Art & Culture GK Questions with Answers – Page 13

It is famous for its floor of hand-painted blue Chinese tiles, each of them different, its Belgian glass chandeliers, its clock tower and the copper plates recording the privileges granted to the Jewish community of the Malabar coast.

An Atash Behram is the highest of the three grades of Zoroastrian fire temple, and of the nine in the world eight are in India, at Udvada, Navsari, Surat and Mumbai, with the ninth at Yazd in Iran.

Its name means 'might of Islam', its screen of pointed arches was raised by masons trained in Indian temple technique, and the Iron Pillar stands in its courtyard.

The correct answer is A, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, the saint who brought the Chishti order to India and settled at Ajmer, where his tomb became the best known dargah in the subcontinent; the annual Urs there draws pilgrims of every faith, and Mughal emperors from Akbar onwards made the journey.

Vasco da Gama died at Kochi in 1524 and was buried in this church, and his remains were moved to Portugal some years later, though the gravestone is still shown to visitors.

The basilica, completed in the opening years of the seventeenth century, is part of the Churches and Convents of Goa inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The gurdwara built on that site is Takht Sri Patna Sahib, one of the five Takhts, and the only one in Bihar.

The five Takhts, or seats of Sikh religious authority, must be learnt as a set, because the question is usually set by swapping one place for another.

The correct answer is B, Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru, under whom the Harmandir Sahib was built and who had the Adi Granth compiled and installed in it in 1604, appointing Baba Buddha as its first granthi.

The Sangai, also called the dancing deer, is the state animal of Manipur and survives only in the floating meadows of the Keibul Lamjao National Park on Loktak Lake; the festival named after it is held in late November and shows the state's crafts, cuisine, indigenous sports and the Ras…

Established in 1953 with its seat at New Delhi, it is the national academy for the performing arts, it supports festivals, archives and training, and it is the authority whose recognition decides which dance styles are counted as classical.

Mamallapuram, also written Mahabalipuram, lies on the coast south of Chennai and is a World Heritage site of Pallava rock-cut architecture; the dance festival is staged there from late December into January, with the great relief called Arjuna's Penance as its backdrop.

The mela is held at Surajkund in the Faridabad district of Haryana, close to Delhi, and runs through the first fortnight of February; craftspeople and folk performers from across the country gather there, and each edition names a theme state and a partner country.

The festival is held in the courtyard of the Nataraja temple at Chidambaram, where Shiva is worshipped in his dancing form as Nataraja, and dancers from across the country offer their art there over five days beginning on Maha Shivratri; the very name Natyanjali means an offering of dance.

It began in 2006, is held every January at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur, admits visitors free of charge and draws writers, translators and publishers from many countries, which is how it came to be called the greatest literary show on Earth.

The Tansen Samaroh is held every December near Gwalior, at the tomb of Tansen, one of the nine jewels of Akbar's court and a founding figure of Hindustani classical music; the state also confers the Tansen Samman at the festival.

The Hornbill Festival is held at the Kisama heritage village near Kohima from 1 to 10 December, the days around Nagaland's statehood day, and it is called the Festival of Festivals because every major tribe of the state presents its own dances, songs, games and food in one place.

The Konark Festival is held on an open-air stage beside the thirteenth century Sun Temple at Konark in Odisha, a World Heritage monument, and the classical styles of the country are performed there in the first week of December.

The Khajuraho Dance Festival is held every February at Khajuraho in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, with the Western group of temples as its setting, and it presents the recognised classical dance styles of the country on an open-air stage.

The Vijayanagara workshops extended the bronze tradition from deities to royal portraiture, and the standing copper figures of the emperor Krishnadevaraya with his two queens, Tirumala Devi and Chinnaji Devi, were placed in the Venkateshvara temple at Tirumala, where they remain.