Art & Culture Mixed Quiz: Set 6

The correct answer is C, Kerala. Mohiniyattam is the classical dance of Kerala, and its name comes from Mohini, the enchantress form of Lord Vishnu. It is danced solo by women in a plain off-white and gold Kasavu sari, with gentle swaying movements, soft footwork and delicate expression. The songs are in Manipravalam, a mixture of Sanskrit and Malayalam, and the music follows the Carnatic style. The poet Vallathol Narayana Menon revived the form at Kerala Kalamandalam in the twentieth century. Option A is wrong because the classical dance of Assam is Sattriya, begun by the saint Srimanta Sankardeva. Option B is wrong because West Bengal has no classical dance of its own; Chhau and Gambhira are its well known folk forms. Option D is wrong because the classical dance of Andhra Pradesh is Kuchipudi. Exam tip: Kerala has two classical dances, Kathakali and Mohiniyattam; Sattriya belongs to Assam and Odissi to Odisha.

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 A, Meghalaya. Nongkrem is the harvest thanksgiving dance of the Khasi people, held over several days at Smit, the seat of the Khyrim chiefdom near Shillong, where unmarried women dance in the centre in heavy silver and gold ornaments while men dance around them with swords and whisks. The Garo of the same state hold Wangala, the hundred drums festival, at the end of their harvest.

Option B, Mizoram, has Cheraw, the bamboo dance, and Khuallam. Option C, Assam, has Bihu at the Assamese new year and the Jhumur of the tea garden communities. Option D, Sikkim, has Singhi Chham, the snow lion dance, and Maruni. The Khasi people and the village of Smit identify Meghalaya, and the paper often names the tribe rather than the state.

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 C, 16. Teentaal runs over sixteen matras divided into four equal vibhags of four beats each. The first beat of the cycle is the sam and carries the stress, the third vibhag opens on a khali, and the cycle returns to the sam at the end. Its regularity is why most khayal performances and most instrumental gats are set in it.

Option A, 10, is the count of Jhaptaal, which is divided unevenly as two, three, two and three. Option B, 12, belongs to Ektaal and to Chautaal, the latter played on the pakhawaj for dhrupad. Option D, 14, is the count of Dhamar tala, the cycle used for the dhamar form sung at Holi, and also of Deepchandi. Each of the four numbers is a real tala count, so the question rewards a student who has memorised the whole table rather than one entry from it.

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 B, Sarod. The sarod is a plucked instrument with a metal fingerboard and no frets, which lets a player slide continuously between notes and gives it its deep, singing tone. Amjad Ali Khan belongs to a family line of sarod players, and the other great names on the instrument are Allauddin Khan of Maihar and his son Ali Akbar Khan.

Option A, the sitar, is a fretted instrument with sympathetic strings and a gourd resonator, made famous worldwide by Ravi Shankar. Option C, the tabla, is a pair of drums, the wooden dayan and the metal bayan, whose best known players are Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain and Kishan Maharaj. Option D, the shehnai, is the reed wind instrument of Bismillah Khan. Candidates often swap sitar and sarod, so fix the difference: the sitar has frets and the sarod does not.

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 D, i - c, ii - d, iii - a, iv - b. An idgah is an open walled ground on the edge of a town where the whole community gathers for the Id prayer, so it matches an open prayer place. A dargah is the tomb of a Sufi saint, where followers of every faith come to offer flowers and prayers. A cul-de-sac is a narrow lane closed at one end, the kind of street that filled the crowded mohallas of Shahjahanabad. A khanqah is the hospice where a Sufi master lived with his disciples, taught and fed visitors. A is wrong because it turns the idgah into a Sufi lodge and the khanqah into a prayer ground. B is wrong because it calls the idgah a saint's tomb and the dargah an open prayer place. C is wrong because it makes the idgah a lodge and the khanqah a tomb. Exam tip: idgah, open Id prayer ground; khanqah, Sufi hospice; dargah, the saint's tomb.

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 B, Madhya Pradesh. Matki is a women's folk dance of the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, performed at weddings and other happy occasions. A single dancer balances an earthen pot, the matki, on her head and moves to the beat of the dhol while keeping her face covered with a veil; others join her one by one as the rhythm quickens. The solo version is often called Aada and Khada Nach. Madhya Pradesh also gives us Gaur, Karma, Saila, Grida and Jawara, so the state's folk dances are a favourite with paper setters. Option A is wrong because Assam is known for Bihu, Bagurumba and Jhumur. Option C is wrong because Bihar is known for Jat-Jatin, Jhijhiya, Bidesia and Paika. Option D is wrong because Rajasthan is known for Ghoomar, Kalbeliya, Bhavai, Chari and Terah Taali; the Chari dance also uses a pot, but one with a lit lamp in it. Exam tip: Matki and Jawara - Madhya Pradesh; Chari and Ghoomar - Rajasthan.

The correct answer is B, Only two. Bhaja is a Buddhist cave site and Sittanavasal a Jain one, but Besnagar has no Shaivite cave shrine. Besnagar, near Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, is known for the Heliodorus pillar of about 113 BCE, a Garuda pillar set up by a Greek envoy who called himself a devotee of Vasudeva, so its link is Vaishnava. Bhaja, near Lonavala in Maharashtra, has some of the earliest Buddhist rock-cut chaityas and viharas, from about the second century BCE. Sittanavasal, near Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu, is a Jain cave, the Arivar Koil, famous for its paintings of a lotus pond. So pair 1 is wrong and pairs 2 and 3 are right. Option A is wrong because two pairs match, not one. Option C is wrong because Besnagar is not a Shaivite cave site. Option D is wrong because Bhaja and Sittanavasal are correctly matched. Exam tip: Besnagar means Heliodorus and Vasudeva; Bhaja is Buddhist, Sittanavasal is Jain.

The correct answer is C, Dhrupad. Dhrupad is austere and devotional, sung in four sections called sthayi, antara, sanchari and abhog, and it opens with a long unmetred alap. It is accompanied by the pakhawaj rather than the tabla. Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior is remembered for patronising it, and the Dagar family has carried it into modern times.

Option A, khayal, takes its name from the Persian word for imagination, allows far more ornament, and only became the dominant form long after dhrupad; it is sung as a slow bada khayal followed by a fast chhota khayal. Option B, thumri, is semi-classical and romantic, with Lucknow and Benares as its centres and Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh as its best known patron. Option D, tappa, is a quick form full of short runs that grew out of the songs of the camel drivers of Punjab. All four are Hindustani vocal forms, but dhrupad is the oldest of them.

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 C, Ghana vadya. The ghatam is a clay pot with nothing stretched across its mouth. The player strikes the body of the pot with fingers, palms and wrists, and changes the tone by moving the mouth of the pot against the stomach. Because the solid body itself vibrates, it falls in the ghana class along with the manjira, the jaltarang and the morsing. Its best known player is T. H. Vikku Vinayakram.

Option A, avanaddha vadya, would require a stretched hide, which the ghatam does not have; the mridangam, the kanjira and the thavil of the same Carnatic ensemble do belong there. Option B, sushira vadya, covers wind instruments such as the nadaswaram and the flute. Option D, tata vadya, covers stringed instruments such as the veena and the violin. The pot shape misleads students into calling it a drum, which is exactly the error the question is set to catch.

The correct answer is D, three. Raja Parba is Odisha's three-day festival of womanhood held in mid-June, when the sun enters Mithuna (Gemini). The three days are Pahili Raja, Raja Sankranti or Mithuna Sankranti, and Basi Raja, and a ritual bath of Mother Earth, Vasumati Snana, closes it on the fourth morning. The word Raja comes from 'rajaswala', a menstruating woman: Bhudevi, Mother Earth, is believed to menstruate during these days, so no ploughing or digging is done, and unmarried girls rest, wear new clothes, play on rope swings and eat poda pitha. It marks the onset of the monsoon and the coming farming season. Option A is wrong because five is not the count of Raja days; the festival is not a five-day affair. Option B is wrong because six days belong to no Raja tradition. Option C is wrong because the fourth day, Vasumati Snana, is only a closing bath and the festival itself is counted as three days. Exam tip: Raja Parba = Odisha, three days, Mithuna Sankranti in June, swings and poda pitha.

The correct answer is A, Maharashtra. Lavani is the best known folk dance of Maharashtra, performed by women in a nine-yard sari to the beat of the dholki. The name comes from the Marathi word lavanya, meaning beauty. It grew in the eighteenth century in the Peshwa period, when it entertained soldiers, and it is danced in the Tamasha theatre tradition with quick footwork and expressive lyrics. Other folk forms of Maharashtra are Tamasha, Povada, Dhangari Gaja and Koli. Option B is wrong because Rajasthan is known for Ghoomar, Kalbeliya, Chari and Bhavai. Option C is wrong because Gujarat is known for Garba, Dandiya Raas and Bhavai. Option D is wrong because Bihar is known for Jat-Jatin, Bidesia, Jhijhiya and Paika. Exam tip: link each dance to its state, Lavani with Maharashtra, Ghoomar with Rajasthan, Garba with Gujarat and Bidesia with Bihar.

The correct answer is A, Dhrupad. The pakhawaj is a long barrel drum played horizontally with both hands, deeper and graver in tone than the tabla, and its weight suits the slow and solemn movement of dhrupad. The tala normally played on it for dhrupad is Chautaal of twelve beats, and for the related dhamar form, Dhamar tala of fourteen.

Option B, thumri, is semi-classical and is accompanied by the tabla, often with the sarangi or the harmonium supplying the melody alongside. Option C, kriti, belongs to the Carnatic system, where the percussion is the mridangam, supported at times by the ghatam, the kanjira and the morsing. Option D, ghazal, is a light-classical form set to Urdu poetry and is accompanied by the tabla with the harmonium. Candidates often pick the tabla for every Hindustani form, which is exactly the habit this question is set to catch.

The correct answer is A, Kerala. The chenda is a cylindrical drum hung from the shoulder and struck with curved sticks, and it carries the sound of Kerala's temple festivals, of the percussion ensemble called Chenda Melam, and of Kathakali and Theyyam. The maddalam accompanies it in Kathakali, and the mizhavu, a large copper drum, belongs to the older temple theatre Koodiyattam.

Option B, Odisha, has the mardala, the drum of Odissi dance. Option C, Manipur, has the pung, played and danced with at the same time in the Pung Cholom. Option D, Assam, has the khol of Vaishnava kirtan and the dhol, pepa and gogona of Bihu. Each of the four states has a signature drum, and the paper usually tests them by naming the dance or the festival rather than the drum, so learn drum, dance and state as one line.

The correct answer is B, Purandara Dasa. Purandara Dasa, a saint composer of the Kannada devotional tradition, is honoured as the Pitamaha of Carnatic music because he organised the way the music is taught. The graded exercises a beginner still starts with, and the choice of the raga Mayamalavagowla as the first raga to be learnt, are credited to him, and he composed a very large number of devotional songs.

Options A, C and D name the three composers known together as the Carnatic Trinity, who came two centuries later and were all born in the town of Tiruvarur in Tamil Nadu. Tyagaraja is remembered for the Pancharatna Kritis and for the annual Aradhana held at Thiruvaiyaru, Muthuswami Dikshitar for the Navagraha kritis and the signature Guruguha, and Syama Sastri for his compositions on the goddess Kamakshi. They are the greatest composers of the system, but the title of Pitamaha belongs to Purandara Dasa.