Comprehension: Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
Comprehension:
Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
Sacred trees form an important part of the ecological heritage of India.
Most temples, towns, villages—and sometimes even Muslim dargahs— are
associated with trees. Some plants are sacred to the individual deity;
others are sacred to the place… Several plants have been worshipped in
India from time immemorial. Wherever the tulsi grows—from the Indo-
Gangetic plains to the shores of the Indian Ocean at Kanyakumari— it
occupies a position of pride in the central courtyard of the house, tended
to, carefully, by the housewife.
Apart from the elaborate myths connecting it to Krishna, the tulsi plant has
several medicinal properties. To protect and revere this plant with so many
medicinal properties, it was designated as sacred, a fitting tribute to its
role in providing invaluable healthcare. The worship of plants is an ancient
phenomenon in India. It is probably the oldest form of worship. The
association of a single tree with a sacred sthala or sthana is reflected in
the chaitya vriksha and sthala vriksha or literature and society.
When people turned to food production, the Mother Goddess or the Earth
Mother became the chief deity. Fertility, creation, and the world of plants
and animals became her blessings to her devotees. The worship of the
tree was the adoration of her creative abilities, symbolising fertility so
essential or the survival of the early people. Spirits—good or bad—were
believed to reside in trees. If the trees were worshipped, then the resident
spirits were pleased. As sacred forests were replaced by agriculture, a
single tree was left and was designated as ‘sacred’ tree.
The earliest temples were little more than images placed under trees.
Later, the tree and the image were enclosed by a fence made of wood,
followed even by stone. Numerous references are made in literature to
trees as abodes of gods.
Identify the structure of the passage.
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Correct answer: (A) Descriptive
Explanation
The passage describes sacred trees, why they were worshipped and how tree shrines developed. It does not set out causes and effects or comparisons, so its structure is descriptive.