Indian Culture Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The correct matching is A-iv, B-iii, C-ii, D-i.

Bharatanatyam grew from the temple dance tradition of Tamil Nadu. Kathak is the classical dance of north India, closely linked with Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh. Mohiniattam is a graceful solo dance of Kerala, and Kuchipudi takes its name from a village in Andhra Pradesh. Every other option pairs at least one dance with the wrong state; option 1, for example, gives Bharatanatyam to Andhra Pradesh.

Answer: B

The state is Jharkhand.

'Torang' means jungle in the Kurukh language spoken by the Oraon people of Jharkhand. The word is known from the EVS account of Suryamani, a young woman from a forest village in Jharkhand who started a centre named Torang to work for the rights and culture of forest-dwelling people.

Assam, Mizoram and Meghalaya are forested north-eastern states, but the word in the question belongs to Jharkhand's tribal language.

Answer: D

The true statement is that Madhubani painting has its roots in the Mithila region of Bihar and is made with a rice-paste base in which colours are mixed.

Madhubani, or Mithila, painting is a folk art of the Mithila region, named after Madhubani district in Bihar. It was traditionally done by women on the mud walls and floors of homes using natural colours, with rice paste as a base.

It did not originate in Rajasthan. It is a folk tradition based on local life, nature and religious themes, not one shaped mainly by Mughal art. The option of floor painting 'with brush and indigo' misdescribes its materials.

Answer: D

Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) explains (A).

The assertion says the history of many places shows how different cultural influences shaped life and culture there. The reason draws the consequence and gives examples: regions such as Ladakh and Kerala became very diverse because of their unique histories. Ladakh's culture reflects Tibetan Buddhism, Islam and trade along Central Asian routes; Kerala's reflects centuries of trade and contact with Arab, Jewish, Christian, Chinese and European communities.

Both statements are true, and the official key reads the reason as following from and illustrating the assertion, so the options calling either false or unrelated are rejected.

Answer: D

'Torang' means jungle in Jharkhand.

The NCERT Class V EVS chapter on forests tells the story of Suryamani, an Adivasi woman from Jharkhand who runs a centre called 'Torang' that works to protect forests and tribal culture. The textbook explains that 'Torang' means jungle.

Assam, Odisha and Mizoram also have large forest areas and tribal communities, but the word in the question, and the textbook story it comes from, belong to Jharkhand.

Answer: A

The first sites in India to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List were in 1983: the Ajanta Caves, the Ellora Caves, Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal. Of the options, Ajanta and Ellora caves therefore came first. The Churches and Convents of Goa and the Khajuraho Group of Monuments were inscribed later, in 1986, and the Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi in 1989. The question asks which was the first declared, so the 1983 listing decides it. The official key is Ajanta and Ellora caves.

Answer: C

The dance form is Odissi. Verses from Jayadeva's Sanskrit Gitagovinda, in praise of Radha and Krishna, are a staple of Odissi, and its technique includes the codified footwork (pada bheda), set gaits (chalis) and spins (bhramaris). In its early form the dance was performed by maharis, the female temple servants of Odisha, as part of temple service. Kathak is a north Indian form tied to storytelling and has no mahari tradition. Kathakali is a Kerala dance-drama. Bharatanatyam was also a temple form but is from Tamil Nadu and its temple dancers were devadasis. The clues together point to Odissi.

Answer: A

The Rengma Naga folk dance is popularly performed at the Ngada festival, the post-harvest festival of the Rengma Nagas, celebrated in November. The Lai Haraoba is a ritual festival of the Meitei people of Manipur. The Gang-Ngai is a festival of the Zeliangrong people (Manipur and neighbouring areas) held after harvest. The Moatsu festival belongs to the Ao Naga tribe. Each of the distractors is linked to a different community, so the Ngada festival is the one connected with the Rengma Nagas.

Answer: A

The answer is Shruti. In Indian music theory a shruti is the smallest audible interval of pitch, the small difference between consecutive pitches within a grama or scale; the traditional count is 22 shrutis in an octave. A svara is a musical note, and the seven svaras are chosen from among the shrutis, so it is a larger unit. Naada means sound or tone in a general sense, and a raga is a melodic framework made from svaras. Only shruti means the unit of small pitch difference described in the question.

Answer: B

Garba is not a classical dance of India: it is a folk dance of Gujarat. The Sangeet Natak Akademi recognises eight classical dances: Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Sattriya, Manipuri and Mohiniyattam. Manipuri, Bharatanatyam and Kathakali are in the list, so only Garba is not.