UPSC Civil Services GK Questions 2026

The words 'ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt' are Ambedkar's own description of how the caste order works.

In Sanskrit 'ishu' means arrow, and 'krit' and 'kara' mean one who makes, so both words name the arrow maker.

Both men were local leaders of 1857, one among the peasants of western Uttar Pradesh and the other among the tribals of Chotanagpur.

A green bond is a debt instrument whose money can be spent only on projects that help the environment or the climate.

The Kajli or Kajliyan fair of Mahoba is held just after Raksha Bandhan and recalls the battle in which the Bundelkhand heroes Alha and Udal are said to have defended the town; the Alha ballads of the region are sung at it.

Bateshwar lies in Agra district on the Yamuna, where a long row of Shiva temples stands along the ghat; its Kartik Purnima fair is both a bathing fair and one of the biggest animal fairs of Uttar Pradesh, and the Jain tirtha of Shauripur is close by.

Dewa, in Barabanki district, holds the dargah of the Sufi saint Haji Waris Ali Shah, and its annual fair in Kartik draws a large crowd and a well-known mushaira, with Hindus and Muslims both taking part.

The Ramlila of Ramnagar, patronised by the Kashi Naresh, is staged across the town itself, with different localities standing for Ayodhya, Janakpur, Chitrakoot and Lanka, and it runs for about a month from Bhadrapada.

Dev Deepawali falls on the full moon of Kartik, fifteen days after Diwali, when lakhs of earthen lamps are lit on the steps of the Varanasi ghats and floated on the river; the Ganga Mahotsav of music and crafts closes on the same day.

The Nauchandi Mela of Meerut is held on the ground that holds both the Nauchandi Devi temple and the dargah of Bale Miyan, and it begins on the Sunday after Holi.

Lathmar Holi is played between Barsana, remembered as the village of Radha, and Nandgaon, remembered as the village of Krishna: the men of Nandgaon come to Barsana and the women of Barsana drive them back with sticks, which gives the festival its name.

The Magh Mela is held every year on the sands of the Sangam at Prayagraj, running from Paush Purnima to Mahashivratri, and pilgrims who live there through the month under a fixed discipline are called kalpvasis.

Maha Shivratri falls on the Chaturdashi of the dark half of Phalguna, which comes in February or March, and in Uttar Pradesh it is the closing bathing day of the Magh Mela at Prayagraj and the biggest night of the year at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.

All four Kumbh sites hold a full Kumbh once in about twelve years, but only the two on the Ganga, Prayagraj and Haridwar, also hold an Ardh Kumbh at the halfway point of about six years.

The Kumbh Mela was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017, and it is the element most often quoted from India on that list along with Ramlila, Vedic chanting, Kutiyattam, Chhau, Yoga and Navroz.

Of the four Kumbh sites, Nashik and the neighbouring Trimbakeshwar stand on the Godavari, which rises at Trimbakeshwar itself; the Nashik Kumbh comes when both Jupiter and the Sun are in Leo.

The Jat cultivators of the Shekhawati belt agitated against raised rents from 1922 to 1935, held the Jat Prajapati Mahayagya at Sikar in 1934, and were fired on at Kudan village in Sikar on 25 April 1935.

Amar Chand Bathiya belonged to Bikaner and was treasurer of the Scindia state at Gwalior; he put the treasury at the service of the rebel forces and was hanged for it in 1858.

Tejawat, from Koliyari in Udaipur, began the Eki movement in 1921, asking the Bhils and Garasias to stop paying illegal cesses and to refuse begar, and set out their demands in a charter known as the Mewar ki Pukar.

Mangarh hill stands in Banswara district on the border with Gujarat. Govind Guru had set up his dhuni there, and on 17 November 1913 state and British forces fired on the Bhils gathered around it, which is why Mangarh is called the Adivasi Jallianwala.