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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The Kala Ghoda festival is a most prominent cultural event in Mumbai. The nine-day long festival is a prominent attraction for thousands of visitors from all over the country as well as from the world. Kala Ghoda festival is held annually in the months of January or February.

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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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Ajmer Sharif Dargah is a sufi shrine of the sufi saint, Moinuddin Chishti, located at Ajmer, Rajasthan. He was born in Sanjar. He is considered as the founder of the Chisti order of Sufism.

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Laughing Buddha, also known as Budai, is considered an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Maitreya. Maitreya is the Bodhisattva of the Future and is believed to be the fifth and final Buddha of the current kalpa. Maitreya is said to reside in the Tusita Heaven, a realm in Buddhist cosmology. The Laughing Buddha is a popular representation of Maitreya. Budai was a Chinese Zen monk who lived during the Later Liang Dynasty (907–923 CE). His name literally means “cloth sack” and refers to the bag he is often depicted carrying. His jolly nature and eccentric lifestyle distinguish him from most Buddhist masters. The Laughing Buddha is a symbol of happiness and good fortune.

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The Amarakosha is a vocabulary of Sanskrit roots, in three books, and hence sometimes called Trikanda or the “Tripartite”. Lexicography is the activity or occupation of compiling dictionaries.

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Kumbha (Kumbha means pot) Mela is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage that takes place at the following four locations of India: 

1. Prayag (near the city of Allahabad, in the state of Uttar Pradesh) at the confluence of three rivers Ganga (Ganges), Yamuna and Saraswati 
2. Haridwar (in the state of Uttarakhand) where the river Ganga enters the plains from Himalayas 
3. Ujjain (in Madhya Pradesh), on the banks of Ksipra river, and 
4. Nasik (in Maharashtra) on the banks of Godavari river. 

The pilgrimage occurs four times every twelve years, once at each of the four locations. Each twelve-year cycle includes the Maha (great) Kumbh Mela at Prayag, attended by millions of people, making it the largest pilgrimage gathering around the world.

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The Chapchar Kut is a festival of Mizoram, India. It is celebrated during March after completion of their most arduous task of jhum operation i.e., jungle-clearing (clearing of the remnants of burning). It is a spring festival celebrated with great favour and gaiety.

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The Indian peacock or Pavo cristatus was declared the national bird of India in 1963. It was made the national bird because of its rich religious and legendary involvement in Indian traditions.

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Lal Ded (Lalleswari) was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva and a revered Kashmiri saint. Born in 1320 AD near Pampore, Kashmir, she was a daughter of a Kashmiri Brahman named Cheta Bhat. Lal Ded played a significant role in the history of Kashmir, notably for her profound spiritual poems and public discourses, contributing vastly to the development of the Kashmiri language and literature.