Indian Culture Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Chaturvimsati Murti refers to forms of Vishnu identified on the basis of attributes in his four hands.

Chaturvimsati means twenty-four. In Hindu iconography Vishnu has 24 standing forms, such as Keshava, Narayana and Madhava, which look alike and are told apart only by the order in which his four hands hold the conch, discus, mace and lotus.

Scenes of Krishna's lilas, goddesses slaying demons and the Samhara (destructive) forms of Shiva are other iconographic themes, not the 24 murtis of Vishnu.

Answer: A

The key gives the matching 1-ii, 2-iii, 3-iv, 4-i: Dhrupad Samaroh at Bhopal, Bhoj Samaroh at Dhar, Muktibodh Samaroh at Bhind and Malwa Utsav at Ujjain.

Malwa is the region around Ujjain and Indore, so Malwa Utsav at Ujjain fits the name. Dhar was the early Parmara capital and is linked with King Bhoj. The other codes each pair the Malwa festival with Bhind, Bhopal or Dhar, which does not suit its name.

What could not be confirmed: searches found no page giving the venues of the Dhrupad, Bhoj and Muktibodh festivals, so those three pairings rest on the key.

Answer: C

The pair that is not matched correctly is Bhuiya - Rang-Bhang.

The Madia (Maria) Gonds keep the ghotul, the best known youth dormitory of the Bastar region. The Munda keep the gitiora and the Oraon the dhumkuria, so the pairs in A, B and D are correctly matched. The Bhuiya (Bhuyan) dormitory is the dhangarbasa, listed in the Wikipedia list of tribal youth dormitories, and the name Rang-Bhang (Rangbang) belongs to the Bhotia, so C is the mismatch.

The Rangbang attribution comes from an exam-prep site, a weaker source than the dhangarbasa entry, but the question needs only the Bhuiya pair to fail, and the Bhuyan dormitory is not Rang-Bhang on either source.

Answer: A

Swami Haridas, Tansen's teacher, belonged to Vrindavan.

Swami Haridas, a saint-musician of the sixteenth century, lived as an ascetic at Nidhivan in Vrindavan, where he composed devotional songs in the dhrupad style and founded the Haridasi (Sakhi) sect devoted to Krishna. According to tradition, Tansen learned music from him, and the story of Akbar travelling to Vrindavan in disguise to hear him sing is well known.

Agra and Delhi were the Mughal capitals where Tansen later served Akbar, and Mewar has no association with Haridas.

Answer: D

Painting known for its love of nature flourished under Jahangir.

Jahangir (1605-1627) was a keen naturalist, and his court artists produced remarkably accurate studies of birds, animals and flowers. Ustad Mansur, whom he titled Nadir-ul-Asr, painted the zebra, the turkey cock and Himalayan flowers, and Abul Hasan was another master of the period. Mughal painting reached its peak of naturalism under him.

Akbar's studios concentrated on illustrated manuscripts and court histories, Shah Jahan's period on formal portraits and splendour, and Dara Shikoh was a prince and patron, not the ruler of a painting period.

Answer: A

The Bhadam dance is related to the Bhariya tribe.

The Bharia (Bhariya) tribe, found mainly in Chhindwara and Jabalpur districts and especially in the Patalkot valley, performs the Bhadam (Bhadoni) dance on festive and wedding occasions.

The Baiga are known for the Karma dance, the Sahariya for the Lahangi dance and the Bhil for the dances of the Bhagoria festival, so the Bhadam dance does not belong to them.

Answer: A

The key gives Gwalior.

Gwalior, Morena, Guna and Datiya are neighbouring districts of northern Madhya Pradesh, so the options are all plausible places for a regional fair, and the key names Gwalior.

I could not find any source naming the Hira Bhoomiya fair or saying where it is held, so I could not confirm the location or tell which district is meant, and nothing found shows the key wrong. The answer rests only on the Commission's key and is kept as printed.

Answer: C

Bhairavgarh is famous for the clothing industry.

Bhairavgarh near Ujjain is known for Bhairavgarh print, a traditional hand block printing of cloth using natural dyes and wax resist, practised by the Chhipa community for centuries.

The other crafts belong elsewhere: wooden work and toys are associated with places such as Budhni, sculpture with stone-carving centres, and Madhya Pradesh has no notable glass industry at Bhairavgarh.

Answer: C

The Shri Badal Bhoi State Tribal Museum is at Chhindwara.

The State tribal museum in Chhindwara is named after Badal Bhoi, a tribal freedom fighter of Chhindwara district who took part in the forest satyagraha against British forest laws. It displays the dress, ornaments, tools and dwellings of the State's tribes.

Rewa, Balaghat and Mandla do not house this museum.

Tribal museums of this kind preserve the material culture of communities such as the Gond, Baiga and Bharia, and serve as research centres for anthropology in the region.

Answer: A

The keyed answer is Makar Sankranti.

Nandchand is a village in Panna district with remains of the Kalachuri period. The official key names Makar Sankranti, the mid-January harvest festival, as the occasion of its fair, and fairs are a common feature of that festival across central India. What could not be confirmed is a published source that names the occasion of the Nand-Chand fair, so this rests on the official key.

Holi, Dussehra and Dipawali are all major festivals, and a reader without the local fact has no way to eliminate them by reasoning, so the answer should be learned as a fact of Madhya Pradesh fairs and festivals.