Winds of Change Questions & Answers | Class 9 English | CBSE NCERT

(b) feather of a bird.

(c) Ajanta.

(b) the 2nd century CE.

'Pankha' is used to refer to all fans, whereas 'pankhi' denotes a small plumed fan used in ancient India.

Embroidery work, sculptures, and carvings (any two).

'Evidence'.

(b) fan the deities.

(b) trade routes.

(b) exotic and stylish.

From a tiny two-inch one to large ones requiring a person's full arm strength to move them.

They were also used in royal courts to fan kings.

It means that pankhas were used in much the same way all over India.

(d) plastic.

(c) decorative purposes.

(a) geographies, cultures, and traditional rituals.

Each place developed pankhas with distinct materials or a variety of intricate designs.

They have become traditional craft items, their use restricted to decorative purposes.

It reflects the cultural core of the region that crafts it.

(b) pieces of fabric sewn onto another cloth.

(a) engraving brass.

(b) a cardboard pankha featuring various images.

Its glittering, ornate and encrusted gold threadwork.

It is usually offered to gods.

Gujarat.

(b) mirror work.

(c) Gujarat.

(c) hand-stitched leather hand fans.

It is covered with colourful beads and has a silver handle.

They are commonly used as wall decorations.

Embroidered hand fans with traditional mirror work and cross-stitch embroidery in different shapes and sizes.

(b) Tal Patar Pankha.

(d) Uttar Pradesh.

(a) Bihar.

They are easy to carry and are perpetually kept as an article of possession in Bengali households.

Pure gold, silver zari, silk, and satin frills.

Due to their antiquity and rarity.

(b) bamboo sticks and grass.

(c) silk and brass.

(a) the advent of technology and innovative creations.

Geometrical patterns and white ink and red background combinations.

It has transformed into a commercial business and now provides some form of livelihood to India's artisans.

They were once made for personal use.

(b) the different versions of the pankha being crafted.

(b) celebrating pankhas.

(c) both within and outside handicraft exhibitions.

The culture, stories, and artistry that this handicraft invokes.

A commercial platform to create a sustainable livelihood.

Awareness about the beauty and importance of this craft in India's culture.

Literally, a pankha creates wind. Figuratively, the phrase suggests the changes the pankha has undergone — from fanning deities and kings to everyday personal use, and finally to becoming a decorative, commercial craft item in the age of technology.

Rajasthan's appliqué fans use fabric pieces sewn with ornamental needlework, and its temple fans are engraved brass with long handles. Bengal's delicate sola fans are made from the milky-white spongy centre of water grass, reflecting each region's distinct craft tradition.

Pankha-making workshops, held within and outside handicraft exhibitions, spread awareness of the craft's beauty and importance in India's culture. They let contemporary makers demonstrate their skill, regain popularity and reach customers, providing artisans a commercial platform and sustainable livelihood.

Celebrating pankhas means appreciating the culture, stories and artistry the handicraft invokes. This allows contemporary makers to demonstrate their craft, regain its popularity, and obtain a commercial platform for a sustainable livelihood.

It shows the pankha has shifted from a daily-use object of comfort in temples, royal courts and homes to an ornamental object valued for beauty. Technology has displaced its practical role, while its cultural worth survives in a decorative avatar.

Gujarat's industrious home-based women workers have worked tirelessly in the handicraft of pankha-making, producing embroidered hand fans with traditional mirror work and cross-stitch embroidery in different shapes and sizes, keeping the regional craft alive from their homes.

Tribes embed materials such as grass and metal into fans using bamboo sticks and grass. Cane and palm leaves are used, with silk and brass reserved for antique pieces. Their designs use geometrical patterns and white ink on red backgrounds.

One of the first steps is celebrating pankhas — appreciating the culture, stories and artistry this handicraft invokes. This lets contemporary makers demonstrate their craft and regain popularity, and provides them a commercial platform for a sustainable livelihood.

The word 'pankh' means feather of a bird. 'Pankha' refers to all fans, whereas 'pankhi' denotes a small plumed fan used in ancient India, evidence of which appears in the Buddhist wall paintings at Ajanta.

Evidence of the existence of the pankhi in India can be found in the Buddhist wall paintings at Ajanta, which date back to the 2nd century CE. Other representations of the punkha appear in embroidery work, sculptures, and carvings.

In ancient times, pankhas were used in temples to fan deities and in royal courts to fan kings. They varied in size from a tiny two-inch one to large ones requiring a person's full arm strength to move them.

Over time, pankhas became significant cultural goods distributed through trade routes. They were considered exotic and stylish. Though their use showed substantial commonality across India, different villages and towns developed their own varieties with distinct materials and intricate designs.

Bamboo, cane, palm leaf, silk, brass, leather, and silver pankhas, with decorative beads and stones, were used depending on geographies, cultures, and traditional rituals. This variety in materials is what set each region's pankhas apart.

The appliqué hand fan of Rajasthan is an antique pankha made of pieces of fabric in different shapes and patterns sewn onto another cloth with the use of ornamental needlework, reflecting the state's love of ornamentation.

The zardozi hand fan of Rajasthan differs in its use of glittering, ornate and encrusted gold threadwork. Temple hand fans, popular in Rajasthan, are made by engraving brass and have a long handle.

The painted hand fan is a cardboard pankha featuring various images, and is usually offered to gods. It shows how pankhas in Rajasthan are linked not merely with comfort and decoration but also with devotion.

Gujarat's fans are elegant, pure cotton-based fans embellished with mirror work. The beads hand fan is covered with colourful beads and has a silver handle; such dainty pankhas are commonly used as wall decorations in India's bead-craft centre.

Kutch is recognised for its hand-stitched leather hand fans decorated with thread and wool at the seams. Gujarat's industrious home-based women workers also produce embroidered fans with traditional mirror work and cross-stitch embroidery in different shapes and sizes.

Sola is the milky-white spongy centre of the water grass, from which Bengal's artisans make delicate pankhas. The palm leaf fans, locally called Tal Patar Pankha, are easy to carry and kept perpetually in Bengali households as articles of possession.

The Phadh hand fans of Uttar Pradesh are adorned with pure gold, silver zari, silk, and satin frills. Bihar's colourful and sturdy bamboo hand fans and Odisha's large palm leaf fans are recognised due to their antiquity and rarity.

The chapter shows that the pankha is a cultural artefact. It was used in temples to fan deities and in royal courts to fan kings. Each region crafted distinct varieties — Rajasthan's appliqué and zardozi fans, Gujarat's mirror-work fans, Bengal's sola fans — reflecting local materials, rituals and traditions.

Rajasthan offers the antique appliqué hand fan, made of fabric pieces in different shapes and patterns sewn onto another cloth with ornamental needlework; the zardozi fan with glittering, ornate, encrusted gold threadwork; engraved brass temple hand fans with long handles; and the painted cardboard fan, usually offered to gods.

Gujarat makes elegant pure cotton-based fans embellished with mirror work, and bead-covered fans with silver handles — it is the centre for bead craft in India, and these pankhas serve as wall decorations. Kutch produces hand-stitched leather fans, while home-based women workers tirelessly create embroidered fans with mirror work and cross-stitch.

Once made for personal use, the pankha handicraft has, over time, transformed into a commercial business and now provides some form of livelihood to India's artisans. The slight increase in popularity and demand is significantly factored by the different versions of the pankha being crafted.

With time and the advent of technology and innovative creations, the beautiful culture of pankhas runs the risk of slowly losing its presence among Indians. Their use has been restricted to decorative purposes, and the traditional craft now needs celebration, awareness and commercial support to survive.

Workshops and handicraft exhibitions allow contemporary pankha makers to demonstrate their craft and regain its popularity. They help provide artisans a commercial platform to create a sustainable livelihood, and spread awareness about the beauty and importance of this craft in India's culture.

The chapter states that the structure of each fan reflects the cultural core of the region that crafts it. Rajasthan's fans use ornamental needlework and engraved brass, Gujarat's use mirror work and beads, and Bengal's use sola — each expressing its region's identity, materials and traditions.

Through trade routes, pankhas became significant cultural goods. They were considered exotic and stylish, which increased their demand and reach beyond their place of origin. Traded pankhas carried the materials, designs and artistry of their home regions to other places, spreading both the object and its culture.

Many tribes adopted this handicraft to make their own versions of the handheld fan. Grass and metal are embedded using bamboo sticks and grass; cane and palm leaves are used, with silk and brass reserved for antique pieces. Their designs use geometrical patterns and white ink on red backgrounds.

The chapter notes a slight increase in the pankha's popularity and demand, significantly factored by the different versions being crafted. For artisans, this means renewed opportunities: a market for their creations, a commercial platform, and the possibility of a sustainable livelihood from their traditional craft.

The pankha began in ancient India. The word comes from 'pankh', meaning feather of a bird, and the small plumed pankhi is recorded in the Buddhist wall paintings of Ajanta, which date back to the 2nd century CE. Pankhas were then used in temples to fan deities and in royal courts to fan kings, and varied from tiny two-inch fans to large ones requiring a person's full arm strength. Over time they became significant cultural goods distributed through trade routes, considered exotic and stylish, and every region developed its own variety — Rajasthan's appliqué, zardozi and engraved brass temple fans, Gujarat's mirror-work, bead and Kutch leather fans, Bengal's sola fans, Uttar Pradesh's Phadh fans and Bihar's bamboo fans. In modern times, technology has restricted pankhas to decorative purposes, and a personal-use object has become a commercial craft providing livelihood to artisans.

Every region's pankha carries its cultural signature. Rajasthan's appliqué fan — fabric pieces in different shapes sewn with ornamental needlework — and its zardozi fan with glittering gold threadwork show the state's love of ornamentation; its engraved brass temple fans with long handles reflect temple ritual, and the painted cardboard fan is offered to gods. Gujarat's pure cotton fans embellished with mirror work, and Kutch's hand-stitched leather fans finished with thread and wool, showcase the state's celebrated mirror-work, bead craft and stitching traditions, largely kept alive by home-based women workers. Bengal's delicate sola fan, made from the milky-white spongy centre of water grass, and the Tal Patar Pankha kept in Bengali households, express the region's soft, graceful aesthetics. Uttar Pradesh's Phadh fans with gold, silver zari and satin frills and Bihar's colourful, sturdy bamboo fans reflect their local materials and tastes. Clearly, each pankha testifies to its region's cultural identity.

The pankha faces a real threat: with the advent of technology and innovative creations, the craft runs the risk of slowly losing its presence among Indians. Preserving traditional craftsmanship keeps alive the skills, designs and cultural stories embedded in each regional pankha — the mirror work of Gujarat, the sola work of Bengal, the brass engraving of Rajasthan. At the same time, incorporating innovative designs can make pankhas attractive to modern buyers, since the recent slight increase in popularity and demand is significantly factored by the different versions of the pankha being crafted. A balance of the two would let artisans honour their heritage while earning a sustainable livelihood. Celebrating pankhas, holding workshops and providing commercial platforms can together secure both the craft's authenticity and its future.

I make hand-stitched leather hand fans in Kutch, Gujarat. We cut soft leather into the fan's shape and decorate it with colourful thread and wool stitched along the seams; the work needs a steady hand, and each fan takes days to finish. In the same region, women artisans at home embroider cotton fans with traditional mirror work and cross-stitch, in different shapes and sizes. The craft is our identity, passed down through generations. But times are hard: with the advent of technology, our beautiful pankhas now serve mostly as wall decorations, and the craft risks slowly losing its presence. What would help us most is recognition and opportunity — handicraft exhibitions that showcase our work, pankha-making workshops that tell our stories, and buyers who celebrate the artistry of the handmade pankha. With a commercial platform and sustainable livelihood, we can keep the craft alive.

The chapter presents the pankha as a living symbol of India's cultural diversity. Although there was substantial commonality in the use of pankhas across India, different villages and towns developed their own varieties with distinct materials and intricate designs. Rajasthan offers the appliqué fan of fabric pieces sewn with ornamental needlework, the zardozi fan with encrusted gold threadwork, engraved brass temple fans and painted cardboard fans offered to gods. Gujarat contributes elegant cotton fans embellished with mirror work, colourful bead fans with silver handles, and Kutch's hand-stitched leather fans finished with thread and wool. Bengal makes delicate sola fans from the milky-white spongy centre of water grass, and keeps Tal Patar Pankha in its households. Uttar Pradesh adorns its Phadh fans with gold, zari and satin frills, while Bihar crafts sturdy bamboo fans. Each fan reflects the cultural core of its region.

The chapter moves from the pankha's past to its present and finally to its future. It begins with history: the word's origin from 'pankh', the pankhi in the second-century CE Ajanta wall paintings, and the use of pankhas in temples and royal courts. It then describes the present variety of the craft across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and the tribal regions, and its changed status — restricted today to decorative purposes, transformed into a commercial business that provides some form of livelihood to artisans. Finally, it looks ahead: with technology threatening the craft's very presence, the chapter proposes celebrating pankhas, appreciating their culture, stories and artistry, and initiatives such as pankha-making workshops within and outside exhibitions, which would give makers a commercial platform and a sustainable livelihood. Past, present and future are woven into one story of change.

The transformation of pankha-making from personal use to commercial business has changed both the craft and its artisans. Once, pankhas were made for one's own use — to fan deities, kings and households — and their structure reflected the cultural core of each region. Today, they are traditional craft items, largely decorative, produced for sale. This change has brought hardship and hope together. The beautiful culture of pankhas runs the risk of slowly losing its presence among Indians as technology advances. Yet the commercial turn now provides some form of livelihood to India's artisans, and the slight increase in popularity and demand is significantly factored by the different versions of the pankha being crafted. What the craft now needs is celebration — appreciation of its culture, stories and artistry — so that commerce supports artisans without erasing tradition.

(b) feather of a bird. A2. The word pankhi denotes:

(c) a small plumed fan used in ancient India. A3. Evidence of the existence and use of the pankhi in India can be found in the Buddhist wall paintings at:

(d) Ajanta. A4. The wall paintings that show evidence of the pankhi date back to:

(b) the 2nd century CE. A5. In ancient times, in temples, pankhas were used to:

(b) fan the deities. A6. Pankhas varied in size from a tiny two-inch one to:

(a) ones requiring a person's full arm strength to move them. A7. The appliqué hand fan of Rajasthan is made by:

(b) sewing pieces of fabric in different shapes and patterns onto another cloth with ornamental needlework. A8. Which state is described as the centre for bead craft in India?

(c) Gujarat. A9. Sola, used by artisans in Bengal, is:

(b) the milky-white spongy centre of the water grass. A10. The Phadh hand fans, adorned with pure gold, silver zari, silk and satin frills, belong to:

(d) Uttar Pradesh.

(a) — Both are true; the advent of technology is the cause of the pankhas' reduced practical use and their relegation to decorative items. D2. Assertion (A): Pankha-making now provides some form of livelihood to India's artisans. Reason (R): The handicraft of pankha-making has transformed into a commercial business, and its popularity and demand have slightly increased. (a) — Both are true; the commercialisation of the handicraft and the slight rise in demand explain the livelihood it now provides. D3. Assertion (A): Different regions of India developed pankhas that were distinct from one another. Reason (R): Each place developed pankhas with distinct materials or a variety of intricate designs. (a) — Both are true; distinct materials and intricate designs are what set each region's pankhas apart.