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Mahendras has started special quizzes for IBPS | RBI | SBI | NABARD | LIC so that you can practice more and more to crack the examination. This IBPS | RBI | SBI | NABARD | LIC Exam special quiz series will mold your preparations in the right direction and the regular practice of these quizzes will be very helpful in scoring good marks in the Examination. Here we are providing you the critical question of English Language for the IBPS | RBI | SBI | NABARD | LIC.
Read the following passage and answer the questions based on it. Certain words have been given in bold to help you locate the answers of certain questions.
During the Indian monsoons – between Ganesh Utsav and Navratri – Hindus observe Pitr-paksha, fortnight of the pitr, ancestors. This is a dark fortnight of the lunar month, in the dark half of the year. It is a time to feed the dead. Facing the south, Hindu men across India are seen placing mashed rice balls mixed with black sesame seeds, known as pinda, on blades of grass, near water bodies. They pour water on these pinda in a peculiar way, known as tarpana, over the thumb of the right hand that is stretched outwards away from the body. Crows are encouraged to eat this rice.
Every shopkeeper knows business will be slow at this time. Indeed, many Hindu families avoid buying cars, houses or even new clothes. No contracts are signed. No weddings conducted. This hesitance is interesting for what it reveals of the ambiguous relationship Hindus have with the dead. The ancestors are venerated and need to be fed, it’s true. However, all things associated with death are also deemed inauspicious and impure.
Of course, not all Hindus follow these practices and customs. Hinduism is diverse, dynamic and complex. But the dominant mainstream Hindu understanding of death comes from the Preta-kalpa of the Garud Purana, which was composed a thousand years ago, and is still read during funeral ceremonies. The ritual of shradh that involves offering pinda to ancestors can be traced to Grihya-sutra literature, which is over 2,500 years old, indicating a remarkable continuity of tradition. The word ‘pitr’ used for ancestors can be traced even to the Rig Veda, Hinduism’s oldest scripture.
While the practice of giving food and gifts to the dead is found in many cultures, Hindu customs are unique as they are based on the metaphysics of rebirth, not an eternal afterlife. Hindus believe nothing is permanent, not even death. The dead eventually return to the land of the living to repay unpaid debts. Life is needed to free oneself from the burden of debts. Feeding the dead is itself an obligation, a repayment of debt. Those alive owe their life and privilege to the dead. The dead depend on the living to facilitate their return to the land of the living and keep the circle of life turning.
This idea of eternal return is embedded in the Hindu mind through ritual and story. In Vedic times, the ritual arena was set aflame after a yajna – as is done in the case of a funeral and the altar was then reconstituted with fresh bricks. Today, festivals of Ganesh and Durga are celebrated over ten days and nine nights to remind us of ten lunar months and nine solar months of pregnancy. After the festival, clay effigies of the deity are cast into water bodies, like the ashes of the dead. Thus, even the gods are impermanent. They go away this year but will return next year, mimicking the reality of punar mrityu, re-death, and punar janma, rebirth, mentioned in the Upanishads.
In the temple of Jagannath Puri, in Odisha, the deity is embodied in a brightly painted image of wood, cloth and resin. Every dozen or so years, the deity grows old and needs to shed his old body. In a secret ritual, the ‘soul’ of the deity is taken out by a blindfolded priest from a secret chamber of the old body and placed in a secret chamber of the new body. The old body is then buried, and the new body is installed in the temple in a grand ceremony, ready to experience the daily, monthly and annual ritual cycles once again.
Another unique feature of death in the Hindu worldview is its association with impurity. If the clockwise orientation is done for the gods, the anti-clockwise orientation is reserved for ancestors. Those who visit the crematorium are not allowed to enter the house without bathing. Those whose hereditary occupation was to tend funeral pyres were deemed ‘untouchable’, an idea that shaped Hinduism’s now illegal caste hierarchy.
Hindus share their ideas of rebirth with the other faiths of Indian origin, such as Buddhism and Jainism. Myths in most other parts of the world are built around a single life followed by an eternal afterlife. Even in India there are communities such as the Lingayats and the neo-Buddhists who do not believe in rebirth. When you believe you live only once, this life and this body become special. Both are commemorated with tombs and tombstones, a practice shunned by orthodox Hindus who want the dead to move on, not stay back. There is much to learn about Hindu culture by approaching it through its death rituals.
1. How are the customs post death different in Hindus than in others?
(1) The Hindu customs do not allow to distribute alms to the poor.
(2) The Hindu customs have their base in concept of rebirth.
(3) The Hindu customs are as old as time and hence mandatory to follow.
(4) The food offered to dead ones frees one from indebtedness.
(5) Both (2) and (4)
2. Who are those around the world who do not believe that rebirth takes place?
A. The Jains
B. The Neo-Buddhists
C. The Buddhists
D. The Christians
E. The Lingayats
(1) Both B and E
(2) Only C
(3) Only D
(4) Both A and B
(5) Only E
3. Which of the following statements is/are NOT TRUE in the context of the passage?
(1) Those who visit the crematorium are not allowed to enter the house without bathing.
(2) The dead depends on the living ones to facilitate their rebirth.
(3) All things associated with death are considered inauspicious and impure.
(4) People who started tending funeral pyres were deemed pious.
(5) The idea of eternal return is embedded in the Hindu mind through ritual and story.
4. What, as per the passage, is/are done by the living ones to keep the circle of life turning?
A. Doing charity that earns blessings for the dead which facilitates their rebirth.
B. Reserving the anti-clockwise orientation for ancestors.
C. Feeding the dead by the living ones to repay their debt and ensure their return.
(1) Only A
(2) Both A and B
(3) Both B and C
(4) Only C
(5) Both A and C
5. Which of the following points, as per the passage, show(s) the contradictory nature of deaths in India?
(1) The living man, unable of paying his own debts, pays the dead’s debts.
(2) A dead man is more valued than an alive one.
(3) The dead is burnt but kept alive in memories by different rituals.
(4) The ancestors are venerated yet death is considered as inauspicious and impure.
(5) Not mentioned in the passage.
6. Why is feeding the dead an obligation not an option in the Hindus?
A. Because it is the repayment of the unpaid debts of the dead
B. Because it affects one’s own rebirth
C. As those who are alive owe their life and privilege to the dead
(1) Both A and B
(2) Only A
(3) Both C and D
(4) All except D
(5) Both A and C
7. Which of the following word is most similar in meaning to word given in bold in the passage?
(1) Carried
(2) Effectuate
(3) Shoot
(4) Avoid
(5) Both (2) and (3)
8. In the following question, a sentence has been written in three other different ways. Choose the option(s) which is/are conveying the similar message to the sentence given.
The heart goes on functioning and weaving dreams and at the same time its emotions can be transformed but cannot be destroyed.
A. The emotions of the heart can be transformed but cannot be destroyed while functioning and weaving dreams.
B. Functioning of and the weaving of dreams by heart, when goes on, its emotions can also be transformed as well as destroyed.
C. Emotions of the heart can be transformed but cannot be destroyed, at a time when the heart goes on functioning and weaving dreams.
(1) Only A
(2) Only B
(3) Both A and C
(4) Both B and C
(5) Only C
9. In the following question, a sentence has been written in three other different ways. Choose the option(s) which is/are conveying the similar message to the sentence given.
Anyone who has put efforts into acquiring a taste should certainly be able to put that same effort into setting himself free from the tyranny of likes and dislikes.
A. Anyone who is able to put efforts into setting himself free from the tyranny of likes and dislikes should hardly put that same effort into acquiring a taste.
B. There should always be balance between the efforts put by anyone in acquiring a taste and abstaining from the tyranny of likes and dislikes.
C. The amount of efforts put into setting oneself free from the tyranny of likes and dislikes should be similar to the efforts put into acquiring a taste.
(1) Only A
(2) Only B
(3) Both A and C
(4) Both B and C
(5) Only C
10. In the following question, a sentence has been written in three other different ways. Choose the option(s) which is/are conveying the similar message to the sentence given.
When one increases consciousness or awareness, one will find that there are mental blocks due to the psychological laziness in which one is trapped.
A. When one finds that there are mental blocks due to the psychological laziness in which one is trapped, one increases consciousness or awareness.
B. One gets trapped in psychological laziness created by metal blocks when one increases consciousness or awareness.
C. The mental blocks, due to the psychological laziness in which one is trapped, will be found when one increases consciousness or awareness.
(1) Only A
(2) Only B
(3) Both A and C
(4) Both B and C
(5) Only C
Answers:-
Q.1 (5)
Q.2 (1)
Q.3 (4)
Q.4 (4)
Q.5 (4)
Q.6 (5)
Q.7 (4)
Q.8 (3)
Q.9 (4)
Q.10 (5)
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