Maach is the traditional folk theatre of which region of Madhya Pradesh?
- A.Malwa
- B.Bundelkhand
- C.Baghelkhand
- D.Mahakoshal
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Malwa. Maach is the folk theatre of Malwa, played through the night on a raised wooden platform, which is what the name itself means. It opens with a long sung invocation, carries the story in verse set to its own tunes, and takes its plots from legend, romance and the lives of saints, with the troupe master and his singers at the centre of the performance.
Option B, Bundelkhand, and the Gwalior belt share the Nautanki and Swang of the northern plains rather than Maach. Option C, Baghelkhand, has its own song traditions but no theatre of this name. Option D, Mahakoshal, in the south, belongs to the tribal dance forms. Papers pair Maach with Malwa, Nautanki with the Gwalior and Bundelkhand belt and Gammat with Nimar, so the three are worth learning as a set.
Read the full article: Folk Dances, Music and the Tansen Samaroh of Madhya Pradesh
Practice Questions
View allTansen, counted among the navratna of Akbar's court, was born at Behat near which city?
- A.Ujjain
- B.Gwalior
- C.Indore
- D.Bhopal
Show answer
Tansen was born Ramtanu Pandey in the village of Behat near Gwalior, learnt from Swami Haridas of Vrindavan and from the Sufi Muhammad Ghaus of Gwalior, served the court of Rewa and was then taken by Akbar into his own court, where he was counted among the nine jewels.
Read the full explanation →The Tansen Samaroh, the state's best known music festival, is held every year at
- A.Khajuraho
- B.Behat and Gwalior
- C.Ujjain
- D.Maihar
Show answer
The Tansen Samaroh is held in the winter at the musician's birthplace of Behat and at his tomb in Gwalior, and the National Tansen Samman for Hindustani classical music is conferred during it.
Read the full explanation →In the reign of which ruler of Gwalior was the music treatise Man Kutuhal compiled?
- A.Raja Man Singh Tomar
- B.Raja Bhoj
- C.Vikramaditya
- D.Jai Singh
Show answer
Man Singh Tomar ruled Gwalior at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century and was the great patron of dhrupad, drawing singers to his court and encouraging composition in the spoken language rather than in Sanskrit alone.
Read the full explanation →The Matki dance, performed by women with an earthen pot balanced on the head, belongs to which region?
- A.Bundelkhand
- B.Malwa
- C.Baghelkhand
- D.Mahakoshal
Show answer
Matki is danced by the women of Malwa and the adjoining Nimar at weddings and other family celebrations, with an earthen pot held on the head while the dancer turns to the beat of the dhol.
Read the full explanation →The Rai dance, performed by a Bedni dancer to the nagariya drum, belongs to which region of Madhya Pradesh?
- A.Malwa
- B.Bundelkhand
- C.Nimar
- D.Jhabua
Show answer
Rai is the signature dance of Bundelkhand in the north-east of the state, danced by a woman of the Bedni community who whirls to an accelerating beat of the nagariya and the mridang while the audience calls for more.
Read the full explanation →