Art and Culture Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 17)

Holika Dahan falls on 3 March 2026, followed by Rangwali Holi, the main colour-play day, on 4 March 2026.

Qurbani meat is traditionally split into three equal parts: one for the family, one for relatives and friends, and one for the poor.

Eid-ul-Adha commemorates Prophet Ibrahim’s (Abraham’s) willingness to sacrifice his son, and falls on the 10th day of Dhul Hijjah during the Hajj period.

Most historians now place Guru Nanak’s birth in Baisakh, around April 1469. The Kartik Purnima observance only became standard around 1816, under Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Guru Nanak named his disciple Bhai Lehna as successor. Bhai Lehna became Guru Angad, the second Sikh Guru. Guru Arjan, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and Guru Gobind Singh were all real, later Sikh Gurus, but none were Guru Nanak’s own successor.

The Mool Mantar is Sikhism’s foundational statement of belief, opening with “Ik Onkar” — “there is one God.”

The second record was for 2,128 Vedacharyas performing a synchronised aarti together on the banks of the Saryu river.

Bandi Chhor Divas marks Guru Hargobind’s release from Gwalior Fort in 1619, along with 52 Hindu kings held with him.

Dhanteras, the first day, is when people clean their homes and buy gold or kitchen utensils for good fortune.

Rama returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and his victory over the demon king Ravana, and the people lit lamps to welcome him.

Deepavali comes from “deep” (a clay lamp) and “avali” (a row) — literally, a row of lamps.

He named them the Panj Pyare, or “Five Beloved Ones,” and initiated them into the Khalsa.

Maharashtra declared Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav a State Festival, announced by Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar in the state Legislative Assembly on 10 July 2025. It is a state-level designation, not a national one, and is separate from any UNESCO listing.

The CPCB’s revised guidelines, released on 12 May 2020, prohibit plaster of Paris, plastic and thermocol, along with toxic non-biodegradable dyes and oil paints. Clay idols and biodegradable decorations such as dried flowers and straw are exactly what the guidelines encourage instead.

Colonial restrictions applied to political assembly but not to religious gathering, so a public festival was a lawful way to bring together large crowds for speeches and songs. It also deliberately cut across caste lines, which was central to its purpose as a mass-mobilisation vehicle.

Bhausaheb Rangari is credited with installing a sarvajanik Ganesha idol in Pune, generally dated to 1892. Tilak praised the practice in his newspaper Kesari on 26 September 1893 and installed his own idol at the Kesari office in 1894. So he popularised and politicised the public festival rather than inventing it.

The immersion is called visarjan, and the ten-day festival ends on Anant Chaturdashi. The festival itself begins on the fourth day (chaturthi) of the bright fortnight of Bhadrapada, which falls in August or September.

Dayananda wrote Satyarth Prakash in 1875, later revising it in 1882. It remains the movement’s core text.

The Arya Samaj’s headquarters moved to Lahore in 1877, where its Ten Principles were finalised.

The correct answer is Makar Sankranti. Pongal is celebrated alongside it, and both mark the sun’s northward turn. Memory hook: Pongal in the south, Sankranti in the north.

The correct answer is To boil over. The word names the dish of rice, milk and jaggery that overflows the pot. Memory hook: pot boils, Pongal.

The Chandela dynasty built the Khajuraho Chausath Yogini temple, the oldest surviving one of its kind.

There is no documented evidence that Edwin Lutyens ever visited or knew of the Mitaoli temple, despite the popular claim that it inspired Delhi’s Parliament House.

The Bhedaghat Chausath Yogini temple is the largest, with 81 shrine chambers instead of the usual 64.

Chausath Yogini temples are built without a roof to allow communion with yoginis believed capable of flight.