Indian Culture Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Cheraw is a traditional dance of Mizoram.

Cheraw is the Mizo bamboo dance. Pairs of performers sitting on the ground clap long bamboo staves together and apart in rhythm, while the dancers step nimbly in and out between them. It is performed at festivals and is the best known dance of Mizoram. Other Mizo dances include the Chheih Lam and the Khuallam.

It is not a food, a dress or a visual art.

Answer: A

The PVTG of Tripura is the Reang.

The Reang, who call themselves Bru, are the only tribe in Tripura listed by the Government of India as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group, a category for tribes with pre-agricultural technology, low literacy and stagnant or declining population.

The Jamatia and Mog are Scheduled Tribes of Tripura but are not PVTGs. Since the Reang is listed, 'None of these' is wrong.

Answer: D

The work not by Kalidasa is Mudrarakshasa.

Mudrarakshasa is a political drama by Vishakhadatta, about Chanakya's scheme to win over the minister Rakshasa for Chandragupta Maurya.

The other three are Kalidasa's. Abhijnanashakuntalam and Malavikagnimitram are two of his three plays (the third being Vikramorvashiyam), and Raghuvamsham is his epic poem on the dynasty of Raghu.

Answer: A

Anokia, Tandugia and Mangla belong to the Chakma.

The Chakma, a Buddhist people of Tripura, Mizoram and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, are divided into clans called goza, and Anokia, Tandugia and Mangla are among them.

The other tribes have their own divisions. The Reang (Bru) are traditionally divided into the Meska and Molsoi, and the Halam into sub-groups such as the Kaipeng and Molsom. The Jamatia are a separate Tripuri-speaking community, so none of them is the group these clan names belong to.

Answer: D

The puja is Ker.

Ker puja is held in Tripura about two weeks after Kharchi puja. Before it begins, a boundary is marked out around the area concerned, and for the duration of the rites nobody may enter or leave it; the puja is performed to protect the people within from danger and calamity. Ker is worshipped as a guardian deity.

Garia puja honours Garia, a deity of the Tripuri and other tribes, and Kharchi puja is the festival of the fourteen deities at Agartala; neither depends on a sealed boundary. Ganga puja is a separate tribal rite. Only Ker is defined by the marked boundary.

Answer: A

They are marriage customs.

Among the Tripuri (Kokborok-speaking) people of Tripura, marriage can be made in more than one way, and each way has its own Kokborok name. Hiknanani and Kaizagnani are two such names, which is why the paper groups them together as customs of the tribal society rather than as objects or deities.

They are not the names of gods and goddesses (Tripuri deities include Garia, Lampra and the fourteen gods of Kharchi puja), nor of house types or garments such as the rignai and risa.

Answer: B

Naropa is a festival of Ladakh.

The Naropa festival honours Naropa, the 11th-century Buddhist scholar and master, and is held at Hemis monastery in Ladakh with masked dances and the display of sacred relics. It is sometimes called the Kumbh of the Himalayas.

Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland have Buddhist or tribal festivals of their own, such as Losar and Hornbill, but Naropa belongs to Ladakh.

Answer: B

Mamita, written 'Maimita' in the paper, is related to the harvesting festival.

It is a dance of the Tripuri people performed at the Mamita festival, which follows the harvest of the jhum crop and celebrates the new grain. The dancers give thanks for the harvest, which is why the dance is classed as a harvest dance.

The other activities belong to different Tripuri dances. Driving insects from the jhum fields is associated with the Lebang dance, and a hunting theme is not what Mamita portrays, so 'Hunting of deer' and 'None of these' are both wrong.

Answer: C

The dance form of Kerala is Kathakali.

Kathakali is a classical dance-drama of Kerala known for its elaborate make-up, costumes and headdresses, and its stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata told through gestures (mudras) and facial expression.

The others belong to other regions: Bharatanatyam to Tamil Nadu, Kathak to north India (Uttar Pradesh in particular), and Kuchipudi to Andhra Pradesh.

Answer: B

The Sangeet Natak Akademi is associated with music, dance and drama.

Set up by the Government of India in 1952, the Sangeet Natak Akademi is India's national academy for the performing arts. Sangeet means music and natak means drama; it promotes music, dance and theatre and gives the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards.

Literature is the field of the Sahitya Akademi and painting and the visual arts that of the Lalit Kala Akademi. Cinema is not within the Sangeet Natak Akademi's remit.