Art & Culture Mixed Quiz: Set 29

The correct answer is B, Devi Prasad Roy Choudhury. Roy Choudhury, a pupil of Abanindranath Tagore who became the first Indian principal of the Government School of Art at Madras, modelled Triumph of Labour, the group of four men straining at a rock that stands on the Marina beach at Chennai, and also the Martyrs' Memorial outside the Patna secretariat. He was appointed the first chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1954. Option A is wrong because Ramkinkar Baij, though the other great sculptor of the period, made Santhal Family and Mill Call at Santiniketan. Option C is wrong because K. C. S. Paniker was a painter who founded Cholamandal. Option D is wrong because Nandalal Bose was a painter, not a sculptor. Separate the two sculptors by their cities: Ramkinkar Baij at Santiniketan, Devi Prasad Roy Choudhury at Madras and Patna.

The correct answer is A, Rajasthan. Lotia takes its name from the lota, the small metal water pot that women carry on the head in the procession with which it is performed, and it belongs to the folk tradition of Rajasthan, alongside Maand, Panihari and the Banna-Banni wedding songs. Option B, Tamil Nadu, has its own folk forms, chiefly Villu Pattu, the bow song, and Kavadi Chindu, but Lotia is not among them. Option C, Punjab, is the home of Tappa, Mahiya, Jugni and Boliyan, sung to the tumbi and the algoza. Option D, Assam, is known for Bihu geet sung at the spring festival, the Borgeet of Sankardeva and Zikir. The water pot in the name is the clue that points to the dry country of the west.

The correct answer is A, Chhattisgarh. In Pandwani a single performer tells the story of the Pandavas in song and speech, holding a tambura and acting out the scenes, and Teejan Bai, who received the Padma Vibhushan, carried the form from her village to audiences across the world. Option B, Odisha, has Dalkhai, the harvest song of the western districts, and Chaiti Ghoda, in which a dummy horse is used. Option C, Jharkhand, has Jhumar, Domkach and Paiki, which accompany dance more than narration. Option D, Telangana, does have narrative traditions, namely Burrakatha and Oggu Katha, which makes it a fair distractor; but those are Telugu forms, and the Mahabharata narration in the Chhattisgarhi language is Pandwani. Pandwani is sung in two styles, the Vedamati in which the singer stays seated and the Kapalik in which the singer rises and acts the scenes.

The correct answer is D, New Delhi. The institution stands at Teen Murti Bhavan in New Delhi, the house where Jawaharlal Nehru lived as Prime Minister for sixteen years, and it was opened to the public in 1964 after his death. It holds a museum on his life, a research library on modern Indian history with private papers and old newspapers, and a planetarium added in 1984. It works under the Ministry of Culture and has since been renamed the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library. The name Teen Murti comes from the three-soldier memorial in the circle outside. A is wrong because Kolkata has the Victoria Memorial and the National Library. B is wrong because Prayagraj has Anand Bhawan, the Nehru family home turned museum. C is wrong because Mumbai has the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. Exam tip: pair Teen Murti Bhavan with Nehru and Anand Bhawan with Prayagraj.

The correct answer is A, Bihar. Yampuri is the rod puppet tradition of Bihar. Its puppets are carved from wood in one piece, without the joints that rod puppets elsewhere have, which makes them harder to handle and demands greater skill of the puppeteer. Option B is wrong because the rod puppet form of West Bengal is Putul Nautch, whose large figures are jointed at the neck and the shoulders and are worked from below by a puppeteer standing behind a screen. Option C is wrong because Assam's contribution to this chapter is the folk theatre Bhaona, based on the Ankiya Naat written by Srimanta Sankardeva, rather than a puppet form. Option D is wrong because Madhya Pradesh is associated with the folk theatre Maach, a sung form of the Malwa region.

The correct answer is C, Jammu & Kashmir. Pashmina is the very fine wool combed from the undercoat of the Changthangi goat, reared by herders on the cold high plateau of Ladakh, and it was first spun and woven into shawls in the valley of Kashmir. The craft is traced to the fifteenth century, when Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin is said to have brought weavers from Central Asia; the shawls later reached Europe and gave English the word cashmere. A single Kani or Jamawar shawl can take months on the loom, and Kashmir Pashmina now carries a GI tag. A is wrong because Uttar Pradesh is known for Banarasi silk and chikankari. B is wrong because Punjab is known for phulkari embroidery. D is wrong because Himachal Pradesh weaves Kullu shawls and Kinnauri patterns from sheep wool. Exam tip: Pashmina — Changthangi goat of Ladakh, woven in Kashmir, GI tagged.

The correct answer is B, the ektara. The name means one string, and the instrument is a single string stretched over a gourd with a bamboo neck that the player presses to change the pitch; the Baul holds it in one hand while singing and dancing, often with a small drum called duggi tied at the waist. Option A, the sarangi, is a bowed instrument of many strings used in Hindustani classical music and in the folk music of Rajasthan, not by the Bauls. Option C, the shehnai, is the double reed wind instrument played at weddings and in temples, raised to the concert stage by Bismillah Khan. Option D, the nadaswaram, is the long wind instrument of temple music in Tamil Nadu, usually played with the thavil drum.

The correct answer is B, both statements are true, but B is not the correct explanation of A. Chola temples such as the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur, built by Rajaraja I, were far more than places of worship. They held land and villages, employed priests, garland makers, cooks, dancers and musicians, ran schools and craft workshops, and even lent money, so the religious, social and cultural life of the region gathered around them. Chola bronzes were cast by the lost wax method and mostly show deities such as Nataraja, Vishnu and Parvati, while a few portray donors and devotees, including saints and members of the royal family. Both statements are correct facts, but the subject matter of the bronzes does not explain why the temples were social centres; their land, wealth and grants do. So option A is wrong. Option C is wrong because Statement B is true, and option D is wrong because Statement A is true. Exam tip: Brihadisvara temple, Thanjavur, Rajaraja I; Chola bronzes by the lost wax method, Nataraja the most famous.

The correct answer is B, Kerala. Pavakathakali, also known as Pavakoothu, is the glove puppet tradition of Kerala, and it borrows its costume, make-up and gesture from Kathakali, so the puppet heads carry the same towering head-dress and painted faces. The puppet fits over the hand, with the head on the index finger and the two arms on the thumb and the middle finger. Option A is wrong because the Tamil Nadu form is Bommalattam, which uses rods and strings together and is among the largest puppet forms in the country. Option C is wrong because Karnataka has Gombeyatta, a string form, and Togalu Gombeyatta, a shadow form. Option D is wrong because Andhra Pradesh has the shadow form Tholu Bommalata, and glove puppetry is not its known tradition. Among the four techniques the glove puppet is the smallest and needs no stage machinery, which is why it survives as a village and temple form rather than a court one.

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, Assam. Bihu songs are sung at Rongali or Bohag Bihu, the spring festival that marks the Assamese new year in April, and they are accompanied by the dhol, the pepa made from a buffalo horn and the jaw harp called gogona. Assam also has the Borgeet, the devotional songs composed by Srimanta Sankardeva, and the Zikir. Option A, Manipur, is known for the songs of the Lai Haraoba festival and for the pena, a bowed instrument; its Sankirtana was inscribed by UNESCO in 2013. Option C, Tripura, has its own tribal song traditions, among them Hojagiri, which is better known as a dance. Option D, Meghalaya, holds the Shad Suk Mynsiem and Wangala festivals, which carry their own music. The three Bihus of the Assamese year are Rongali in April, Kongali in October and Bhogali in January, and the songs of Rongali are the ones meant here.

The correct answer is C, Amritsar. Sri Harmandir Sahib, popularly called the Golden Temple, stands in Amritsar in Punjab and is the holiest shrine of the Sikhs. The fourth Guru, Ram Das, had the sacred tank dug and the city grew around it, taking its name Amritsar from the pool of nectar; the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev, built the shrine and installed the Adi Granth there in 1604. Maharaja Ranjit Singh later covered its upper storeys with gold leaf, which gave the temple its popular name. It has a door on each of its four sides to show that it is open to people of every caste and faith, and its community kitchen feeds thousands every day. A is wrong because Manali is a hill town in Himachal Pradesh. B is wrong because Patna has Takht Sri Patna Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh, which is a different shrine. D is wrong because Jalandhar has no such temple. Exam tip: Amritsar founded by Guru Ram Das; Harmandir Sahib built by Guru Arjan Dev; Akal Takht stands beside it.

The correct answer is B, Karnataka. Yakshagana is the folk theatre of coastal Karnataka, performed through the night in the open with towering head-dresses, heavy make-up and loud percussion, and its episodes are drawn from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas; the singer who narrates and controls the performance is the Bhagavata. Option A is wrong because Kerala's forms are Koodiyattam, the Sanskrit theatre, along with Chakyar Koothu, Krishnattam and the ritual theatre Mudiyettu. Option C is wrong because Maharashtra's folk theatre is Tamasha, built on lavani songs and the dholki, with Dashavatar in the Konkan. Option D is wrong because the street theatre of Tamil Nadu is Therukoothu, and its temple form is Bhagavata Mela. Yakshagana has two regional styles, the Badagutittu of the north and the Tenkutittu of the south of the coastal belt, and a question may name either in place of the form itself.

The correct answer is D, Golconda. Golconda Fort near Hyderabad in Telangana was first raised as a mud fort by the Kakatiya rulers of Warangal in the thirteenth century. The Bahmani sultans took it later, and the Qutb Shahi kings rebuilt it in granite in the sixteenth century, adding the long walls, the eight gates and the palaces seen today. The fort is famous for its acoustics: a clap at the Fateh Darwaza can be heard at the pavilion on the hilltop, a signal once used to warn the garrison. The diamond mines around it, such as Kollur, made Golconda a great market for stones like the Koh-i-Noor and the Hope diamond. A is wrong because Panhala in Kolhapur is linked with the Shilaharas and later with Shivaji. B is wrong because Raigad was Shivaji's capital fort in Maharashtra. C is wrong because Neemrana in Rajasthan was a Chauhan fort. Exam tip: Golconda, a Kakatiya mud fort rebuilt by the Qutb Shahis, known for diamonds and acoustics.

The correct answer is B, the monsoon. Kajri is sung in the month of Shravan, when the clouds gather, and its verses speak of dark skies, the separation of lovers and the longing of a woman for a husband who is away; Mirzapur and Banaras are its best known homes. Option A, spring, is the season of Faag or Hori, sung around Holi in the same region, and of Chaiti, which belongs to the month of Chaitra, so both are the right answers to different questions. Option C, winter, has no comparable song form in this belt, which is why it is the weakest option. Option D, the autumn harvest, is marked by its own songs elsewhere in India, such as Dalkhai in western Odisha, but not by Kajri.

The correct answer is D, Chhau. Chhau was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010. It is a masked dance-drama of eastern India with three styles named after their homes: Seraikella in Jharkhand and Purulia in West Bengal, where masks are worn, and Mayurbhanj in Odisha, where the dancers perform without masks. The form grew out of martial training, so its steps imitate combat and the movements of birds and animals, while its stories come from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and local legend. It is danced at the spring festival of Chaitra Parva to the beat of the dhol and the dhumsa. A is wrong because Fugdi is a women's folk dance of Goa. B is wrong because Jhoomar belongs to Punjab. C is wrong because Dalkhai is a folk dance of western Odisha. Exam tip: Indian entries on the UNESCO list include Chhau (2010), Ramlila, Kutiyattam, Vedic chanting and Sankirtana.

The correct answer is A, Gujarat. Bhavai is the folk theatre of Gujarat, also seen in parts of Rajasthan. It is played in open ground before a standing audience, its accompanying instrument is the bhungal, a long copper pipe, and its sketches, called veshas, are short and satirical, often aimed at caste and social custom. Option B is wrong because the folk form of Punjab is Naqal, a comic form performed by the naqqals with the bagatbachcha. Option C is wrong because Himachal Pradesh is the home of Kariyala, an open-air form played around a fire during Diwali. Option D is wrong because Haryana's folk theatre is Swang, a sung form that also appears in the Braj belt of Uttar Pradesh. The bhungal is the detail that identifies Bhavai in any question.

The correct answer is C, Tamil Nadu. In Villu Pattu a large bow is set over an earthen pot and struck as a percussion instrument while the lead singer narrates a story from mythology or local history and a chorus answers him; the form is strongest in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu and in the neighbouring parts of Kerala. Option A, Kerala, has Sopana Sangeetham sung on temple steps, the boat song Vanchipattu and the Mappila Pattu of the Malabar coast. Option B, Karnataka, has Bhavageete and the sung theatre of Yakshagana. Option D, Andhra Pradesh, has Burrakatha, which is also a narrative form with a drum, so it is the closest trap; the difference is that Burrakatha uses the tambura and the burra drum, not a bow.

The correct answer is A, Bhikhari Thakur. Bidesia is the Bhojpuri folk theatre of Bihar created by Bhikhari Thakur in the early twentieth century. Its central subject is migration: the man who leaves his village for work in the city and the wife who waits behind, and the woman's part is traditionally played by a male performer called the launda. Option B is wrong because Teejan Bai is the best known exponent of Pandavani, the narrative Mahabharata form of Chhattisgarh performed with a tambura. Option C is wrong because Srimanta Sankardeva, the Vaishnava saint of Assam, wrote the Ankiya Naat plays on which Bhaona is performed. Option D is wrong because Gopal Singh Nepali was a Hindi poet and lyricist and had no part in creating a folk theatre form.

The correct answer is A, Goa. The Mando is a slow song in Konkani, sung by couples at weddings and gatherings, whose melody carries the mark of three centuries of Portuguese presence; the quick Dulpod usually follows it, and Dekhni is the third well known Goan form. Option B, Maharashtra, which surrounds Goa and shares the Konkani-speaking coast, is the obvious distractor, but its own forms are Powada, Lavani and Bharud. Option C, Kerala, has Sopana Sangeetham, Vanchipattu and Mappila Pattu, which also absorbed outside influence, in its case Arabic. Option D, Puducherry, was a French possession and does carry a European trace in its culture, which is why it is offered here, but the Mando is not from there. Goan folk music is sung in Konkani, which is also the official language of the state and one of the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule.