Indian Culture MCQs

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Girija Devi belongs to Banaras gharana. She performs classical and light classical music and has helped elevate the profile of thumri.

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Baul are a group of mystic minstrels from Bengal. Bauls constitute both a syncretic religious sect and a musical tradition. Bauls are a very heterogeneous group, with many sects, but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims. They can often be identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments. Not much is known of their origin. Lalon Fakir is regarded as the most important poet-practitioner of the Baul tradition. Baul music had a great influence on Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry and on his music (Rabindra Sangeet). Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO.

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Shesher Kabita is a novel by Rabindranath Tagore, widely considered a landmark in Bengali literature. The novel was serialised in 1928 from Bhadro to Choitro in the magazine Probashi, and was published in book form the following year.

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Siddhendra Yogi from Bhamakalapam dance drama developed the classical dance of Kuchpudi. The play Bhamakalpam deals with the Hindu God, Lord Krishna and his companions Satyabhama and Rukmini.

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Sattriya or Sattriya Nritya is one of the eight principal classical Indian dance traditions of Assam in India. Sattriya has remained a living tradition since its creation by the founder of Vaishnavism in Assam, the great saint Srimanta Sankardev, in 15th century Assam.

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Ramappa Temple is also known as the Ramalingeswara temple. The temple is named after the sculptor Ramappa, who built it and is perhaps the only temple in India to be named after a craftsman who built it rather than the king who commissioned it or its presiding deity. The temple is located in a valley at Palampet village,near Warangal, Telangana. An inscription in the temple dates it to the year 1213 AD, during the period of the Kakatiya Dynasty rule.

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The national song is called “Vande Mataram…”. The first Political occasion when it was sung was the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress. It was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

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Tamil’s connection to Singapore actually goes way back, even beyond the Indian labourers who came to work in the British rubber plantations. Tamil is the most spoken Indian language in Singapore and the only Indian language among Singapore’s four official languages, alongside Mandarin, (the language of trade) Malay (the national language) and English (the language of administration), and 3.1% of Singapore residents speak Tamil at home.

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Sri Ramanujacharya is one of the greatest philosopher lighted the path of equality, bhakti & world peace. Ramanujacharya’s school of thought is called Monoism, which in Hindu religion translates into Vishishtadvaita Vedanta. Upnishadas formed the basis of his philosophy. They are also known as Vedantas, forming the concluding parts of the Vedas.

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• Medha Patkar is an Indian social activist working on various crucial political and economical issues raised by tribals, dalits, farmers, labourers and women facing injustice in India. She is an alumnus of TISS, a premier institute of social science research in India.
• Jamini Roy was an Indian painter. He was honoured with the State award of Padma Bhushan in 1954.He was one of the most famous pupils of Rabindranath Tagore, whose artistic originality and contribution to the emergence of modern art in India remains unquestionable.
• Bhuvneshwari Kumari is a former women’s squash champion from India.