1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : 1x8=8

A white elephant is a freak of nature in the same way as a white tiger and a white python are. Only white elephants are less of a rarity. In ancient India elephant breeders treated a white elephant with great attention. Valmiki mentions how there were, in the stables of Ravana, elephants which resembled white clouds in colour. In 1961, a white elephant was captured in the central lands near Baegethu Ot in South Vietnam. The Vietnamese believe that a white elephant is an incarnation of some celestial king.

A white elephant captured in northern Siam had an interesting journey when he was taken to the royal stables. A wide path was first cleared in the jungle along which the elephant was taken to a river where a floating house waited to receive him. The house had a straw roof and was draped all round with red hangings. The journey was long and fatiguing. When the elephant wanted to rest, troupes of singers and dancers entertained him. When he landed, he stepped on to a carpet interlaced with gold. He was bathed in water scented with jasmine. Then he was given a huge quantity of rice flour cakes and sugarcane to eat. The king, the courtiers and the priests had gone all the way to receive him. On arrival at Bangkok, the elephant was taken into a well-decorated pandal, ceremoniously rubbed with oils and adorned with chains of gold. Then for nine days the populace made offerings to him and worshipped him before he was taken in a procession to the royal stables.