Indian Culture MCQs

Notes:
It is the most important festival of western Odisha and it takes place in the bright half of the month of Bhadrab on an auspicious day fixed by the astrologers. Though the festival is intended for eating new rice of the year, it is observed as a general festival. On this occasion the new rice is cooked with milk and sugar (Kshiri) and then offered as Bhog to Goddess Laxmi.

Notes:
Raut Nacha is a ceremonial dance performed mainly by the tribal community of Chhattisgarh. It is performed during the “dev udhni ekadashi”, after the Diwali festival. It is mainly performed by Yaduvanshis. The dance form carries with itself sacred mythological and religious traditions.

Notes:
Tamil language holds the title as the oldest language in India. It is about 5000 years old and is still widely used in parts of India and Sri Lanka. It is a part of the Dravidian language family, distinct from the Indo-European languages like Hindi and Sanskrit that largely influenced other languages in northern parts of India.

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The Brahma Sutras is a Sanskrit text, attributed to Badarayana, estimated to have been completed in approx. 400-450 CE. It talks about the vedic philosophy of Vedanta.

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Shuddadvaita philosophy is given by Vallabhacharya (1479-1531 CE). It is the “purely non-dual” philosophy. Vallabhacharya is founding philosopher and guru of the Vallabha sampradaya, a Hindu Vaishnava tradition focused on the worship of Krishna.

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Barabar Caves in Bihar is one of the oldest surviving rock cut cave in India. It dates from the mauryan empire.

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The famous Sufi poet, Amir Khusrau was the author of the poem Ghurrat-ul-Kamaal (the Prime of Perfection). Excerpts of the  works done by him are Tughluq Nama, Wast-ul-Hayat, Nuh Sipihr, Laila Majnun, etc. He was the court poet of Alauddin Khilji  and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, Delhi.

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The 5th guru of Sikhs, Guru Arjun Dev ji was the first Sikh Guru Martyr, who was executed by Mughal emperor Jahangir on charges of helping his rebel son, Prince Khurram with money and prayer. He built the Swarna Mandir (or Golden temple) in Amritsar and compiled Adigranth, the holy scripture of Sikhism.

Notes:
The Khakhara Deula is altogether a different style of architecture closely appearing similar to the Dravidian Gopuran design. The word is derived from Khakharu (Pumpkin, gourd) as the crown looks like a barrel- vaulted elongated roof. It is a rectangular building with a truncated pyramid-shaped roof, like the gopuras. The temples of the feminine deities as Shakti are temple of that type. One example is the Baitala Deula of Bhubneshwar, dedicated to Chamunda. The Sakta temples are generally of Khakhara order. Brahmi temple of Chaurasi in Puri and Gouri temple of Bhubaneswar are two other glaring examples of Khakhara temple.

Notes:
Kayotsarga is a yogic posture or meditation technique which is an important part of the Jain meditation. Kayotsarga means to give up one's physical comfort and body movements, thus staying steady, either in a standing or other posture, and concentrating upon the true nature of the soul.