State Symbols and Nicknames of Indian Cities and States

The correct answer is A, Rajasthan. The chinkara, also called the Indian gazelle, is the state animal of Rajasthan. It is a small antelope of dry scrub and desert that can survive long spells without drinking, which suits the Thar, and the Bishnoi community of western Rajasthan has protected it for centuries. Rajasthan later added the camel as its state animal in the domestic category, so the chinkara is the wild state animal.

Option B, Madhya Pradesh, has the barasingha or swamp deer as its state animal. Option C, Haryana, has the blackbuck, an antelope often confused with the chinkara but larger, with spiral horns and a dark coat in the male. Option D, Gujarat, has the Asiatic lion of the Gir forest, the only wild lion population in Asia. Pairing the animal with the landscape is the quickest way to get such questions right.

The correct answer is C, Jammu and Kashmir. The hangul or Kashmir stag is the only Asiatic subspecies of the red deer found in India, and it survives mainly in the Dachigam National Park near Srinagar. Its small and shrinking population is the reason it was chosen as the state animal, and it is listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act.

Option A, Himachal Pradesh, has the snow leopard as its state animal and the western tragopan, called jujurana, as its state bird. Option B, Uttarakhand, has the alpine musk deer as its state animal and the Himalayan monal as its state bird. Option D, Sikkim, has the red panda as its state animal and the blood pheasant as its state bird. All four are Himalayan states, so the examiner relies on the candidate knowing the exact pair rather than the region.

The correct answer is B, Manipur. The sangai or Manipur brow-antlered deer is found only on the floating phumdi vegetation of Keibul Lamjao National Park in the southern part of Loktak Lake, the only floating national park in the world. It is called the dancing deer from the way it steps on the spongy phumdi, and it is the state animal of Manipur.

Option A, Assam, has the one-horned rhinoceros of Kaziranga as its state animal. Option C, Mizoram, has the serow, a goat antelope of steep hill forests. Option D, Nagaland, has the mithun, a semi-domesticated bovine that is also central to Naga social custom and is the state animal of Arunachal Pradesh as well. Linking the sangai to Loktak and Keibul Lamjao makes this pair hard to forget.

The correct answer is C, Rajasthan. The Great Indian Bustard, known in Rajasthan as the godawan, is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world and one of the most threatened. Its stronghold is the Desert National Park near Jaisalmer, and the state runs a captive breeding programme for it, which is why it was adopted as the state bird.

Option A, Gujarat, has the greater flamingo as its state bird, associated with the Rann of Kutch and Flamingo City. Option B, Maharashtra, has the hariyal or green imperial pigeon. Option D, Karnataka, has the Indian roller, which is also the state bird of Odisha and of Telangana, where it is called palapitta. Bustards do occur in small numbers in Gujarat and Maharashtra, which is what makes option A and option B tempting.

The correct answer is B, Tamil Nadu. The Nilgiri tahr, a stocky wild goat of the high grasslands and cliffs of the Western Ghats, is the state animal of Tamil Nadu. Its largest population is in the Eravikulam and Mukurthi areas of the Nilgiri and Anamalai hills, and the adult male, dark with a pale saddle, is called the saddleback.

Option A, Kerala, has the Indian elephant as its state animal and the great hornbill as its state bird, although the tahr is found in Kerala as well, which makes this the strongest distractor. Option C, Karnataka, has the Indian elephant as its state animal and sandalwood as its state tree. Option D, Andhra Pradesh, has the blackbuck as its state animal. Remember that a species found in several states can be the official symbol of only the state that declared it.

The correct answer is B, Jodhpur. Jodhpur in Rajasthan is called the Blue City because the old town below the Mehrangarh fort is painted in indigo washed blue, a habit that began with the houses of Brahmin families and spread through the lanes. Jodhpur is also called the Sun City for its long, bright, dry days.

Option A, Jaipur, is the Pink City, named from the terracotta pink wash given to the walled city in 1876 for the visit of the Prince of Wales. Option C, Jaisalmer, is the Golden City, after the yellow sandstone of its fort and havelis rising out of the desert. Option D, Udaipur, is the City of Lakes, built around Lake Pichola and Fateh Sagar. All four are Rajasthan cities, so the question is settled only by knowing the colour attached to each.

The correct answer is C, Coimbatore. Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, on the Noyyal river near the Palakkad gap, grew into a centre of cotton spinning and textile machinery, and the concentration of mills earned it the name Manchester of South India. Its engineering workshops and pump industry grew out of the same mill economy.

Option A, Chennai, is the Detroit of India for the vehicle plants around it. Option B, Madurai, is the temple city of the Meenakshi temple and is called the city that never sleeps and the Athens of the East. Option D, Kochi, is the Queen of the Arabian Sea, a port name. Ahmedabad in Gujarat, not any of these, is the Manchester of India, and telling the two Manchesters apart is the point of this question.

The correct answer is B, Kochi. Kochi in Kerala has been the leading natural harbour of the Malabar coast since the fifteenth century, when a flood opened the Kochi inlet, and Portuguese, Dutch and English traders each made it their base. The trade in pepper, ginger and other spices through this port gave it the title Queen of the Arabian Sea.

Option A, Mumbai, is the Gateway of India and the City of Seven Islands. Option C, Mangaluru in Karnataka, is a busy port on the same coast but carries no such title. Option D, Panaji in Goa, is on the Mandovi and is known with the rest of Goa as the Pearl of the Orient. Nearby Alappuzha, also in Kerala, is the Venice of the East for its canals, and these two Kerala nicknames are frequently interchanged in question papers.

The correct answer is C, Rajasthan. The khejri, Prosopis cineraria, is the state tree of Rajasthan and the lifeline of the desert: it fixes nitrogen, its pods called sangri are eaten, its leaves feed livestock and it gives shade without drawing much water. The Khejarli massacre of 1730, when Bishnoi villagers led by Amrita Devi died protecting these trees from the Maharaja's men, is the episode every paper connects with it.

Option A, Gujarat, has the banyan as its state tree. Option B, Punjab, has the shisham, prized for furniture timber. Option D, Haryana, has the peepal. The khejri also grows across Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana, and is called jhand or jandi there, so the examiner is testing the official declaration rather than the range of the species.

The correct answer is B, Sikkim. The red panda, a small russet mammal of temperate bamboo forest in the eastern Himalaya, is the state animal of Sikkim, and the Singalila and Neora Valley belt is its Indian habitat. The state bird of Sikkim is the blood pheasant, its state tree the rhododendron and its state flower the noble dendrobium orchid.

Option A, Arunachal Pradesh, has the mithun as its state animal and the great hornbill as its state bird. Option C, Meghalaya, has the clouded leopard as its state animal and the hill myna as its state bird. Option D, West Bengal, has the fishing cat as its state animal and the white-throated kingfisher as its state bird, although the red panda does live in the Darjeeling hills, which is why option D attracts answers.

The correct answer is A, Shillong. Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, sits on rolling grassy uplands with pine woods, waterfalls and a cool damp climate, and British officers thought the landscape resembled the Scottish highlands, so the name Scotland of the East stuck. Meghalaya itself is called the Abode of Clouds, and Mawsynram and Cherrapunji nearby are among the wettest places on earth.

Option B, Gangtok, is the capital of Sikkim and is known for its views of Kanchenjunga, not by this name. Option C, Darjeeling in West Bengal, is the Queen of the Hills and is famous for its tea. Option D, Munnar in Kerala, is a Western Ghats tea town. Khajjiar in Himachal Pradesh is separately called the Mini Switzerland of India, and that is the nickname most often swapped with this one.