Indian Culture MCQs

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Buddhists, Jains, and Hindus have directed an almost equal attention to the Gopura or gateways o f their towns and temples. These, both in form and purpose, resemble the pylons of the Egyptian temples.

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The Saraswati Samman is an annual award for outstanding prose or poetry literary works in any Indian language listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India. It is named after an Indian goddess of learning and is considered to be among the highest literary awards in India.
The Saraswati Samman was instituted in 1991 by the K. K. Birla Foundation. Candidates are selected from literary works published in the previous ten years by a panel that included scholars and former award winner

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Sabarimala is a Hindu pilgrimage centre located at the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghat mountain ranges of Pathanamthitta District, Perunad grama panchayat in Kerala.

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Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850 – 1885) lived only for 34 years but he was such a great writer that he is known as father of modern Hindi literature as well as Hindi theatre. His pen name was “Rasa”. The title “Bharatendu” was conferred on him at a public meeting by scholars of Kashi in 1880 for his role in the development of Hindi Literature. Government of India confers the Bharatendu Harishchandra Awards since 1983 to promote original writings in Hindi mass communication.

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Tawang monastery is the largest of its kind in the country and is one of the largest monasteries in Asia. It is said to be one of the biggest Buddhist monasteries in the world outside of Lhasa, Tibet. It is also known by another Tibetan name, ‘Galden Namgey Lhatse’, which means ‘celestial paradise in a clear night’.

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The 13th century saint of Andhra, Acharya Nimbarka is known for propagating the Vaishnava Theology of Dvaitadvaita (duality in unity) also known as Bhedabheda (Difference in Non-difference). According to him, the Brahmans, the souls and the world are identical yet distinct. Even after merger, they remain distinct. He was the founder of Sanak Sampradaya of Vaishnavism. The works attributed to him are Vedanta Parijata Saurabha (a short story on Brahma Sutras) , Dashashloki, Shri Krishnastava raja and Madhvamukavardhana.

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The Langas and Manganiars are Muslim communities of traditional musicians who are known for their Sufi music. They have lived in the Thar Desert region of western Rajasthan for centuries, and also in villages along the Pakistan border. They are hereditary communities who make their livings as musical performers and genealogists for higher-caste patrons

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The art of Batik painting is practised mainly in West Bengal, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. It involves the art of creating images on cotton clothes using the wax resist method.

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Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic. It was started at Calcutta on 20 August 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Debendranath Tagore.

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• Sadiq Ali Khan was a renowned Veena player. He was born in Jaipur. He died in Rampur on July 17, 1964.
• Vishnu Govind Jog was better known as V. G. Jog. He was an Indian violinist. He was the foremost exponent of the violin in the Hindustani music tradition in the 20th century, and is credited for introducing this instrument into Hindustani music.
• Ali Akbar Khan was an Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana. He was known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he also composed numerous classical ragas and film scores.
• Pannalal Ghosh was also known as AmalJyoti Ghosh. He was an Indian flute player and composer. He was a disciple of Allauddin Khan, and is credited with popularizing the flute as a concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and also the “Pioneer of Indian Classical Flute”.