Indian Culture Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Mangal, Basanti, Khuded, Chhopati and Bedu Pako are folk songs of Uttarakhand. They belong to the Garhwal and Kumaon traditions of the hill state, sung at weddings, in spring and in the fields. The Mangal songs are auspicious songs of celebration, the Basanti songs welcome spring, and the Khuded songs are songs of longing and separation.

Rajasthan, Gujarat and Assam have their own folk songs (such as the Bihu songs of Assam), but those are not the songs listed. The third option is the answer.

Answer: B

Kuchipudi originated in Andhra Pradesh.

It takes its name from the village of Kuchipudi in the Krishna district and began as a dance-drama tradition performed by Brahmin men, with Siddhendra Yogi credited for shaping it.

Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have other forms such as Yakshagana, Bharatanatyam and Kathakali.

Kuchipudi began as a dance-drama in the Telugu country, and the performers of the village of Kuchipudi were Brahmin men who played both male and female roles. The art now includes women dancers as well. The other states named are home to Yakshagana, Bharatanatyam and Kathakali.

Answer: B

The first national academy of performing arts is the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

It was set up in 1953 by the Government of India for music, dance and drama, and it was the first of the national academies of arts.

The Lalit Kala Akademi (1954) is for visual arts, the Nalanda Dance Research Centre is a smaller institution, and Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan is a cultural trust.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi was inaugurated in January 1953 and is the first of the national academies of arts in India. It looks after music, dance and drama and gives the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards. The Lalit Kala Akademi was set up the following year for the visual arts.

Answer: B

The first Indian Sanskrit film was Adi Shankaracharya.

The 1983 film directed by G. V. Iyer is widely described as the first feature film made in Sanskrit. It won the National Film Award for Best Film.

Anurakthi, Priyamanasam and Sakuntalam are later films in other languages or later Sanskrit productions, not the first.

Adi Shankaracharya was produced by the National Film Development Corporation and shot in Sanskrit, with Sarvadaman D. Banerjee in the title role of the eighth-century philosopher. It won four National Film Awards, including Best Film, and is regularly cited as the first Sanskrit feature film.

Answer: A

Shruti Sadolikar Katkar is a singer of the Khyal form.

She is a Hindustani classical vocalist known for khyal singing.

Dhrupad, Thumri and Tarana are other vocal forms that she is not primarily known for.

Shruti Sadolikar Katkar is a Hindustani classical vocalist whose main form is Khyal, the principal form of vocal music in which the singer builds a raga with improvisation. Thumri is semi-classical, Tarana uses syllables and dhrupad is an older, more austere form.

Answer: D

Garadi is a folk dance of Puducherry, which lies in Southern India. It is tied to the Ramayana, with performers imitating the vanara army celebrating Rama's victory over Ravana, and it is danced with iron rings worn on the legs to the beat of drums. The western, northeastern and northern regions are not where this dance belongs. Puducherry lies on the south-east coast of India, so the region named in the key is Southern India.

Answer: C

Both statements describe regional art, according to the key. It is the work of a community of unschooled artists who keep alive the traditions specific to their particular culture, and it reflects the traditional art forms of diverse community groups. This agrees with the general idea of folk art as tradition-based art made by people outside formal art training. So 'Both I and II' is correct. Madhubani and Warli paintings are well-known examples of such regional traditions of folk art.

Answer: D

Lord Jagannath's chariot is Nandighosha.

At the Rath Yatra in Puri the three deities ride three newly built chariots. Lord Jagannath's is Nandighosha, the tallest, with 16 wheels and a red and yellow canopy. Lord Balabhadra rides Taladhwaja, and Devi Subhadra rides Darpadalana (also written Debadalana).

Gundicha is not a chariot at all: it is the Gundicha temple, to which the chariots are pulled and where the deities stay for about a week before the return journey.

Answer: D

The correct matching is A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1.

• Hermann Goetz, the art historian, wrote The Early Wooden Temples of Chamba (1955).
• W.G. Archer wrote Kangra Painting (1952).
• M.S. Randhawa wrote Kangra Valley Painting (1954).
• J.C. French wrote Himalayan Art (1931).

The two Kangra titles are the trap: Archer's book is the shorter Kangra Painting, Randhawa's the Kangra Valley Painting, and only one option keeps them apart correctly while giving Goetz the Chamba temples.

Answer: B

The Jatakas are stories of the Buddha's previous lives (printed 'Budha').

The Jataka tales, part of the Pali Buddhist canon, are more than 500 stories of the Bodhisattva's earlier births, in human and animal forms, each illustrating a virtue such as generosity or patience. Many are carved on the railings of Bharhut and Sanchi.

They are not about Mahavira's life or the saints of Jainism; Jain stories of Mahavira are in texts such as the Kalpasutra. The Buddha, having renounced family life, did not found a line of descendants whose lives the tales could tell.