Art & Culture Mixed Quiz: Set 9

The correct answer is D, Kishangarh school. Bani Thani was painted by Nihal Chand in the eighteenth century at Kishangarh in Rajasthan, under Raja Savant Singh, who wrote devotional poetry under the name Nagari Das. The figure has an elongated face, a long neck, a sharply arched eyebrow and a curving eye, and this stylised female type became the mark of the school. The painting is often called the Mona Lisa of India, and Kishangarh work usually sets its lovers beside lotus filled lakes.

Option A, the Bundi school, is recognised by dense blue green vegetation, water and animal life, not by this female type. Option B, the Jaipur or Amber school, worked under strong Mughal influence on large portraits. Option C, the Kangra school, is a Pahari style from the hills, delicate and lyrical, famous for the Gita Govinda series, and geographically far from Rajasthan.

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 D, Hampi. Hampi on the Tungabhadra in Karnataka was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire, and its Virupaksha, Vittala and Hazara Rama temples are Dravidian work of the most elaborate kind: walled enclosures, towering gopurams, pillared kalyana mandapas, the famous stone chariot and the musical pillars. UNESCO inscribed the Group of Monuments at Hampi as a World Heritage Site.

Option A, Konark in Odisha, is the Sun Temple of the Eastern Ganga ruler Narasimhadeva I and belongs to the Kalinga branch of the Nagara style, not to Dravida. Option B, Bodh Gaya in Bihar, is a Buddhist site with the Mahabodhi temple and the Bodhi tree, and its tall brick tower follows a north Indian shrine form. Option C, Akshardham in Delhi, is a modern temple completed in this century and cannot represent a historical style.

The correct answer is A, Andhra Pradesh. Tholu Bommalata is the leather shadow puppet theatre of Andhra Pradesh.

The name means the dance of leather dolls. Puppets are cut from goat or deer hide, dyed on both sides so the colours glow when a lamp throws their shadow on a cloth screen, and worked from behind while singers and a harmonium and drums carry the story. The plays are drawn from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and often run through the night. India has four famous shadow puppet forms: Tholu Bommalata here, Togalu Gombeyaata in Karnataka, Ravanachhaya in Odisha and Tholpavakoothu in Kerala.

Option B is wrong because Karnataka's shadow form is Togalu Gombeyaata. Option C is wrong as Kerala has Tholpavakoothu, performed in Bhagavati temples. Option D is wrong because Maharashtra's puppet tradition is Kalasutri Bahulya, worked with strings.

Exam tip: leather shadow puppets - Andhra Pradesh; string puppets - Rajasthan's Kathputli.

The correct answer is A, Deccan. The Bahmani buildings at Gulbarga belong to the Deccan or Provincial style of Indo-Islamic architecture.

When the Bahmani sultanate broke away from Delhi in 1347 it developed its own manner, blending Persian and Turkish ideas brought by architects from Iran with local craft and stone. The Jama Masjid inside Gulbarga fort is its finest example: it has no open courtyard, and sixty-three domes and wide arches cover the whole prayer hall, which is unusual in India. The Haft Gumbaz tombs stand nearby. After the capital moved to Bidar the same style produced the Mahmud Gawan madrasa.

Option B, Mameluke or Slave dynasty style, belongs to the early Delhi Sultanate, as in the Qutub Minar. Option C, Sikh style, is seen in gurdwaras of Punjab from a much later period. Option D, Nagara, is a north Indian temple style with a curved shikhara.

Exam tip: Delhi styles are Imperial, regional ones Provincial; Gulbarga and Bidar - Deccan style.

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 D, Assam. Muga silk is produced only in Assam and is the state's best known textile.

It comes from the semi-domesticated silkworm Antheraea assamensis, which feeds on som and soalu leaves in the Brahmaputra valley. The thread has a natural golden yellow shine that grows brighter with every wash, and a Muga mekhela chador can outlast its owner. Muga silk received a Geographical Indication tag in 2007, the first such tag given to a product from Assam. India makes four kinds of silk: mulberry, tasar, eri and muga.

Option A is wrong because Arunachal Pradesh is known for its Apatani and Adi weaves, not muga. Option B is wrong as Bihar is linked with tasar silk from Bhagalpur. Option C is wrong because Maharashtra is known for Paithani sarees, made from mulberry silk.

Exam tip: Muga and eri silk - Assam; tasar - Jharkhand and Bihar; mulberry - Karnataka.

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 D, 10. Vaishnavism recognises the dashavatara, the ten incarnations that Vishnu is said to take whenever order in the world breaks down. The usual list runs Matsya the fish, Kurma the tortoise, Varaha the boar, Narasimha the man-lion, Vamana the dwarf, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki, who is still to come. The idea is set out in the Puranas, above all the Bhagavata Purana, and Jayadeva's Gita Govinda opens with a hymn to the ten. Some traditions put Balarama in the place of Buddha, but the count of ten does not change. Option A is wrong because five belongs to Panchayatana worship, in which five deities are honoured together. Option B is wrong because seven is the number of the sapta rishis, not of the avatars. Option C is wrong because nine is a tempting answer, since nine avatars have already appeared, but the recognised list is ten with Kalki awaited. Exam tip: the first four avatars are animal forms, and Kalki is the one yet to come.

The correct answer is C, Man Singh. The Gujari Mahal at the foot of Gwalior Fort was built by Raja Man Singh Tomar, who ruled Gwalior from 1486 to 1516, for his favourite queen Mrignayani. She was a Gujar by birth, and that is how the palace got its name. Today the palace houses the State Archaeological Museum, famous for the graceful Shalbhanjika sculpture from Gyaraspur. Man Singh also built the Man Mandir palace inside the fort and was a great patron of Dhrupad music, so his court is linked with the growth of the Gwalior tradition of singing. Do not confuse him with Raja Man Singh of Amber, the Mughal general of Akbar’s time. Option A is wrong because Akbar’s buildings include Fatehpur Sikri and the Agra Fort, not this palace. Option B is wrong because Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort of Delhi. Option D is wrong because the builder is known and is listed in option C. Exam tip: Gujari Mahal, Gwalior, built by Man Singh Tomar for Queen Mrignayani.

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 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 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 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, Ajanta. The Bodhisattva Padmapani, holding a blue lotus, is painted on the left wall of the antechamber of Cave 1 at Ajanta in Maharashtra, with the Bodhisattva Vajrapani facing him. The figure belongs to the Vakataka period of the fifth century, and its downcast eyes and relaxed body are held up as the finest example of Indian mural painting. Ajanta was painted in tempera on a ground of mud, cow dung and rice husk, and the caves stand above the Waghora river.

Option B, Badami in Karnataka, has Chalukyan royal portraits in Cave 3. Option C, Bagh in Madhya Pradesh, has Buddhist murals very close to Ajanta in style, which makes it the strongest distractor, but not this painting. Option D, Ellora, is chiefly a site of rock cut sculpture and architecture, with surviving painting mainly in the Kailasa temple.

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. Elephanta, on Gharapuri island near Mumbai, is a Shaivite rock-cut group whose panels tell Shiva stories: the Trimurti Sadashiva, Ardhanarishvara, Gangadhara, the marriage of Shiva and Parvati and Shiva as Nataraja. The sculptors cut the figures deep into the rock so that the shifting light of the cave models them in shadow, which is why the site is remembered for sculptural depth rather than for painting or plan.

Option A is wrong because Elephanta has no stupa and is not Buddhist; the Buddhist rock-cut sites of the region are Kanheri, Bhaja, Karle and Ajanta. Option C is wrong because Jain and Vaishnavite images do not dominate here, unlike the Jain caves at Udayagiri or the Ellora group. Option D is wrong because Elephanta is a cave complex cut into a hillside, not a monolith, and it dates from about the sixth century CE, long after the Mauryas.

The correct answer is D, Ganga. Kashi, also called Varanasi or Banaras, stands on the left bank of the Ganga in eastern Uttar Pradesh and is among the oldest living cities in the world. Its name comes from the two small streams, the Varuna and the Assi, between which the old city lies. The riverfront has some eighty-four ghats, among them Dashashwamedh and Manikarnika, and the Kashi Vishwanath temple here is one of the twelve jyotirlingas. Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, is only a few kilometres away. Option A is wrong because the Gomti flows past Lucknow and joins the Ganga near Ghazipur. Option B is wrong because the Saryu or Ghaghara flows past Ayodhya. Option C is wrong because the Yamuna passes Delhi, Mathura and Agra and meets the Ganga at Prayagraj. Exam tip: Varanasi on the Ganga, Lucknow on the Gomti, Ayodhya on the Saryu, Agra on the Yamuna.

The correct answer is C, Maharashtra. The Warli are a tribal community of the Palghar and Thane districts of northern Maharashtra, on the border of Gujarat. Their painting is made with a rice paste white on a wall coated with red ochre and cow dung, and it is built out of a few geometric units: the circle for the sun and moon, the triangle for mountains and trees, and the square for the sacred enclosure called the chauk. The commonest subject is the tarpa dance, a spiral of dancers around a musician. Jivya Soma Mashe was the artist who took Warli painting to the wider world.

Option A, Bihar, is the home of Madhubani. Option B, Kerala, is known for its temple murals. Option D, Assam, has manuscript painting of the Sattras, not Warli work.

The correct answer is D, Odisha. The twin hills of Udayagiri and Khandagiri stand near Bhubaneswar and hold Jain rock-cut cells cut for monks in the first century BCE. The Hathigumpha or elephant cave on Udayagiri carries the inscription of the Chedi king Kharavela of Kalinga, the main source for his reign, and the Rani Gumpha is the largest and most decorated of the cells.

Option A, Uttarakhand, has the Kalsi rock edict and hill temples but no such cave group. Option B, Chhattisgarh, is associated with the Sitabenga and Jogimara caves of the Ramgarh hills, which are different sites. Option C, Tripura, is known for the rock carvings of Unakoti, again a separate site. Candidates often confuse Udayagiri in Odisha with the Udayagiri caves of Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, which are Gupta period Vaishnavite caves with the Varaha panel.