Indian Culture MCQs

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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.

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The Pasupata was a Saivite sect associated with Siva in his aspect of the “Herdsman” (pasu, “animal” and pati, “lord”). The devotees of Pashupati Siva are called Pashupatas.

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Dr M Balmuralikrishna was a famous Carnatic vocalist. He belongs to Tamil Nadu. He died in 2016.

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Tribal dance forms are Karma and Saili (Gonds), Bhagoria (Bhils), Lehangi (Saharias) and Thaapti (Kokru), Pardhauni (Baiga).

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Dhrupad was developed as a part of worship in temples and various rituals such as yajnas. Gudiya Govarhar, Khandar, Dagar & Nauhar are four distinct gharanas of Dhrupad.

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The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has set up a 13-member expert committee exclusively for promotion of the Sanskrit language. The committee is headed by N Gopalaswami, the former chief election commissioner (CEC) and now Chancellor of Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth in Tirupati. Other members of the panel include Bibek Debroy (NITI Aayog member), V V Bhat (former government of India secretary), Dr Ramadorai (Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation), Ramesh Bharadwaj (professor at Delhi University), Ved Prakash (UGC Chairman) and Chamu Krishna Shastri of the RSS-affiliated Samskrita Bharti. The committee will recommend measures to integrate the study of the Sanskrit language with other disciplines such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, medical science and law, and suggest changes in Sanskrit education in schools and universities and recommend ways to impart Sanskrit education through modern tools. The committee is also tasked with draw an action plan to develop the Sanskrit language in the next 10 years.

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Gandhara art, style of Buddhist visual art that developed in what is now northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan between the 1st century bce and the 7th century bce. It is a combination of Indian style and Kushan style.

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The Taj Mahal in Agra which was built by the Emperor Shah Jahan (r.1628-58) for his favourite wife Arjumand Banu Begum upon her death in 1631. Mausoleum of Arjumand Banu Begum is in the central chamber of the tomb and decorated with peitra dura.

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Rabindranath Tagore got the nobel prize for his work ‘Gitanjali’ in Bengali. He also wrote the National Anthem of India. He reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included the modern era Group of Monuments at Hampi site in Ballari district and others in and around that district in Karnataka, India. A part of Vijayanagara ruins known as Hampi have been designated as a UNESCO world heritage site.