Class 7 Arts (Kriti) Chapter 8, The Music of the People, celebrates India’s vibrant folk music (Lok Sangeet), regional instruments, women saint-poets like Mirabai and Lal Ded, and social-reform composers like Annamacharya and Charankavi Mukunda Das.
What Class 7 Art Chapter 8 Covers
Folk Songs, Unique Voices & Women in Music (Activities 8.1–8.5) explores Assam’s Bihu song (Bihu bihu lagise gaat), unconventional folk vocal styles, Qawwali, and the devotional poetry of Mirabai and Kashmiri mystic Lal Ded (Lalleshwari) (vakhs).
Music for Social Reform & Regional Instruments (Activities 8.6–8.9) studies 15th-century saint-composer Annamacharya (Brahmam Okate, advocating human equality) and Bengali patriot Charankavi Mukunda Das, and maps folk instruments like Sarangi, Damru, Ektara and Pepa across Indian states.
Folk songs and women composers: the chapter starts from Bhupen Hazarika’s Bihu song ‘Bihu bihu lagise gaat’ and asks you to learn a folk song and a lullaby from your own family. It introduces Mirabai, the 15th-century princess of Rajasthan married into Mewar who became a devotee of Krishna, and Lal Ded (Lalleshwari), the Kashmiri mystic whose short poems are called vakhs.
Music for change: Annamacharya, the 15th-century Telugu saint, is said to have composed 32,000 sankirtanas to Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupati, and was among the earliest to oppose the social stigma against untouchables, preaching brotherhood through his songs. Charankavi Mukunda Das of Bengal spread the Swadeshi message through songs and plays. Activity 8.6 asks you to write an 8-line poem or rap for a change you want.
Exercises in Chapter 8
- Activities, Circle Time reflections and end-of-chapter Assessment rubrics.
Read Class 7 Art Chapter 8 Online
More Chapters
- Previous: Chapter 7: Ragas and Talas/Taal
- Next: Chapter 9: Performance
- Hindi medium: Class 7 Arts Chapter 8 PDF in Hindi (Kriti)
- All Art chapters and the other Class 7 books: Class 7 NCERT books 2026-27
- All Class 1 to 12 NCERT Textbooks: NCERT Books PDF (Class 1–12)
- Every book chapter by chapter: NCERT chapter wise PDF
FAQ
What was the message of Annamacharya’s composition ‘Brahmam Okate’?
15th-century Telugu saint-composer Annamacharya used his sankirtanas like ‘Brahmam Okate’ to teach that the Divine spirit in all human beings is one and to oppose caste discrimination and untouchability.
Who was Lal Ded (Lalleshwari) mentioned in Chapter 8 of Kriti?
Lal Ded was a 14th-century Kashmiri mystic poetess whose four-line philosophical poems, called ‘vakhs’, deeply shaped Kashmiri literature and Sufi-Bhakti music.
How many songs did Annamacharya compose?
He is said to have composed 32,000 sankirtanas in praise of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupati.