Indian Culture MCQs

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:
To pay a befitting tribute to the man of letters, Nobel Laureate, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, on his 150th birth anniversary, the Government of India has set up a ‘Tagore Centre for the Study of Culture and Civilization’ (TCSCC) at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla. The objectives of the Centre include: to encourage the study of Tagore’s work; support translations of Tagore’s work into other Indian languages; promote comparative study of his work with poets, artists and writers in other parts of India and the world; study the elements of his Humanist philosophy and his cosmopolitanism; and explore his concerns regarding the relationship between science and society.

Notes:
The lamentation of the Roman writer Pliny in the 1st century A.D refers to heavy drain of Gold from Roman into India in payment of her imports from India. He writes that the drain of Gold is in return for unproductive luxuries. The Roman gold and silver were steadily drained into South India in exchange not only for spices, but also muslin, silk and other costly luxuries.

Notes:
Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the month of January. It is mainly observe in countries where there is a significant presence of Tamil community such as India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar.

Notes:
Kazi Nazrul Islam  was a famous Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works invoking powerful spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. Accomplishing a plethora of highly praised works through his life, Nazrul is officially known as the ‘National poet of Bangladesh’ and celebrated in India.

Notes:
Nyāya is one of the six orthodox (astika) schools of Hinduism.The school’s most significant contributions to Indian philosophy was systematic development of the theory of logic, methodology, and its treatises on epistemology.

Notes:
Chenrezig in the Tibetan Buddhism refers to Avalokiteshwara. Avalokiteshwara is a combination of Ava meaning down, Lokita meaning to behold or observe the world and Eshwara meaning sovereign, master or ruler. Hence Avalokiteshwara implies ‘The lord who gazes down at the world’.

Notes:
The Mool Mantra was written by Guru Nanak dev ji, who was the founder of Sikhism. The Mool Mantar means ‘basic teaching’ and is found at the beginning of every section of the Guru Granth Sahib. It is repeated each day during early morning prayer. The first words of the Mool Mantar are ‘Ik Onkar’ (there is one God).

Notes:
The 11th century Sufi saint, Khwaja Al Hujuiri ( also known as Data Ganj Baksh) was the author of the celebrated manual on Sufism entitled “Kashful Mahjub”.

Notes:
Kolayat fair is annually held on Kartik Purnima tithi, or the full moon day, in Kartik month as per traditional Hindu lunar calendar in Rajasthan. The fair is held on the banks of a lake located at Kolayat near Bikaner in Rajasthan.