevitably occur sooner or later, even if we may find it difficult to accept the passing of our loved ones.

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 10 – The Sermon at Benares

Thinking about Language

Question I: This text is written in an old-fashioned style, for it reports an incident more than two millennia old. Look for the following words and phrases in the text, and try to rephrase them in more current language, based on how you understand them.

give thee medicine for thy child
Pray tell me
Kisa repaired to the Buddha
there was no house but someone had died in it
kinsmen
Mark!

Answer:

Give you medicine for your child
Please tell me
Kisa went to the Buddha
There was not a single house where no one had died
Relatives
Listen

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 10 – The Sermon at Benares

Question II:

You know that we can combine sentences using words like and, or, but, yet and then. But sometimes, no such word seems appropriate. In such a case, we can use a semicolon (;) or a dash (—) to combine two clauses.

She has no interest in music; I doubt she will become a singer like her mother.

The second clause here gives the speaker’s opinion on the first clause. Here is a sentence from the text that uses semicolons to combine clauses. Break up the sentence into three simple sentences. Can you then say which has a better rhythm when you read it, the single sentence using semicolons, or the three simple sentences?

For there is not any means by which those who have been born can avoid dying; after reaching old age there is death; of such a nature are living beings.

Answer:

The single sentence using semicolons has a better cadence and rhythm. This implies that the three parts of the sentence are connected to each other in their meanings. The second clause gives detailed information about the first clause. The third clause is, therefore, directly related to both the first and the second clauses. Their meanings are conveyed in a better way when they are joined by semicolons.

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 10 – The Sermon at Benares

Writing

Question 1:

Write a page (about three paragraphs) on one of the following topics. You can think about the ideas in the text that are relevant to these topics and add your own ideas and experiences to them.

1. Teaching someone to understand a new or difficult idea

2. Helping each other to get over difficult times

3. Thinking about oneself as unique, or as one among billions of others

Answer:

Activity to be done by yourself.