General Awareness practice

Arts & Culture Questions with Answers

Arts & Culture questions in SSC CGL, CHSL, MTS and RRB NTPC/Group D papers test classical dances and their states, folk dances, musical instruments and their players, painting traditions, temple styles and famous monuments. Most are direct matching questions. Tip: prepare in tables, such as dance with state or painting with region, and revise them often, because the same pairs return with different wrong options.

Key facts

Bharatanatyam is from Tamil Nadu, Kuchipudi from Andhra Pradesh, Kathakali and Mohiniyattam from Kerala, Odissi from Odisha, Sattriya from Assam, Manipuri from Manipur and Kathak from North India
The Natya Shastra, the ancient treatise on performing arts, is attributed to Bharata Muni
Garba is a folk dance of Gujarat, Bihu of Assam, Ghoomar of Rajasthan, Bhangra of Punjab and Lavani of Maharashtra; Yakshagana is a theatre form of Karnataka
Madhubani painting is from Bihar, Warli from Maharashtra, Pattachitra from Odisha and West Bengal, and Kalamkari from Andhra Pradesh
The two main schools of Indian classical music are Hindustani (north) and Carnatic (south)
Sitar is associated with Ravi Shankar, Sarod with Amjad Ali Khan, Santoor with Shivkumar Sharma and Shehnai with Bismillah Khan
Tansen was a musician in Akbar's court
Temple architecture has three broad styles: Nagara (north), Dravida (south) and Vesara (mixed)
The Sun Temple at Konark is in Odisha and the Khajuraho temples are in Madhya Pradesh
The Ajanta caves, in Maharashtra, are known for Buddhist paintings; the Kailasa temple at Ellora is carved from a single rock
The Taj Mahal at Agra was built by Shah Jahan; the Qutb Minar's construction was begun by Qutb ud-din Aibak and completed by Iltutmish

Worked examples

Q1. Kuchipudi is a classical dance form of which state? (A) Kerala (B) Tamil Nadu (C) Andhra Pradesh (D) Odisha

Kerala has Kathakali and Mohiniyattam, Tamil Nadu has Bharatanatyam and Odisha has Odissi.
That leaves Andhra Pradesh.

Answer: (C) Andhra Pradesh

Q2. Warli painting is associated with: (A) Bihar (B) Maharashtra (C) Rajasthan (D) Odisha

Bihar is Madhubani and Odisha is Pattachitra.
Warli art comes from the tribal belt of Maharashtra.

Answer: (B) Maharashtra

Q3. Which instrument is associated with Shivkumar Sharma? (A) Sarod (B) Sitar (C) Santoor (D) Shehnai

Sarod is Amjad Ali Khan, Sitar is Ravi Shankar and Shehnai is Bismillah Khan.
The remaining instrument is the santoor.

Answer: (C) Santoor

Shortcuts that save time

Build one-line pairs and eliminate by recall: when you know three of the four pairs in a matching question, the fourth follows without guessing.
Remember that Kerala has two classical dances (Kathakali, Mohiniyattam) and Assam has Sattriya. These common traps are easy to settle with the pair list.
If you cannot place a folk dance, skip it. Wrong answers cost marks, and the same dance often reappears in a later test with a clearer clue.

Where this appears

SSC CGL Tier-1	General Awareness section
SSC CHSL Tier-1	General Awareness section
SSC MTS	General Awareness section
RRB NTPC CBT-1	General Awareness section
RRB Group D CBT	General Awareness section

Arts & Culture

Practice Set

Attempted: 0Correct: 0Incorrect: 0

1 of 1 (adapting live)Medium

Name the Indian classical dance form which is believed to be revealed by Lord Brahma to Bharata, a famous sage, who then codified this sacred dance in a Sanskrit text called 'Natya Shastra'. (RRB NTPC CBT-I (19/01/2021) Shift 2)

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