Indian States & UTs Mixed Quiz: Set 17

The correct answer is B, 1 November 2011. Two laws of 2011 did the work together: the Orissa (Alteration of Name) Act changed the name of the state to Odisha, and the Constitution (113th Amendment) Act changed Oriya to Odia in the Eighth Schedule, which lists the languages of India. Both took effect from 1 November 2011. Option A is wrong because 1 April is Utkal Divas, the anniversary of the formation of the province in 1936, and no renaming took place on it. Option C is wrong because 1 January 2012 is simply not the appointed date. Option D is wrong because 15 August 2011 marks nothing in this story. Two linked facts complete the picture: the High Court of the state still carries the older spelling as the Orissa High Court and sits at Cuttack, and Odia was recognised as a classical language of India in 2014, the sixth language and the first Indo-Aryan one to be given that status.

The correct answer is B, 1953. Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 out of the Telugu-speaking districts of the old Madras State, with Kurnool as its capital and Tanguturi Prakasam as its first Chief Minister, and it was the first state in independent India carved out on the basis of language. Option A is wrong because 1950 is the year the Constitution came into force, when no such state existed. Option C is the commonest trap: 1 November 1956 is the date Andhra Pradesh was formed by merging Andhra State with the Telugu areas of Hyderabad under the States Reorganisation Act, which is a later and separate event. Option D is wrong because 1960 is the year Bombay State was divided into Maharashtra and Gujarat. Keep 1953 for Andhra State and 1956 for Andhra Pradesh.

The correct answer is A, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The Satish Dhawan Space Centre stands on Sriharikota island on the coast of the Nellore region, between the Pulicat lake and the Bay of Bengal, and every Indian orbital launch, by PSLV, GSLV, SSLV or LVM3, lifts off from there; the site is named after Satish Dhawan, a former chairman of ISRO. Option B is wrong because Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram is the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and a sounding rocket station, not an orbital launch site. Option C is wrong because Balasore in Odisha has the Chandipur missile testing range, which belongs to the DRDO. Option D is wrong because Hassan in Karnataka has the Master Control Facility that keeps station on India's geostationary satellites after they are launched.

The correct answer is C, Hyderabad. When Telangana was created on 2 June 2014 under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Hyderabad became its capital, and the Act further provided that the city would serve as the common capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for a period of not more than ten years. The city stands on the banks of the Musi, was founded in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, and is the seat of the state legislature and of the High Court for the State of Telangana.

Option A, Kavaratti, is the capital of the union territory of Lakshadweep, far away in the Arabian Sea. Option B, Amaravati, is the capital being developed by Andhra Pradesh after the bifurcation, which makes it the most tempting distractor in the set. Option D, Dispur, is the capital of Assam in the north-east. Only one of the four lies in Telangana.

The correct answer is C, Palapitta, the Indian roller. Telangana adopted the Indian roller, known in Telugu as palapitta, as its state bird soon after the state was formed in 2014. The bird is a brilliant blue flier of open country and is traditionally regarded as auspicious at Dasara in the Telugu speaking region. The other symbols chosen along with it are the spotted deer or jinka as state animal, the jammi tree as state tree, the tangedu flower as state flower and Bathukamma as the state festival.

Option A, the great Indian bustard, is the state bird of Rajasthan and a critically endangered species of the dry grasslands. Option B, the Asian paradise flycatcher, is the state bird of Madhya Pradesh. Option D, the hill myna, is the state bird of Chhattisgarh. All three belong to other states, so the question rewards a candidate who has learnt the symbols state by state.

The correct answer is D, Blackbuck. The blackbuck, called Krishna Jinka in Telugu, is the state animal of Andhra Pradesh. It is an antelope of open grassland and scrub; the male turns dark brown to black with age and carries long spiral horns, while the female stays fawn coloured and usually hornless. It is among the fastest Indian animals and is protected under Schedule I of the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972. Punjab and Haryana also carry the blackbuck as their state animal. A is wrong because the mithun, a domesticated bovine of the hills, is the state animal of Arunachal Pradesh and of Nagaland. B is wrong because the ox is a domestic draught animal and is not named as any state animal. C is wrong because the one-horned rhinoceros is the state animal of Assam, where Kaziranga protects most of its population. Exam tip: blackbuck for Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana; rhinoceros for Assam; mithun for Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

The correct answer is B, Kuchipudi. Kuchipudi is named after the village of Kuchipudi, or Kuchelapuram, in the Krishna delta, where the dance drama tradition of the Bhagavata Mela was carried on; Siddhendra Yogi is remembered as the figure who gave it its form, and the Tarangam, danced on the rim of a brass plate, is its best known piece. Option A is wrong because Bharatanatyam belongs to Tamil Nadu and grew in the temples of the Kaveri delta. Option C is wrong because Odissi is the classical dance of Odisha, linked with the Jagannath temple at Puri and the maharis. Option D is wrong because Mohiniyattam is the classical solo dance of Kerala, which is also home to Kathakali. Kuchipudi is counted among the eight classical dances of India.

The correct answer is B, Kerala. Kolathunadu, Valluvanad and Thekkumkoor were small medieval kingdoms, or swaroopams, of Kerala. Kolathunadu, ruled by the Kolathiri rajas, lay in north Malabar around present-day Kannur; Valluvanad spread over the Palakkad and Malappuram area and is remembered for the Mamankam festival at Tirunavaya; Thekkumkoor lay in the Kottayam region and was absorbed by Travancore under Marthanda Varma in the eighteenth century. Before unification, Kerala was split among such chiefdoms along with Travancore, Cochin and Calicut, and the present state was formed on 1 November 1956 from Travancore-Cochin and the Malabar district of Madras. Option A is wrong because Karnataka's old kingdoms were the Kadambas, Hoysalas and Vijayanagara. Option C is wrong because ancient Bihar was home to Magadha, Anga and Videha. Option D is wrong because Gujarat was ruled by the Solankis of Anhilwada and the Chaulukyas. Exam tip: names ending in nadu or koor in this list point to the medieval chiefdoms of Kerala.

The correct answer is A, Urdu. Telugu is the first official language of Telangana and Urdu is the second. The place of Urdu goes back to the Hyderabad state of the Nizams, where it was the language of administration and education, and a large Urdu speaking population still lives in Hyderabad and the surrounding districts. State government notifications and many public signs in the capital therefore appear in Telugu and Urdu together.

Option B, Tulu, is spoken in coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala and has no official standing in Telangana. Option C, Hindi, is an official language of the Union and of several northern states, and candidates often pick it by habit, but Telangana has not given it that place. Option D, English, is used for official work across India as an associate language of the Union, yet the second official language named by the state is Urdu.

The correct answer is A, 1948. The Corporation was created soon after independence to control the floods of the Damodar, a river so destructive that it was called the sorrow of Bengal, and it was modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority of the United States, combining flood control, irrigation, power generation and navigation in one body. Option B is wrong because 1956 is the year of the States Reorganisation Act, a separate landmark. Option C is wrong because 1962 has no bearing on the Corporation; it is the year the Paradip port was inaugurated in Odisha. Option D is wrong because 1975 is the year the Farakka Barrage on the Ganga was commissioned, which is also in West Bengal but is a different project with a different purpose, namely diverting water into the Hooghly.

The correct answer is B, the Godavari and the Krishna. Kolleru is a large shallow freshwater lake lying in the low ground between the deltas of the Godavari and the Krishna; it acts as a natural flood balancing reservoir for the two rivers, is a wintering ground for pelicans and painted storks, and was declared a Ramsar site of international importance. Option A is wrong because the Penna drains Rayalaseema far to the south of Kolleru. Option C is wrong because the Vamsadhara flows in the far north of the state, near the Odisha border, nowhere near the lake. Option D is wrong for the same reason in respect of the Nagavali, which is also a north Andhra river. Fix Kolleru with the two great deltas, and Pulicat with the Tamil Nadu border.

The correct answer is C, Ashoka. The Mauryan emperor Ashoka invaded Kalinga in about the eighth year of his reign, around 261 BCE, and the slaughter it caused turned him to Buddhism and to the policy of dhamma. His own Rock Edict XIII records his remorse, and his edicts survive in Odisha at Dhauli near Bhubaneswar and at Jaugada, including the two Separate Kalinga Edicts addressed to his officers there. Option A is wrong because Chandragupta Maurya founded the dynasty and campaigned in the north west, not in Kalinga. Option B is wrong because Bindusara, Ashoka father, left Kalinga outside the empire, which is why Ashoka had to conquer it. Option D is wrong because Harshavardhana ruled from Kanauj in the seventh century CE, nearly nine hundred years later. A linked fact worth holding is the Shanti Stupa at Dhauli, built in the twentieth century with Japanese collaboration on the hill above the battlefield.

The correct answer is B, Goddess Mahakali. Bonalu is celebrated in the month of Ashada, roughly July and August, when women carry cooked rice with milk and jaggery in decorated pots on their heads as an offering to the goddess Mahakali. The best known centres are the Ujjaini Mahankali temple at Secunderabad, the Jagadamba temple inside Golconda fort and the Lal Darwaza temple in the old city of Hyderabad, and the word bonam itself means a meal offered to the deity.

Option A, Durga, is worshipped across India during Navaratri, and because Mahakali is a fierce form of the mother goddess the two are easily mixed up, but Bonalu names Mahakali. Option C, Shiva, is honoured in Telangana by the Perini dance and by the Srisailam and Ramappa temples, not by Bonalu. Option D, Vishnu, is worshipped at Bhadrachalam and Yadadri, which are separate traditions.

The correct answer is D, Tripura. The Manikya dynasty ruled Tripura for centuries, and its kings all took the title Manikya. Their history is recorded in the Rajmala, a chronicle in Bengali verse first compiled in the fifteenth century under Dharma Manikya. The Ujjayanta Palace at Agartala, built by Radha Kishore Manikya at the beginning of the twentieth century, was their seat and now houses a state museum, and the lake palace Neermahal was raised by Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya, the last ruling king, after whom Agartala's airport is named. The princely state signed the merger agreement and joined the Indian Union in October 1949. Option A is wrong because Gujarat was ruled by the Solanki or Chaulukya line. Option B is wrong because Rajasthan had the Sisodia, Kachwaha and Rathore houses. Option C is wrong because Manipur was ruled by the Ningthouja or Meitei dynasty. Exam tip: Manikya means Tripura, its chronicle is the Rajmala, and it merged with India in 1949.

The correct answer is A, Kurnool. The Belum Caves lie in the Kurnool region of Rayalaseema and are the longest caves in the plains of the subcontinent, cut in limestone by an underground stream, with long galleries, siphons and a deep point called Pataalaganga. Option B is wrong because Visakhapatnam district holds the Borra Caves in the Araku hills, which are also limestone caves but on the Gosthani river and in the Eastern Ghats, not in the plains. Option C is wrong because Guntur is known for the Amaravati stupa, the Undavalli rock-cut caves and its chilli market rather than for a cave system of this size. Option D is wrong because Chittoor is associated with Tirupati, Srikalahasti and the Horsley Hills. Keep Belum in Kurnool and Borra in the Araku hills apart.

The correct answer is C, Lakshadweep. With an area of only about 32 square kilometres, Lakshadweep is the smallest Union Territory of India. It is a group of 36 coral islands in the Arabian Sea, of which only ten are inhabited, and its capital is Kavaratti. Being coral atolls, the islands are tiny and low lying, which is why the total land area stays so small even though the lagoons and waters around them stretch very wide. Option A is wrong because Daman and Diu covers about 112 square kilometres, more than three times Lakshadweep, and since 2020 it is part of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Option B is wrong because Ladakh is the largest Union Territory by area. Option D is wrong because Jammu and Kashmir is also far larger and is the Union Territory with the biggest population. Exam tip: Lakshadweep is the smallest by area, Ladakh the largest.

The correct answer is B, Kakatiya. The temple at Palampet in Mulugu district was built in 1213 during the reign of the Kakatiya ruler Ganapati Deva, by his general Recherla Rudra, and it is dedicated to Shiva as Rudreswara. It is unusual in being named after Ramappa, the sculptor who worked on it. Its floating bricks, its polished black basalt pillars and its bracket figures made it the choice for inscription on the World Heritage List in 2021.

Option A, the Satavahanas, ruled the Deccan in the early centuries of the common era, a thousand years before this temple. Option C, the Qutb Shahis, came to Golconda in 1518 and built the Charminar and the Golconda tombs, which are Indo-Islamic rather than temple architecture. Option D, the Chalukyas, built at Badami, Pattadakal and Aihole in Karnataka, and their style is often confused with Kakatiya work.

The correct answer is B, Tirupati. The temple of Venkateswara, also called Balaji, stands on the seventh of the Tirumala hills above the town of Tirupati and is administered by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams; it draws more pilgrims than any other temple in the country and its annual Brahmotsavam is the chief temple festival of the state. Option A is wrong because Srisailam on the Krishna holds the Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga and the Bhramaramba Shakti Peetha, a different and also famous pair of shrines. Option C is wrong because Vijayawada has the Kanaka Durga temple on the Indrakeeladri hill beside the Krishna. Option D is wrong because Simhachalam, near Visakhapatnam, is the Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha temple. All four are in Andhra Pradesh, which is why the options are set this way.

The correct answer is B, 2 June. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 fixed 2 June 2014 as the appointed day, and from that date Telangana existed as the twenty-ninth state of India. The day is marked across the state with official functions and cultural programmes, and it is the single date most often asked from this topic.

Option A, 1 November, is the day on which Andhra Pradesh was created in 1956 and is also the formation day of Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Chhattisgarh, which is exactly why it is placed here. Option C, 15 August, is Independence Day. Option D, 1 May, is the formation day of Maharashtra and Gujarat, both created in 1960 from the old Bombay State. Learning the state formation dates together is the way to avoid this trap.

The correct answer is A, Lepakshi. The Veerabhadra temple at Lepakshi in the Anantapur region was built in the Vijayanagara period and is known for its painted ceilings, its carved Natya Mandapa, the great monolithic Nandi nearby and the hanging pillar that does not rest firmly on the floor. Option B is wrong because Amaravati is the site of the Buddhist Mahachaitya of the Satavahana period and is now the state capital. Option C is wrong because Nagarjunakonda was Vijayapuri, the capital of the Ikshvakus, whose remains were moved to an island museum when the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir filled. Option D is wrong because Undavalli near Vijayawada has rock-cut caves of the Vishnukundina period with a reclining Vishnu. All four are in the state, so the distinguishing detail is the hanging pillar.