Which among the following forts was principal capital of Qutb Shahi dynasty in Hyderabad?

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 C, Losar festival. Losar marks the Tibetan New Year and is kept for about a fortnight, usually in February or March, in Ladakh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and among Tibetan communities across India. In Tibetan, lo means year and sar means new. Homes are cleaned and decorated, butter lamps are lit, masked Cham dances are performed in the monasteries, and families eat guthuk, a noodle soup, to drive out the ill luck of the old year. Option A is wrong because Saga Dawa marks the birth, enlightenment and passing of the Buddha and falls in the fourth Tibetan month. Option B is wrong because Ongkor is a harvest festival held before the crops are cut. Option D is wrong because Shoton, the yoghurt festival of Lhasa, is known for Tibetan opera and the unveiling of a giant thangka. Exam tip: Losar is the Tibetan New Year; Saga Dawa marks the Buddha's birth and enlightenment.

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 C, Mughal. Humayun's Tomb in Delhi is one of the earliest and finest examples of Mughal architecture.

The tomb was built in 1570 on the orders of Humayun's widow Bega Begum, also called Haji Begum, and the architect was Mirak Mirza Ghiyas of Persia. It was the first garden tomb in India, set in a charbagh, the four-part garden divided by water channels, and the first large structure to use red sandstone with white marble inlay and a high double dome. This plan became the model for the Taj Mahal built about eighty years later. UNESCO placed the tomb on the World Heritage list in 1993.

Option A is wrong because British architecture in India belongs to the colonial period after the eighteenth century. Option B is wrong because Chola architecture means Dravidian temples such as the Brihadeshwara temple at Thanjavur. Option D is wrong because Magadha is an ancient kingdom, not a style of tomb building.

Exam tip: Humayun's Tomb is the first garden tomb of India and the model for the Taj Mahal.

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.