Which one of the following saints was a contemporary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj?
- A.Tukaram
- B.Chaitanya
- C.Namdev
- D.Shankaracharya
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Tukaram. Sant Tukaram was a Varkari poet of the seventeenth century who composed abhangs for Vithoba of Pandharpur and lived in Dehu near Pune, in the years when Shivaji was building the Maratha state. His devotional verse in simple Marathi is the best known body of abhang literature.
Option B, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, lived from the late fifteenth to the early sixteenth century in Bengal and popularised nagar kirtan, so he is nearly two centuries earlier. Option C, Namdev, was a Varkari saint of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, also an abhang composer but far older than Shivaji. Option D, Shankaracharya, the Advaita philosopher, belongs to about the eighth century. Only Tukaram shares Shivaji's century. A useful anchor is that Tukaram, Ramdas and Shivaji all belong to seventeenth century Maharashtra, while Chaitanya and Namdev belong to Bengal and to the earlier Varkari generations respectively.
Read the full article: Devotional Music of India: Bhajan, Kirtan and Qawwali
Practice Questions
View allThe development of qawwali in India is credited to which figure?
- A.Tansen
- B.Amir Khusrau
- C.Baiju Bawra
- D.Swami Haridas
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Khusrau lived in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and was the disciple of the Chishti saint Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi.
Read the full explanation →Abhang, the devotional verse sung for Vithoba of Pandharpur, belongs to which tradition?
- A.The Varkari tradition of Maharashtra
- B.The Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Bengal
- C.The Pushtimarg of Rajasthan
- D.The Lingayat tradition of Karnataka
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Abhang is Marathi devotional verse, and the word means unbroken. Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath, Chokhamela and Tukaram composed abhangs for Vithoba of Pandharpur, and pilgrims still sing them on the wari to Pandharpur with the taal and the ektari.
Read the full explanation →The Baul singers, whose songs UNESCO proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, belong mainly to which region?
- A.Rajasthan
- B.Assam
- C.Bengal
- D.Odisha
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The Bauls are wandering mystic minstrels of Bengal, on both sides of the border, whose songs blend Vaishnava Sahajiya and Sufi ideas and reject caste and ritual.
Read the full explanation →Sankirtana, the ritual singing, drumming and dancing inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List in 2013, belongs to which state?
- A.Manipur
- B.Kerala
- C.Tamil Nadu
- D.Tripura
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The Sankirtana of Manipur is the Vaishnava ritual music of the Meitei people, in which singers and drummers perform in the temple courtyard, the mandap, with the barrel drum called pung and with cymbals; the drum dance is the Pung Cholom.
Read the full explanation →In qawwali, a composition in praise of the Prophet Muhammad is called
- A.Hamd
- B.Naat
- C.Manqabat
- D.Marsiya
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The qawwali repertoire follows a fixed order of forms, and the naat is the song in praise of the Prophet Muhammad, usually sung early in a performance after the opening praise of God.
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