Art & Culture Mixed Quiz: Set 4

The correct answer is B, Manipuri. Its central theme is the Raas Leela of Radha and Krishna, the feet land softly, the face is held serene rather than expressive, and the dancer wears the stiff, barrel-shaped kumil skirt. The pung is played and danced with at the same time in the item called pung cholom, and the older ritual tradition of the region is the Lai Haraoba. Rabindranath Tagore brought Manipuri teachers to Santiniketan and made the form known across India.

Option A, Sattriya, also treats Vaishnava themes but belongs to the sattras of Assam and uses the khol drum. Option C, Odissi, draws its Krishna themes from the Gita Govinda and is accompanied by the mardala. Option D, Kuchipudi, stages the Bhama Kalapam and uses the mridangam, not the pung.

The correct answer is C, Kharosthi. Kharosthi was written from right to left, like the Aramaic script from which it grew. It was the script of Gandhara in the north-west, now in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and was used roughly from the third century BCE to the third century CE, mostly for Prakrit. That is why two of Ashoka's major rock edicts, at Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra, are in Kharosthi, while almost all his other edicts are in Brahmi. It spread along the Silk Road into Central Asia and then died out. Option A is wrong because Brahmi runs left to right and is the parent of Devanagari and most other Indian scripts. Option B is wrong because Sharada, the old script of Kashmir, grew out of Brahmi and is also written left to right. Option D is wrong because Nandinagari, a southern form of Nagari used for Sanskrit manuscripts, runs left to right as well. Exam tip: Kharosthi is the odd one out, right to left and found in the north-west; Brahmi is left to right and found almost everywhere else.

The correct answer is C, Karnataka. In Dollu Kunitha the dancers hang a large drum, the dollu, from the neck and beat it while moving in fast formations, and the dance belongs to the Kuruba shepherd community, who perform it in the service of their deity Beereshwara. Kunitha itself means a ritual dance offered to a deity, and Karnataka also has Veeragase, a dance of the Veerabhadra devotees, and the folk theatre Yakshagana.

Option A, Telangana, has Perini Shivatandavam, the Bathukamma dances of women and the Lambadi dance of the Banjara. Option B, Tamil Nadu, has Karagattam with a decorated pot on the head, Kolattam with sticks, Kummi and Oyilattam. Option D, Kerala, has the ritual forms Theyyam, Padayani and Mudiyettu and the women's Thiruvathirakali, danced at Onam. All four are southern states, which is why they are grouped in the options, but the drum named dollu and the Kuruba shepherd community together point only to Karnataka.

The correct answer is B, Telangana. Pochampalli, also written Pochampally, is a weaving town in the Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana, not far from Hyderabad. It is famous for ikat sarees, in which the threads are tied and dyed before weaving, so the pattern appears as the cloth is woven. The result is bright, geometric designs with softly blurred edges. Pochampalli ikat carries a Geographical Indication (GI) tag, which protects the name for weavers of this region. The town is also known as Bhoodan Pochampally, because Vinoba Bhave began the Bhoodan, or land-gift, movement here in 1951. A is wrong because Maharashtra is known for Paithani sarees, not Pochampalli. C is wrong because Tamil Nadu is famous for Kanjeevaram silk sarees. D is wrong because Karnataka is known for Mysore silk and Ilkal sarees. Exam tip: Pochampalli ikat, Telangana; Paithani, Maharashtra; Kanjeevaram, Tamil Nadu; Patola, Gujarat; Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh.

The correct answer is C, Samaveda. The Samaveda is the Veda of melody. Most of its verses are taken from the Rigveda, but they are arranged for singing rather than for recitation, and that singing is known as Samagana. Every later Indian treatise on music traces the tradition back to it, which is why the pairing appears in paper after paper.

Option A, the Rigveda, is the oldest Veda and is a collection of hymns to the gods; it supplies the words the Samaveda sings, but it is not itself the musical Veda. Option B, the Yajurveda, is the Veda of sacrificial formulae, giving the prose mantras a priest uses while performing a ritual. Option D, the Atharvaveda, collects charms, spells and remedies of everyday life along with some philosophical hymns. Of the four, only the Samaveda was organised around melody, so it alone is called the source of Indian classical music.

The correct answer is B, Jainism. Jainism holds that souls (jiva) live not only in humans, animals and plants but also in earth, water, fire and air. Jain thought ranks living beings by the number of senses they have. The lowest group, the one-sensed beings, includes earth-bodies, water-bodies, fire-bodies, air-bodies and plants, so even a stone or running water has a soul. This is why Jain monks practise ahimsa so strictly, sweeping the path and straining water so that they harm as few beings as possible. Mahavira taught that each jiva is bound by karma and is freed only through right faith, right knowledge and right conduct, the three jewels. Option A is wrong because Buddhism denies a permanent soul through its doctrine of anatta. Option C is wrong because Shaivism centres on devotion to Shiva and does not give souls to rocks. Option D is wrong because Vaishnavism centres on devotion to Vishnu and his avatars. Exam tip: souls in stones and water with the strictest ahimsa means Jainism; no soul (anatta) means Buddhism.

The correct answer is B, Sushira vadya. Sushira means hollow, and the class covers every instrument in which a column of air inside a tube is set vibrating. The bansuri, the shehnai, the nadaswaram, the pungi, the algoza and the conch all belong to it, and so does the harmonium, whose reeds are sounded by air from a bellows.

Option A, tata vadya, is the class of stringed instruments such as the sitar, the sarod, the sarangi, the veena and the santoor. Option C, avanaddha vadya, covers the instruments with a stretched hide, that is the drums, among them the tabla, the pakhawaj, the mridangam and the chenda. Option D, ghana vadya, covers the solid instruments of metal, clay or wood that sound when struck or shaken without any tuning, such as the manjira, the ghatam and the jaltarang. All four names come from the same classification, so they are always offered together.

The correct answer is C, Odisha. Pattachitra is the old cloth-scroll painting of Odisha, and the name itself explains it: patta means cloth and chitra means picture. The painters, called chitrakars, treat a cloth with chalk and tamarind paste, then draw gods and legends on it with natural colours and a fine brush, keeping a decorated border around the scene. Most works show Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra of Puri, Krishna's life or scenes from the epics. The village of Raghurajpur near Puri is famous for this craft and has a GI tag for Odisha Pattachitra. A is wrong because Andhra Pradesh is known for Kalamkari, drawn and dyed with a pen. B is wrong because Rajasthan is known for Phad paintings and the miniature schools of Kishangarh, Mewar and Bundi. D is wrong because Bihar is known for Madhubani or Mithila painting. Exam tip: Pattachitra is Odisha, Madhubani is Bihar, Kalamkari is Andhra Pradesh, Warli is Maharashtra.

The correct answer is A, Bundi style. The Bundi school of the Hadoti region is the one that fills its pictures with birds, animals and thick green forest. Its painters loved nature: mango and banana groves, lotus tanks, monsoon clouds with lightning, elephants, tigers, squirrels, parrots and peacocks all crowd the background, and human figures are shown with round faces and small noses against them. Bundi work began under Rao Surjan Singh with help from Chunar artists, and its offshoot at Kota went further, making hunting scenes in dense jungle its speciality. Option B is wrong because the Nathdwara school paints Shrinathji, mostly on cloth as pichhwai hangings. Option C is wrong because Kishangarh is remembered for the graceful Bani-Thani face and the Krishna-Radha themes of Nihal Chand, not for animals. Option D is wrong because Bikaner painting carries Mughal and Deccani influence, with pale colours and artists who signed their work. Exam tip: Bundi and Kota mean nature and hunting; Kishangarh means Bani-Thani.

The correct answer is A, Baiju Bawra. Baiju, also called Baiju Nayak, was the leading singer at the court of Raja Man Singh Tomar in Gwalior and later served Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Raja Man Singh Tomar ruled Gwalior from 1486 to 1516 and is credited with shaping dhrupad, the oldest surviving style of Hindustani classical music. Baiju was a master of dhrupad, and legend makes him a rival of Tansen, a story retold in the 1952 film "Baiju Bawra". Gwalior's link with music continues today through the Tansen Samaroh held there every year. Option B is wrong because Tansen sang at the court of Raja Ramchandra of Rewa and then became one of the nine jewels of Akbar's court. Option C is wrong because Lal Kalawant was a disciple of Tansen who served at the Mughal court. Option D is wrong because Rang Khan Kalawant is not recorded at the courts of Man Singh Tomar or Bahadur Shah. Exam tip: Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior made dhrupad famous; Baiju sang there, and Tansen later shone at Akbar's court.

The correct answer is D, Lord Shiva. The Ramappa temple is dedicated to Shiva, worshipped there as Ramalingeswara. It stands at Palampet in the Mulugu district of Telangana and was built in the thirteenth century under the Kakatiya ruler Ganapati Deva by his general Recharla Rudra. The temple is unusual in being named after its sculptor, Ramappa. It is raised on a star shaped platform of sandstone, its tower uses bricks so light and porous that they are said to float on water, and its polished black basalt pillars and bracket figures of dancers are finely carved. UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage List in 2021 as the Kakatiya Rudreshwara temple. Option A is wrong because Rama is worshipped at temples such as Bhadrachalam, not here. Option B is wrong because the great Vishnu temples of the region are Tirupati and Simhachalam. Option C is wrong because temples dedicated to Indra are almost unknown in India. Exam tip: link Ramappa temple with Palampet, the Kakatiya dynasty, floating bricks and the 2021 UNESCO listing.

The correct answer is D, Sarangi. Pandit Ram Narayan was the musician who lifted the sarangi from an accompanying instrument to a solo concert instrument in Hindustani music. Born at Udaipur in Rajasthan in 1927, he played for All India Radio, accompanied singers for years, and from the mid-1950s began giving solo recitals in India and abroad. He was honoured with the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and, in 2005, the Padma Vibhushan. The sarangi is a short-necked bowed instrument carved from a single block of wood, with three main gut strings and about thirty-five sympathetic strings, and its tone is said to come closest to the human voice. Option A is wrong because the ghatam, a clay pot, is a Carnatic percussion instrument played by Vikku Vinayakram. Option B is wrong because the tabla is linked with Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain. Option C is wrong because the bansuri, the bamboo flute, belongs to Pannalal Ghosh and Hariprasad Chaurasia. Exam tip: sarangi — Ram Narayan; sarod — Amjad Ali Khan; santoor — Shivkumar Sharma.

The correct answer is C, Gol Gumbaz. Gol Gumbaz, the tomb of Muhammad Adil Shah, carries the dome long described as the second largest in the world after St Peter's Basilica in Rome. It stands at Vijayapura, the old Bijapur, in Karnataka and was completed in 1656 for the seventh ruler of the Adil Shahi dynasty of the Deccan. The dome is about 44 metres across and rests on intersecting arches, so the hall below it needs no pillars and is one of the largest single chambers under one roof anywhere. A gallery running inside the drum, the Whispering Gallery, carries even a soft sound around the ring, and the building is as famous for that echo as for its size. Option A is wrong because GlampEco is not a monument. Option B is wrong because Teela names no such dome. Option D is wrong because the Calico Dome was a modern structure in Ahmedabad, not a historic tomb. Exam tip: Gol Gumbaz means Vijayapura, the Adil Shahi dynasty and the Whispering Gallery.

The correct answer is B, A-ii, B-iii, C-i, D-iv. Nihalchand was the master painter of Kishangarh in the 18th century under Raja Sawant Singh, the poet-king known as Nagaridas; his 'Bani Thani', with its long nose, arched eyebrows and lotus-shaped eyes, is often called the Mona Lisa of India. Ustad Ali Raza, a painter who came from Delhi, worked at Bikaner in the 17th century under Maharaja Karan Singh, which is why Bikaner painting shows a strong Mughal touch. Sahibdin was the leading painter of Mewar under Maharana Jagat Singh I; his Ragamala of 1628 and his Ramayana paintings shaped the Udaipur style. Shivdas is counted among the painters of the Marwar, or Jodhpur, school. Option A is wrong because it gives Shivdas to Bikaner and Ali Raza to Marwar. Option C is wrong because it gives Shivdas to Mewar and Sahibdin to Marwar. Option D is wrong because it links Sahibdin with Bikaner and Ali Raza with Mewar. Exam tip: Bani Thani–Nihalchand–Kishangarh; Ragamala–Sahibdin–Mewar; Ali Raza–Bikaner; Shivdas–Marwar.

The correct answer is C, Losar festival. Losar marks the Tibetan New Year and is kept for about a fortnight, usually in February or March, in Ladakh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and among Tibetan communities across India. In Tibetan, lo means year and sar means new. Homes are cleaned and decorated, butter lamps are lit, masked Cham dances are performed in the monasteries, and families eat guthuk, a noodle soup, to drive out the ill luck of the old year. Option A is wrong because Saga Dawa marks the birth, enlightenment and passing of the Buddha and falls in the fourth Tibetan month. Option B is wrong because Ongkor is a harvest festival held before the crops are cut. Option D is wrong because Shoton, the yoghurt festival of Lhasa, is known for Tibetan opera and the unveiling of a giant thangka. Exam tip: Losar is the Tibetan New Year; Saga Dawa marks the Buddha's birth and enlightenment.

The correct answer is B, Black Pagoda. European sailors called the Konark Sun temple the Black Pagoda because its dark stone tower stood out on the Odisha coast and served them as a landmark, in contrast to the whitewashed Jagannath temple at Puri, which they called the White Pagoda. The temple was built in the thirteenth century by King Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty in the Kalinga style. It is shaped as the chariot of Surya, the sun god, with twelve pairs of carved wheels and seven horses drawing it, and the wheels work as sundials. UNESCO placed it on the World Heritage list in 1984. A is wrong because the White Pagoda was the sailors' name for the Puri temple. C and D are wrong because no such names were used for Konark; they are only distractors. Exam tip: Konark = Black Pagoda, Narasimhadeva I, Kalinga style, UNESCO site since 1984.

The correct answer is D, a - iv, b - i, c - ii, d - iii. The Champakkulam Moolam boat race is held on the Pampa river in Alappuzha, Kerala, and is the oldest snake-boat race in the state. The Somnath fair is held at the Somnath temple in Gujarat on Kartik Purnima, where pilgrims gather at the first of the twelve Jyotirlingas. The Surajkund crafts fair takes place every February at Surajkund in Faridabad, Haryana, and brings craftspeople from India and abroad together under a theme state each year. The Baneshwar fair is a tribal fair of the Bhils held at Dungarpur in Rajasthan, where the Som and Mahi rivers meet. Option A is wrong because it sends the Somnath fair to Rajasthan and the Baneshwar fair to Haryana. Option B is wrong because it places the boat race in Rajasthan. Option C is wrong because it moves the Somnath fair to Haryana and Surajkund to Gujarat. Exam tip: Champakkulam - Kerala, Somnath - Gujarat, Surajkund - Haryana, Baneshwar - Rajasthan.

The correct answer is A, Rajasthan. Dabu is a mud resist hand block printing craft of Rajasthan, practised mainly at Akola in Chittorgarh and at Bagru and Sanganer near Jaipur. A paste of clay, gum, lime and wheat chaff is stamped on the cloth with wooden blocks; the covered portions resist the dye, usually indigo, and stay pale while the rest takes colour. The cloth is washed and the mud falls away, leaving the pattern, and the steps are repeated for more colours. Rajasthan is also home to Bandhani tie and dye, Bagru and Sanganeri prints and Kota Doria weaving. Option B is wrong because Odisha is known for Ikat or Bandha tie and dye and Pattachitra painting. Option C is wrong because Andhra Pradesh is known for Kalamkari, printed and painted with a bamboo pen. Option D is wrong because Assam is known for Muga and Eri silk weaving. Exam tip: Dabu means mud resist, Bandhani means tie and dye, Kalamkari means pen work.

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, Srimanta Sankardeva. The Assamese saint of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries founded the sattras, the Vaishnava monasteries that give the form its name, and created the Ankiya Naat plays staged in the namghar, in which the dance developed. Celibate monks kept the tradition alive inside those monasteries, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi recognised it as classical in 2000.

Option A, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, led the Bhakti movement in Bengal and Odisha in the same period, but the sattras of Assam are not his foundation. Option C, Siddhendra Yogi, belongs to Andhra Pradesh and shaped Kuchipudi, composing the Bhama Kalapam. Option D, Vallathol Narayana Menon, was the Malayalam poet who founded Kerala Kalamandalam in 1930 and revived Kathakali and Mohiniyattam, both of which belong to Kerala and not to Assam. A safe way to hold the four apart is to attach a region to each name: Sankardeva with Assam, Chaitanya with Bengal, Siddhendra Yogi with Andhra Pradesh and Vallathol with Kerala.