Indian Art and Culture Gk Questions

Correct Answer:-B ( painter )
Description:-  Raja Ravi Varma is related to painting. He was an Indian painter from the princely state of Travancore. His paintings are considered to be among the best example of the fusion of Indian traditions with the techniques of European academic art.

Correct Answer:-A ( Stupas )
Description:-  A stupa is a mound-like or semi-hemispherical structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the ashes of Buddhist monks, used by Buddhists as a place of meditation. As most characteristically seen at Sanchi in the Great Stupa (2nd–1st century B.C.), the monument consists of a circular base supporting a massive solid dome from which projects an umbrella.

Correct Answer:-A ( Hungary )
Description:-  Amrita Sher-Gil, was an eminent Indian painter born to a Punjabi Sikh father and a Hungarian Jewish mother in Budapest, Hungary, in 1913. She is sometimes known as India’s Frida Kahlo, and today considered an important woman painter of 20th century India.

Correct Answer:-A ( Bihar )
Description:-  Madhubani painting is one of the oldest art forms from Mithila region of Bihar. It is also known as Mithila Painting. This form of painting is done with fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks, using natural dyes and pigments, and is characterized by eye-catching geometrical patterns.

Correct Answer:-A ( Fine Arts )
Description:-  The Lalit Kala Akademi or National Academy of Art is India’s National Academy of Fine Arts such as such as painting, sculpture and graphics. It is an autonomous organisation, established at New Delhi in 1954 by Government of India to promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, both within and outside the country. It is headquartered in New Delhi.

Correct Answer:-D ( Kerala )
Description:-  Kalarippayattu is a traditional form of martial art that started in Kerala. The word kalari first appears in Sangam literature to describe both a battlefield and combat arena. The word kalari tatt denoted a martial feat, while kalari kozhai meant a coward in war.

Correct Answer:-B ( Jains )
Description:-  Dilwara temples of Mount Abu, Rajasthan, are famous for their Jain temples. These Jain temples were built by Tejpal , a Jain layman between the 11th and 13th centuries AD. The five legendary marble temples of Dilwara are a sacred pilgrimage place of the Jains. The Dilwara Jain temples are world famous for their stunning use of marble.

Correct Answer:-A ( India Gate )
Description:-  The India Gate, originally called the All India War Memorial, is the national monument of India. Located in New Delhi, it is a memorial to 82,000 soldiers of the undivided Indian Army who died in the period 1914–21. 13,300 servicemen’s names, including some soldiers and officers from the United Kingdom, are inscribed on the gate.)

Correct Answer:-A ( Odisha )
Description:-  Sun Temple is a 13th-century AD temple situated at Konark in Odisha. It was built by king Narasimhadeva I of Eastern Ganga Dynasty in 1255 AD. The temple complex is in the shape of a gigantic chariot, having elaborately carved stone wheels, pillars and walls. The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Correct Answer:-D ( Jain temples Khajuraho )
Description:-  The Jain temples are associated with Dilwara near Mount Abu, Rajasthan’s only hill station. These Jain temples were built by Vastupal-Tejpal, a Jain layman between the 11th and 13th centuries AD. These temples are world famous for their stunning use of marble. Khajuraho is famous for its erotic temples and sculpture.

Correct Answer:-A ( A hand painted cotton textile in SouthIndia )
Description:-  Kalamkari is a type of hand-painted or blockprinted cotton textile, produced in parts of South India and Iran. It is an ancient style of hand painting done on cotton or silk fabric with a tamarind pen, using natural vegetable dyes. This style of painting originated at Kalahasti near Chennai and at Masulipatnam near Hyderabad.

Correct Answer:-D ( Kerala )
Description:-  Raja Ravi Varma was closely related to the royal family of Travancore of present day Kerala. Later in his life, two of his granddaughters were adopted into that royal family, and their descendants comprise the totality of the present royal family of Travancore. Varma was a celebrated Indian painter and artist, considered as the greatest painter in the history of Indian art.

Correct Answer:-C ( M.F. Hussain )
Description:-  Maqbool Fida Husain was a modern Indian painter of international acclaim. Often referred to as the “Picasso of India”, M.F. Husain is the most celebrated and internationally recognized Indian artist of the 20th century. He was also known as a printmaker, photographer, and filmmaker.

Correct Answer:-D ( Srirangam )
Description:-  The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, also known as Ranganatha Temple, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Ranganatha, a reclining form of the Hindu deity Vishnu, located in Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu. It is the largest temple in India and one of the largest religious complexes in the world.

Correct Answer:-B ( Bharatnatyam )
Description:-  Natya is the more dramatic element of Bharatanatyam. Since it is almost entirely made of hand gestures, it has been compared to sign language but with a more stylized effect. The theme of this third part is almost always taken from the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. Besides, Kathakali is one of the oldest theatre forms in the world. It is a group presentation, in which dancers take various roles in performances traditionally based on themes from Hindu mythology, especially the two epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Correct Answer:-A ( Lavini )
Description:-  Lavani s a genre of music popular in Maharashtra and southern Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Lavani is a combination of traditional song and dance, which particularly performed to the beats of Dholak, a percussion instrument. Lavani is noted for its powerful rhythm and erotic sentiment. Lavani has contributed substantially to the development of Marathi folk theatre. In Maharashtra and southern Madhya Pradesh, it is performed by the female performers wearing nine-yard long saris.

Correct Answer:-B ( quality )
Description:-  Quality is that characteristic of a musical sound which enables us to distinguish between the sounds produced by two different musical instruments or two different persons although their pitch and loudness may be same. It is because of this characteristic that we are able to recognize the voice of a known person over the telephone or to distinguish between the sounds produced by different musical instruments in an orchestra. The quality depends primarily on the waveform of the sound.

Correct Answer:-B ( The title given to Lata Mangeshkar for her contribution to music )
Description:-  The title of “Vishwa Mohini” (world enchantress) has been given to Lata Mangeshkar for her captivating voice.

Correct Answer:-B ( M. S. Subbalakshmi )
Description:-  Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi, also known as M.S., was a renowned Carnatic vocalist. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor. She is the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award, Asia’s highest civilian award, in 1974 with the citation reading “Exacting purists acknowledge Srimati M. S. Subbulakshmi as the leading exponent of classical and semi-classical songs in the Karnataka tradition of South India.”

Correct Answer:-B ( Amir Khusaro )
Description:-  The most influential musician of the Delhi Sultanate period was Amir Khusrau (1253–1325), sometimes called the father of modern Hindustani classical music. A composer in Persian, Turkish, Arabic, as well as Braj Bhasha, he is credited with systematizing many aspects of Hindustani music, and also introducing several ragas such as Yaman Kalyan, Zeelaf and Sarpada. He created the qawwali genre, which fuses Persian melody and beat on a dhrupad like structure. A number of instruments (such as the sitar and tabla) were also introduced in his time. Amir Khusrau is sometimes credited with the origins of the khyal form, but the records of his compositions do not appear to support this.

Correct Answer:-C ( Trumpet )
Description:-  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a “buzzing” sound that starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced by blowing air through closed lips, producing a “buzzing” sound into the mouthpiece and starting a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the trumpet.

Correct Answer:-A ( Andhra Pradesh )
Description:-  Kuchipudi is a Classical Indian dance from Andhra Pradesh. It is also popular all over South India. Kuchipudi is the name of a village in the Divi Taluka of Krishna district that borders the Bay of Bengal and with resident Brahmins practicing this traditional dance form, it acquired the present name.

Correct Answer:-A ( Beethovan LV. )
Description:-  Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. Around 1796, by the age of 26, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. He suffered from a severe form of tinnitus, a “ringing” in his ears that made it hard for him to hear music; he also avoided conversation. The cause of Beethoven’s deafness is unknown, but it has variously been attributed to typhus, auto-immune disorders (such as systemic lupus erythematosus), and even his habit of immersing his head in cold water to stay awake.

Correct Answer:-C ( Amir Khusro )
Description:-  Amir Khusro was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent. A Sufi mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, Amir Khusro was not only a notable poet but also a prolific and seminal musician. Amir Khusro is credited with fashioning the tabla as a split version of the traditional Indian drum, the pakhawaj. Popular lore also credits him with inventing the sitar, the Indian grand lute, but it is possible that the Khusro associated with the sitar was Khusrau Khan, who lived in the 18th century (he is said to be a descendant of the son-in-law of Tansen, the celebrated classical singer in the court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar)

Correct Answer:-B ( Gujarat )
Description:-  Garba is an Indian form of dance that originated in the Gujarat region. The name is derived from the Sanskrit term Garbha (“womb”) and Deep (“a small earthenware lamp”). Many traditional garbas are performed around a central lit lamp or picture/statues of different avatars of Goddess Shakti. The circular and spiral figures of Garba have similarities to other spiritual dances, such as those of Sufi culture.

Correct Answer:-A ( 1927)
Description:-  In British India, broadcasting began in July 1923 with programmes by the Radio Club of Bombay and other radio clubs. According to an agreement of 23 July, 1927, the private Indian Broadcasting Company LTD (IBC) was authorized to operate two radio stations; the Bombay station began on 23 July, 1927, and the Calcutta station followed on 26 August, 1927. On 1 March, 1930, however, the company went into liquidation. Lionel Fielden was appointed as the first Controller of Broadcasting, who took over, from BBC.

Correct Answer:-D ( Santoor )
Description:-  The Indian Santoor is an ancient string musical instrument native to Jammu and Kashmir, with origins in Persia. A primitive ancestor of this type of instruments was invented in Mesopotamia (1600-911 BC). The Santoor is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut, with seventy two strings. The special-shaped mallets (mezrab) are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers. A typical Santoor has two sets of bridges, providing a range of three octaves.

Correct Answer:-B ( Classical music (Vocal) )
Description:-  Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. A member of the Kirana Gharana (school), he is renowned for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans and abhangs). He was the most recent recipient of the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, awarded in 2008. Bhimsen Joshi was known for his powerful voice, amazing breath control, fine musical sensibility and unwavering grasp of the fundamentals, representing a subtle fusion of intelligence and passion that imparted life and excitement to his music.

Correct Answer:-B ( Kerala )
Description:-  Mohiniattam is a classical dance form from Kerala, one of the eight Indian classical dance forms recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. It is considered a very graceful form of dance meant to be performed as solo recitals by women. Mohiniattam was popularized as a popular dance form in the nineteenth century by Swathi Thirunal, the Maharaja of the state of Travancore (Southern Kerala), and Vadivelu, one of the Thanjavur Quartet. The noted Malayalam poet Vallathol, who established the Kerala Kalamandalam dance school in 1930, played an important role in popularizing Mohiniattam in the 20th century.

Correct Answer:-C ( Chhau of Mayurbhanj )
Description:-  Chhau dance is a genre of Indian tribal martial dance which is popular in the Indian states of Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The Chhau dance is mainly performed during regional festivals, especially the spring festival of Chaitra Parva which lasts for thirteen days and in which the whole community participates. The Chhau blends within it forms of both dance and martial practices employing mock combat techniques (called khel), stylized gaits of birds and animals (called chalis and topkas) and movements based on the chores of village housewives (called uflis). The dance is performed by male dancers from families of traditional artists or from local communities and is performed at night in an open space, called akhada or asar, to traditional and folk music, played on the reed pipes mohuri and shehnai. A variety of drums accompany the music ensemble including the dhol (a cylindrical drum), dhumsa (a large kettle drum) and kharka or chad-chadi. The themes for these dances include local legends, folklore and episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata and other abstract themes