Social Science Questions & Answers

Maricha, son of Sunda, an asura, assumed the form of a golden deer and ranged about the wood near the hermitage of Rama. The horns of the deer were like twin jewels and its face was piebald, its ears like two blue lotus-flowers, its sleek sides soft as the petals of a flower, its hoofs as black as jet, its …

The youngest captain was Cafuaka Marcos Evangelista de Moraes from Brazil. Born on June 7, 1970, he won the World Cup in 1994 and 2002. The oldest captain is Dino Zoff from Italy, born on February 28, 1942. He won the World Cup in 1982.

It is not only animals and plants that are in a danger of disappearing from our planet in the face of the industrial ‘advanced’ nations. There are many races of people that have survived in a very simple, stable way of life for many centuries only to be threatened with destruction in the space of a few decades. A good …

In the 1880’s a huge cargo of fashionable pearl buttons arrived in London from Japan. One of the street vendors in the markets of the time liked the look of them, and he decided to sew of these buttons around the hems of his trousers. The fashion soon caught on among the street vendors, with people trying to outdo one …

Many hundreds of years ago, Russia was full of different tribes and races of people who had made their way from the great plains, or steppes; and mountain ranges of Asia. One of these races – the Cossacks – settled along the banks of the River Don which flows into the Sea of Azov, near the Black Sea. At the …

Berbers are the indigenous people of North Africa. They were made up of many tribes but had managed to retain their culture, Hamitic language and considerable military power during successive invasions of their land. Some berbers were Christian, some Jewish and some maintained their polytheist religion before being converted to Islam by the Arabs. The Berbers once occupied the entire …

The Bedouins are a nomadic Arab tribe whose name is derived from badawi meaning ‘desert-dweller.’ They make up about one-tenth of the population of the Middle East, but cover in their wanderings nearly nine-tenths of its land area. Their pattern of life is determined by the grazing needs of their flocks which they follow all the year round, living in …

Stilt fishing is an old tradition practised by around 500 fishing families in Galle, in southwestern-most Sri Lanka. These fishermen usually fish at sunset, noon and sunrise, with each one taking an elevated position and balancing about 2 metres above the water. The stilts are dug into the coral and bed of the sea. Stilt fishing started after the Second …

An investor or speculator who subscribes to a new issue, expecting the price of the stock to rise immediately upon the start of trading is known as a stag. The sole aim of a stag is to sell the shares soon after allotment to realise a quick profit.

Siddhas are liberated souls. They have reached the highest state, salvation, and have attained Moksha. They have eradicated all their karmas, and therefore do not accumulate any more new karmas, thus freeing themselves forever from the cycle of birth and death (Akshaya Sthiti). This state of freedom is called Moksha. They are experiencing ultimate, unobstructed bliss (Aksha Sukh) and are …