Art & Culture Mixed Quiz: Set 36

The correct answer is B, the Sahitya Akademi. Founded on 12 March 1954 with Jawaharlal Nehru as its first President, it is the national academy of letters, recognises twenty-four languages, the twenty-two of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution together with English and Rajasthani, and gives the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Bhasha Samman and translation prizes. Option A is wrong because the Sangeet Natak Akademi is the academy of the performing arts, that is music, dance and drama. Option C is wrong because the Lalit Kala Akademi is the academy of the visual arts, covering painting, sculpture and graphic art. Option D is wrong because the Indian Council for Cultural Relations is not an academy at all; it carries Indian culture abroad through cultural centres, scholarships and chairs of Indian studies, and it works under the Ministry of External Affairs.

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 B, the Indian Museum, Kolkata. It was founded in 1814 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal and is the oldest museum in India as well as the largest multipurpose museum in the country, with sections for art, archaeology, anthropology, geology, zoology and economic botany. Its first curator was the Danish botanist Nathaniel Wallich, who had himself proposed the museum. Option A is wrong because the National Museum at Janpath, New Delhi was founded only in 1949 and moved into its own building in 1960, so it is much younger even though it is the premier museum of the Union Government. Option C is wrong because the Salar Jung Museum at Hyderabad dates from 1951; its distinction is being the largest one-man collection in the world, not the oldest museum. Option D is wrong because the Government Museum, Chennai, founded in 1851, is the second oldest museum in India, not the oldest.

The correct answer is B, Maharashtra. The twenty-nine Ajanta caves are cut into a horseshoe-shaped cliff above the Waghora stream in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra and are a World Heritage Site. The earlier caves are Hinayana chaityas and viharas of the Satavahana age, and the later Mahayana caves of the Vakataka age carry the paintings of Padmapani and Vajrapani and scenes from the Jataka stories. Option A, Madhya Pradesh, has Sanchi, Bharhut and the painted Bagh caves, which are often confused with Ajanta. Option C, Karnataka, has the Jain centre of Shravanabelagola and the Badami caves. Option D, Odisha, has the Jain caves of Udayagiri and Khandagiri and the Buddhist Diamond Triangle of Ratnagiri, Udayagiri and Lalitgiri. Ellora, with its Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves, is in Maharashtra as well.

The correct answer is A, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. The Council was founded on 9 April 1950 by Azad, independent India's first Education Minister, who also became its first President; its headquarters in New Delhi is named Azad Bhavan after him. Its work is cultural diplomacy: Indian cultural centres abroad, scholarships for foreign students, chairs of Indian studies, the Distinguished Indologist Award and journals in several languages. Option B is wrong because Jawaharlal Nehru was the first President of the Sahitya Akademi, a different body of the same decade. Option C is wrong because Dr S. Radhakrishnan, as Vice-President, inaugurated the Sangeet Natak Akademi in January 1953 but did not found the Council. Option D is wrong because C. Rajagopalachari was the last Governor-General of India and later a political leader in Madras, with no founding role here.

The correct answer is A, Andhra Pradesh. Tholu Bommalata uses large leather puppets held against a lit screen, and the shadows tell episodes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata through the night. Option B is wrong because West Bengal's tradition is Putul Nautch, which uses rod puppets. Option C is wrong because Rajasthan is the home of Kathputli, the string puppet form seen at fairs. Option D is wrong because Kerala has Pavakathakali, a glove puppet form that borrows the make-up and the music of Kathakali. Puppetry questions are decided by the kind of puppet as much as by the state, so learn string, shadow, rod and glove with one example each. The Sangeet Natak Akademi supports these puppet traditions through its centres and through the annual festivals it holds.

The correct answer is A, Hyderabad. The Salar Jung Museum stands on the south bank of the Musi river at Hyderabad and holds the collection built up mainly by Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, Salar Jung III, the Prime Minister of the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was opened to the public in 1951 and was declared an institution of national importance by the Salar Jung Museum Act, 1961, so it is now administered by a board chaired by the Governor of Telangana. Its best known exhibits are the Veiled Rebecca, a marble sculpture by the Italian artist Giovanni Maria Benzoni, the double statue of Mephistopheles and Margaretta carved from a single block of wood, and a British musical clock. Options B, C and D are wrong because Lucknow has the State Museum in the Banarasi Bagh, Bhopal has the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya and Mysuru has the Jaganmohan Palace art gallery, and none of these is the Salar Jung Museum.

The correct answer is B, polo. Sagol Kangjei is the Manipuri game played on ponies with a stick and a ball and is widely held to be the forerunner of modern polo, which British officers took up in Manipur and Cachar in the nineteenth century before it spread across the world; the Mapal Kangjeibung ground at Imphal is among the oldest polo grounds anywhere. Option A is wrong because field hockey developed separately and has no such Manipuri ancestry. Option C is wrong, though it is a reasonable guess, because the Manipuri game that resembles rugby is Yubi Lakpi, in which players carry a greased coconut to the goal. Option D is wrong; the archery tradition of the hills is Thoda in Himachal Pradesh. The word sagol means pony in Manipuri, which is a useful hook for remembering the answer.

The correct answer is B, Rabindra Bhavan. The three national academies share the building on Ferozeshah Road in New Delhi named after Rabindranath Tagore, which is why a single question can cover all three at once. Option A is wrong because Azad Bhavan is the headquarters of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, named after its founder Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Option C is wrong because Shastri Bhavan houses offices of several Union ministries and is not the home of the academies. Option D is wrong because Dharohar Bhavan is the office of the Archaeological Survey of India in New Delhi. A useful way to keep them apart is that Rabindra Bhavan holds the academies that give awards in the arts and letters, Azad Bhavan the body that works abroad, and Dharohar Bhavan the body that protects monuments.

The correct answer is B, Rashtrakuta. Cave 16 at Ellora, the Kailasa temple, was cut out of a single mass of rock from the top downwards in the eighth century during the reign of the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I, and it is the largest monolithic excavation in the world. Option A is wrong because the Chalukyas of Badami made the rock-cut cave temples of Badami and the structural temples of Aihole and Pattadakal. Option C is wrong because the Pallavas carved the rathas and mandapas of Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu. Option D is wrong because the Vakatakas patronised the later caves of Ajanta, not Ellora. Ellora has thirty-four caves in all, Buddhist in Caves 1 to 12, Hindu in Caves 13 to 29 and Jain in Caves 30 to 34, which makes it the clearest example of three faiths sharing one cliff.

The correct answer is C, Kolkata. The National Library of India stands in the Belvedere Estate at Alipore in Kolkata, in a building that was once the residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. It is the largest library in India by volume of holdings and is the library of record for the country, receiving one copy of every book published in India. It works under the Ministry of Culture. Option A is wrong because Delhi has the Delhi Public Library and the Central Secretariat Library, both important but neither the National Library. Option B is wrong because Chennai has the Connemara Public Library, which is one of the four depository libraries under the Delivery of Books and Newspapers Act but not the National Library. Option D is wrong because Mumbai has the Central Library in the Town Hall, run by the Asiatic Society, which is likewise a depository library only.

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 A, the Sangeet Natak Akademi. The Akademi created the National School of Drama in New Delhi in 1959 as one of its own training units, and the school became an independent autonomous body in 1975; it trains students in acting, direction, stage design and allied crafts, and it runs a repertory company. Option B is wrong because the Lalit Kala Akademi works in the visual arts and set up regional art centres with studios, not a drama school. Option C is wrong because the Indian Council for Cultural Relations sends Indian artists and teachers abroad and funds foreign students in India, but it founded no such school. Option D is wrong because the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting deals with film and broadcasting, including the Film and Television Institute of India at Pune, which is the plausible but different institution in this family.

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, Lord Curzon. The Imperial Library was created by the Imperial Library Act of 1902 and opened to readers in 1903 on Curzon’s initiative; he merged the collections of the Calcutta Public Library of 1836 with the Home Department secretariat libraries to form a single library of record. After independence the Imperial Library was renamed the National Library in 1948 and was opened at Belvedere in 1953. Option A is wrong because Lord Ripon is remembered for the Local Self Government Resolution of 1882 and for repealing the Vernacular Press Act, not for the library. Option C is wrong because Lord Dalhousie belongs to an earlier period and is associated with the railways, the telegraph and the Doctrine of Lapse. Option D is wrong because Lord Irwin served in the late 1920s and early 1930s, long after the Imperial Library had opened, and is linked with the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 1931.

The correct answer is C, Patanjali. Patanjali compiled the Yoga Sutras, the foundational text of the yoga school of Indian philosophy, and in it he lays out Ashtanga Yoga, the eight limbs: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. He is for that reason called the father of yoga. Option A is wrong because Swatmarama wrote the Hatha Yoga Pradifika, a much later Hatha text on asanas, pranayamas and mudras. Option B is wrong because Gheranda is the teacher of the Gheranda Samhita, another Hatha manual, which arranges the practice in seven limbs rather than eight. Option D is wrong because Kapila is held to be the founder of the Samkhya school, the philosophical companion of Yoga among the six orthodox systems, and not the author of the Sutras.

The correct answer is B, 1954. The Lalit Kala Akademi was founded on 5 August 1954 as the national academy of art, in the same year as the Sahitya Akademi, which was inaugurated on 12 March 1954. It holds the National Exhibition of Art, gives the National Akademi Awards and elects Fellows of its own. Option A is wrong because 1952 belongs to the Sangeet Natak Akademi, which was created by a resolution of 31 May 1952 and inaugurated in January 1953, making it the eldest of the three. Option C is wrong because 1959 is the year the National School of Drama was set up by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Option D is wrong because 1961 is associated with other institutions of that decade and not with this academy. The simplest line to remember is one academy in 1952 and two in 1954.

The correct answer is A, the Imperial Record Department. It was set up at Calcutta in 1891 to bring together the scattered records of the Government of India, shifted to New Delhi after the capital was transferred, and occupied its present building on Janpath, designed by Edwin Lutyens, in 1926. After independence it was renamed the National Archives of India and it is today the largest archival repository in South Asia, working under the Ministry of Culture and headed by the Director General of Archives. Option B is wrong because the Imperial Library was the library of record that became the National Library, a different institution altogether. Options C and D are wrong because no such names were given to the central archival body; a record room is only the office in which a department keeps its current files before they are transferred to the archives under the Public Records Act, 1993.

The correct answer is B, Alexander Cunningham. The Archaeological Survey of India was created in 1861 and Cunningham, an army engineer turned archaeologist who had surveyed Buddhist sites following the accounts of Chinese travellers, became its first Director-General; he is often called the father of Indian archaeology. Option A is wrong because James Prinsep was the scholar who deciphered the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts in the 1830s, which made Ashoka's edicts readable, but he died long before the Survey was founded. Option C is wrong because John Marshall was a later Director-General, under whom the excavations at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were announced in the 1920s. Option D is wrong because Mortimer Wheeler headed the Survey in the 1940s and is remembered for his work at Harappa and Arikamedu and for training Indian archaeologists.

The correct answer is B, the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act, 1954. It obliges a publisher to deliver one copy of every book published in India to the National Library at Kolkata and one copy each to the Connemara Public Library at Chennai, the Central Library at Mumbai and the Delhi Public Library; these four are the National Depository Libraries. The Act was amended in 1956 to bring newspapers within it. Option A is wrong because the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 deals with the registration of printing presses and the filing of copies with the State Government, not with the depository libraries. Option C is wrong because the Public Records Act, 1993 governs the records of government offices and the National Archives. Option D is wrong because the Copyright Act, 1957 protects the rights of authors and publishers and has nothing to do with legal deposit.