Indian Culture MCQs

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Starting off his six-decade literary career as a bohemian poet and editor of Kritibas, a monthly poetry magazine, Sunil Gangopadhyay wrote his first novel, Athmo Prakash (Self-Revelation), at the behest of the editor of the hugely popular periodical Desh for its special Durga Puja edition. Two of the most critically acclaimed films of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray — Pratidwandi and Aranyer Din Ratri — were based on novels written by him.

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Sayana was an important commentator on the Vedas. His commentary on the Rigveda was edited by Max Müller, 1849-1875.He flourished under the king Bukka I and his successor Harihara II in the Vijayanagar Empire.

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Chola art: The most famous of all the bronze icons is that of Nataraja, the Divine Dancer. The symbolism presents Siva as lord of the cosmic dance of creation and destruction.

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Siddhendra Yogi from Bhamakalapam dance drama developed the classical dance of Kuchpudi. The play Bhamakalpam deals with the Hindu God, Lord Krishna and his companions Satyabhama and Rukmini.

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The new category of classical language was created in 2004 and Tamil was declared first classical language of India. Classical languages in India refer to those languages that have been given the status of classical languages by the government of India. This status is given to languages that have a long literary history and have made a significant contribution to the cultural heritage of India. The classical languages of India are Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. These languages have a rich history and have been instrumental in the development of many aspects of Indian culture, including literature, art, and music.

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Moortidevi Award is given by Bharatiya Jnanpith to Indian writers writing in 22 Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution and English. It was instituted in 1961 but was first given in 1983. The first recipient of the award was the Kannada writer C. K. Nagaraja Rao (1983) for his novel, Pattamahadevi Shantala Devi.

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Samrath Ramdas ji was the spiritual Guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji, who is remembered for his Advaita Vedanta (Non-dualism) text  Dasbodh.

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Tulsidas ji belonged to Saguna school of Bhakti Kal. He is best known as the author of the epic Ramcharitmanas ( a story of Lord Rama in hindi) and the other works composed by him are Vinaypatrika, Kavitavali, Janaki Mangal, Gitavali, etc.

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Lingayatism was founded by the 12th century Kannada poet and a social reformer Basava and gave Ishta linga – in the form of a universal divine concept for worship.Their devotees have the Shiva as a centre of worship in the form of Linga. Basava was the Prime Minister of Kalacuri Bijjala, King at Kalyani (1156 AD).

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Jagannatha Pandit was the author of Rasa Gangadharam in Sanskrit language. He was a poet, scholar and musician in the courts of the Mughal emperors Jehangir and Shah Jahan.