Art & Culture Mixed Quiz: Set 10

The correct answer is C, Habib Tanvir. He was a playwright, director and actor of the modern Indian theatre, best known for Charandas Chor and for working with folk performers of Chhattisgarh in his company Naya Theatre. He belongs to drama, not to painting, so he is the odd one out.

Option A, Tyeb Mehta, was a painter of the Progressive Artists Group generation, known for his diagonal canvases and the Falling Figure and Mahishasura series. Option B, Jamini Roy, was a Bengal painter who left academic realism for the bold flat line of Kalighat painting and folk art of Bengal. Option D, Satish Gujral, was a painter, sculptor and muralist who also designed the Belgian Embassy building in New Delhi, so painting is one of his fields. Questions of this kind slip one name from theatre, music or sculpture into a list of painters.

The correct answer is B, Painting. Amritlal Vegad, born in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh in 1928, was a painter and collage artist who trained at Kala Bhavan in Santiniketan under Nandalal Bose, and later taught art in Jabalpur. He is remembered for collages made from torn pieces of coloured paper, and for the sketches and paintings with which he filled his Hindi travel writing on the Narmada, a river he walked along for thousands of kilometres. That is why Madhya Pradesh papers place him with the visual arts rather than the performing arts. Option A is wrong because he worked on flat surfaces in paper and colour, not in stone or metal. Option C is wrong because he was never a singer. Option D is wrong because he had no place in music; that misreading comes from grouping every artist under the performing arts. Exam tip: Vegad, Jabalpur, painting and collage, Narmada travelogues in Hindi.

The correct answer is A, Maharashtra. The Kanheri caves are cut into a basalt hill inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai. They are a Buddhist group of more than a hundred cells, chaityas and viharas cut over several centuries from about the first century BCE, with rock-cut cisterns and a large chaitya hall with stupa and standing Buddha figures.

Option B, Odisha, has Buddhist sites at Ratnagiri, Udayagiri and Lalitgiri, but these are brick monasteries and stupas, not the Kanheri caves. Option C, Rajasthan, has no major Buddhist rock-cut group; its heritage is fort and temple architecture in stone. Option D, Delhi, has no ancient rock-cut caves at all. Maharashtra is the home of Indian rock-cut architecture and also holds Ajanta, Ellora, Bhaja, Karle, Bedsa and Elephanta.

The correct answer is D, Mallika Sarabhai. She won the best actress award in 1975 for her role in the Gujarati film Meena Gurjari, early in a career that moved between cinema, theatre and dance. Trained by her mother Mrinalini Sarabhai in Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi, she is also known for playing Draupadi in Peter Brook's stage and screen production of The Mahabharata, and she runs the Darpana Academy in Ahmedabad. Option A is wrong because Sonal Mansingh is an Odissi and Bharatanatyam exponent honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, not a film actress. Option B is wrong because Sitara Devi was the Kathak dancer whom Rabindranath Tagore called Nritya Samragini, and her film work came in the 1940s. Option C is wrong because Shovana Narayan is a Kathak dancer who also served as an officer of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service. Exam tip: link Mallika Sarabhai with Darpana Academy and her mother Mrinalini Sarabhai.

The correct answer is B, Oil painting. Painting in oil on canvas was unknown in India before European artists and the colonial art schools brought it in during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Indian painters had worked in tempera and watercolour on walls, palm leaf, paper and cloth. Raja Ravi Varma of Kerala is the best known Indian master of the new medium, using oil and academic modelling for Hindu mythological subjects such as Shakuntala and Damayanti.

Option A, mural art, is ancient in India, from Ajanta and Bagh to the Kerala temple walls. Option D, miniatures, are equally Indian, from the Pala palm leaf manuscripts through the Mughal, Rajasthani and Pahari schools. Option C, perspective, is the tempting distractor: systematic linear perspective did come with European art, but the question asks what was introduced as a form of painting, and the oil medium is the standard answer to this stem.

The correct answer is D, lotus. The star-shaped shrine of Gurudwara Shri Hemkund Sahib is built with a roof shaped like an upturned lotus, a flower that also appears in the story of the site. The gurudwara stands in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand at a height of over 4,600 metres, beside a glacial lake ringed by seven peaks called Sapt Shring. It is dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, who describes the place in his composition Bachittar Natak, and the shrine stays open only from about May to October because of snow. Options A, B and C are wrong because the rose, the marigold and the sunflower have no place in the design of this gurudwara; the marigold is used in garlands and the other two are garden flowers. The lotus, on the other hand, is a standing symbol of purity in Indian religious architecture. Exam tip: Hemkund Sahib is in Uttarakhand, near the Valley of Flowers National Park.

The correct answer is B, Raja Raja Chola I. The Brihadeshwara or Rajarajeshwara temple at Thanjavur was completed about 1010 CE by Raja Raja I. Its vimana rises in shrinking storeys to over sixty metres and is crowned by a single huge capstone, the whole structure is of granite, and the courtyard holds one of the largest monolithic Nandi figures in India. UNESCO lists it with Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram as the Great Living Chola Temples.

Option A, Rajendra Chola I, was his son and built the temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram, the second of the three. Option C, Narasimhavarman II Rajasimha, was a Pallava and built the Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram and the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram. Option D, Krishnadeva Raya, was a Vijayanagara ruler of the sixteenth century and added gopurams and mandapas at Hampi and Tirupati, far later than the Cholas.

The correct answer is B, Goa. Ranmale is a folk theatre of Goa, performed mainly in the Sattari and Sanguem areas.

It is staged at night in the open during the Shigmo festival and around Holi, in front of a village temple. Men play all the roles, including the female ones, and the episodes are taken from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, tied together by a narrator, drums and the ghumot. Goa's other well known folk forms are Jagor, Dashavatara, Kalo and Khell, and Zagor is listed among its temple traditions.

Option A is wrong because West Bengal's folk theatre is Jatra. Option C is wrong as Jharkhand is known for Chhau and Paika. Option D is wrong because Chhattisgarh's forms are Nacha and Pandavani, the ballad style made famous by Teejan Bai.

Exam tip: Ranmale, Dashavatara and Jagor - Goa; Jatra - West Bengal; Nautanki - Uttar Pradesh; Tamasha - Maharashtra; Bhavai - Gujarat.

The correct answer is C, Jahangir. Jahangir was a close observer of nature and asked his artists to record unusual birds, animals and flowers, so the single study replaced the crowded manuscript page. Ustad Mansur was his finest natural history painter and was given the title Nadir-ul-Asr, the wonder of the age; his Siberian crane and turkey cock are the standard examples. Abul Hasan, titled Nadir-uz-Zaman, and Bishandas, sent to Persia to paint the Shah, also served him.

Option A, Humayun, brought the Persian masters Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad and only began the school. Option B, Akbar, organised the atelier and commissioned the Hamzanama, Razmnama and Akbarnama, but his taste ran to narrative manuscripts, and Basawan and Daswanth were his men. Option D, Aurangzeb, withdrew patronage, which scattered the painters to the Rajput and Pahari courts.

The correct answer is D, Golconda Fort. Golconda in Hyderabad was the capital of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, which ruled the Golconda Sultanate from 1518, when Quli Qutb Shah broke away from the Bahmani kingdom. The fort stands on a granite hill and is famous for its acoustics, since a clap at the Fateh Darwaza can be heard at the pavilion on top, and for the diamond trade that passed through it, including the Koh-i-Noor. In 1591 Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah founded the city of Hyderabad and built the Charminar, moving the capital there; Aurangzeb finally took Golconda in 1687. Option A is wrong because Chiktan Fort stands in Ladakh. Option B is wrong because Rajgad in Maharashtra was an early capital fort of Shivaji. Option C is wrong because the Red Fort was built by Shah Jahan in Delhi. Exam tip: Qutb Shahi rulers held Golconda and then Hyderabad; the Charminar was built by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah in 1591.

The correct answer is B, Shikhara. In the Nagara style of north India the tower over the garbhagriha is the shikhara. Its outline curves inward as it rises, it is topped by a ribbed disc called the amalaka and a pot shaped kalasha, and its commonest form, the square based curvilinear tower, is called latina or rekha-prasada. Phamsana and valabhi are the other Nagara tower forms.

Option A, vimana, is the word used in the south for the tower over the sanctum, and it is a pyramid of receding storeys rather than a curve. Option C, gopuram, is the gateway tower in the enclosure wall of a South Indian temple and stands away from the shrine. Option D, antarala, is not a tower at all but the small vestibule that links the mandapa to the sanctum. Distinguishing shikhara from vimana is the most frequently tested pair in this topic.

The correct answer is B, All-India War Memorial. India Gate was built as the All-India War Memorial to honour soldiers of the British Indian Army who died in the First World War and in the Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the chief architect of New Delhi. The Duke of Connaught laid its foundation stone in 1921, and it was completed in 1931. The names of thousands of soldiers are carved on its walls. In 1972, after the 1971 war, the Amar Jawan Jyoti was added beneath the arch. Option A is wrong because the Afghan war is only one of the wars it remembers, and that was never its name. Option C is wrong because 'Archway of Delhi' is just a description, not an official name. Option D is wrong because the memorial honours the Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army, not only British soldiers. Exam tip: India Gate = All-India War Memorial, designed by Lutyens, built 1921–1931.

The correct answer is B, Kangra. Kangra painting is the most lyrical of the Pahari styles and reached its height in the late eighteenth century under Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra in present day Himachal Pradesh. Its painters illustrated the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva, the Bihari Satsai and the Nala Damayanti, with soft cool colour, rounded faces and rain filled landscapes. The style grew out of the Guler work of Manaku and Nainsukh, sons of Pandit Seu.

Option A, Basohli, is the earliest Pahari school, bold and hot in colour, with beetle wing cases inlaid for emeralds, and its famous series is the Rasamanjari of Devidasa. Option C, Bundi, is a Rajasthani and not a Pahari school. Option D, Golconda, is a Deccan school of the Qutb Shahi court, far to the south and quite unrelated to the hill states.

The correct answer is A, Buddhism. The Great Stupa at Sanchi, in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh, is one of the oldest Buddhist monuments in India. It was first built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE as a brick mound over relics of the Buddha, and was later enlarged with a stone casing. Four richly carved gateways, or toranas, were added around the 1st century BCE; they show Jataka tales and scenes from the Buddha's life, in which the Buddha himself appears only through symbols such as the Bodhi tree, a wheel or footprints. The Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989. B is wrong because the stupa is not a Hindu shrine; famous Hindu temple sites include Khajuraho and Konark. C is wrong because famous Jain sites include Dilwara and Shravanabelagola. D is wrong because famous Islamic monuments include the Qutub Minar and the Jama Masjid. Exam tip: Sanchi stupa = Ashoka = Buddhism = Madhya Pradesh = UNESCO 1989.

The correct answer is A, Rashtrakuta. Cave 16 at Ellora, the Kailasa temple, was cut for the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I in the eighth century. It is a complete temple with gateway, Nandi shrine, mandapa, sanctum and vimana, but instead of being built up it was carved downward and inward out of a single basalt hillside, so the whole complex is one rock. Ellora, with its Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves side by side, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Option B, the Chalukyas of Badami, worked at Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal and are associated with the early Vesara experiments, not with Ellora. Option C, the Satavahanas, are linked to the earlier Buddhist chaityas at Karle and Bhaja and to Amaravati. Option D, the Yadavas of Devagiri, ruled the Deccan much later and are associated with the Hemadpanti temple style, not with rock-cut excavation on this scale.

The correct answer is C, Karnataka. Kambala is a traditional buffalo race of coastal Karnataka, held mainly in the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, the Tulu Nadu region. Pairs of buffaloes, yoked together and driven by a farmer, race along two parallel tracks filled with slushy water in paddy fields. The season runs roughly from November to March, after the harvest, and the race began as a thanksgiving to local deities for a good crop. After a legal debate similar to the one over Jallikattu, Karnataka amended its animal cruelty law in 2017 so that Kambala could continue. A is wrong because Kerala is famous for its snake-boat races such as the Nehru Trophy Boat Race. B is wrong because Punjab is known for the Kila Raipur rural sports festival with bullock-cart races. D is wrong because Odisha is known for the Rath Yatra of Puri. Exam tip: Kambala = Karnataka (buffalo race), Jallikattu = Tamil Nadu (bull taming), Vallam Kali = Kerala (boat race), Kila Raipur = Punjab (rural Olympics).

The correct answer is C, Abanindranath Tagore. He painted Bharat Mata in 1905, during the Swadeshi movement against the partition of Bengal, showing a saffron clad four armed figure holding sheaves of paddy, a white cloth, a book and a rosary, the gifts of food, clothing, learning and faith. He was the founder of the Bengal School, worked in the Japanese derived wash technique and was encouraged by E. B. Havell of the Calcutta art school.

Option A, Raja Ravi Varma, worked in oil on academic lines and died in 1906; his subjects were Shakuntala, Damayanti and temple deities. Option B, Nandalal Bose, was Abanindranath's most influential pupil, made the Haripura Congress posters and decorated the pages of the Constitution of India, but not this work. Option D, Amrita Sher-Gil, belongs to the following generation and painted Indian village life in a modern European idiom.

The correct answer is C. Pattadakal on the Malaprabha was a coronation city of the Chalukyas of Badami, and its temples stand side by side in both idioms: the Papanatha and Galaganatha temples carry curving Nagara towers, while the Virupaksha temple, built by queen Lokamahadevi to mark Vikramaditya II's victory over the Pallavas, and the Sangameshwara temple carry Dravida vimanas. This deliberate mixing is what writers call the Vesara style, and UNESCO inscribed the group for exactly this reason.

Option A is wrong because the Dravida temples there are as important as the Nagara ones. Option B is wrong for the same reason in reverse. Option D is wrong because circular and apsidal shrines with tiered copper roofs belong to Kerala, at temples such as Vadakkunnathan in Thrissur, and not to Pattadakal. Aihole nearby is called the cradle of Indian temple architecture for the same experiments.

The correct answer is B, Akbar. The Hamzanama, the romance of the adventures of Amir Hamza, was the first great project of Akbar's imperial atelier and took about fifteen years, its large folios painted on cloth by a team under Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad. The same reign produced the Razmnama, a Persian Mahabharata, the Tutinama, and the Akbarnama, and the workshop deliberately blended Persian composition with Indian colour and observation.

Option A, Babur, ruled for only four years in India, left the Baburnama as a memoir and had no painting workshop here. Option C, Shah Jahan, is associated with the Padshahnama and with formal, jewel like durbar scenes. Option D, Sher Shah Suri, was an administrator of the Sur dynasty remembered for the rupiya, the Grand Trunk Road and the postal system, not for painting.

The correct answer is A, Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. The Konark Sun Temple in Odisha was raised in the thirteenth century by Narasimhadeva I. The plan is the chariot of Surya: a high platform carrying twelve pairs of carved stone wheels drawn by seven horses. The great deul has fallen, but the jagamohana survives, and European sailors called the dark mass the Black Pagoda. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Option B, Anantavarman Chodaganga, was an earlier Eastern Ganga ruler who began the Jagannath temple at Puri. Option C, Mihira Bhoja, was a Gurjara-Pratihara king of Kannauj with no connection to Konark. Option D, Bhima I of the Solanki dynasty, built the Sun Temple at Modhera in Gujarat, which is the other famous sun temple and therefore the standard distractor in this question.