Art and Culture Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 14)

Pilgrims walk the Kora, a roughly 52-kilometre circumambulation of the mountain, usually completed over three days.

No verified ascent of Mount Kailash exists. China effectively bans climbing it, and every tradition that reveres it treats an attempt as sacrilege.

Ramanujacharya, the 11th-century philosopher-saint honoured by the Statue of Equality, is a completely different person from Srinivasa Ramanujan, the 20th-century mathematician, despite the similar name.

Ramanujacharya traditionally lived 120 years, not 216. The 216-foot height instead reduces numerologically to 9; his 120-year life is separately symbolised by a 12-kilogram gold deity inside the main shrine.

The statue is built from panchaloha, a traditional alloy of five metals: gold, silver, copper, brass, and zinc.

Jaipur’s kite festival is held on Makar Sankranti, 14 January, at Jal Mahal. It is not a Basant Panchami event.

Aksharabhyasam and Vidyarambham mark a child’s first step into learning letters. Kerala and Karnataka use the name Vidyarambham.

The Guru Granth Sahib uses Basant as a metaphor for spiritual awakening, divine love and inner bliss.

Basant Panchami falls on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of Magha. Holi follows about 40 days later.

Basant Panchami is the main festival of Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, learning and music.

The Ottoman Empire declared Mawlid an official holiday in 1588 CE, centuries after the Prophet’s own era, one of the earliest formal state recognitions of the observance.

Some Deobandi and Salafi scholars view Milad-un-Nabi celebrations as bid’ah, a later religious innovation, since the practice wasn’t observed during the Prophet’s own lifetime.

The procession held during Milad-un-Nabi in India is called a Julus, and often features banners, flags, and decorated floats.

Most Sunni scholars mark Milad-un-Nabi on the 12th of Rabi al-Awwal, while most Shia scholars mark it on the 17th instead.

Abhisheka is the ceremonial bath of the idol. Devotees recite prayers while it is done.

The Kalpa Sutra is a Svetambara text. It holds the lives of Mahavira and Parshvanatha.

Jains mark five great events in a Tirthankara’s life. Mahavir Jayanti celebrates the second, the birth.

Mahavir Jayanti marks the birth of Mahavira. He is the 24th and last Tirthankara of Jainism.

In Himachal Pradesh, Makar Sankranti is called Maghi or Magha Saaji. In some villages Lohri night is part of Maghi.

Folk tradition says Dulla Bhatti saved two girls from the Mughals and arranged their marriages. Treat it as folklore.

The song Sundar Mundariye tells the tale of Dulla Bhatti and the girls Sundari and Mundari.

Lohri thanks the Sun for the rabi crop, especially wheat. It is the winter-sown harvest.

The first Surya Tilak at the new temple came on Ram Navami, 17 April 2024.

CSIR-CBRI, Roorkee, did the detailed design and site work. The Indian Institute of Astrophysics advised on the optics.