Art and Culture Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 26)

Lucknow Zardozi was registered with a GI tag in 2013, formally protecting the craft’s regional identity.

The Nawabs of Lucknow revived Zardozi’s patronage, making Lucknow the craft’s main centre in India.

Aurangzeb ended imperial support for Zardozi during his reign, leading to a real decline in the craft.

The Bankura Horse became the crest-motif of the All India Handicrafts Board in 1952, symbolising Indian rural handicrafts nationally.

The Rasmancha, a major terracotta structure in Bishnupur, was built by King Raghunath Singh in 1650.

Stone was scarce in Bengal, so builders turned to fired clay brick, giving rise to the region’s terracotta temple tradition.

Malla dynasty kings built most of Bishnupur’s terracotta temples during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Nirmal Paintings were registered with a GI tag in 2008 (certificate dated 9 September 2008), applied for by the Andhra Pradesh Handicrafts Development Corporation.

Legend says a banana bud, suspended over the Nizam’s seat, unfurled with golden petals, impressing him into patronising the craft.

Nirmal paintings use teak wood as the base, coated in lacquer before the gold-flecked design is applied.

Ahilyabai Holkar built a new Somnath shrine in 1782-83, adjacent to the ruins of the original temple.

Mahmud of Ghazni destroyed Somnath Temple in 1025-26 CE, after defeating its defenders and plundering its wealth.

Ali Akbar Khan belonged to the Maihar gharana, founded by his father Allauddin Khan. The Imdadkhani gharana is a separate lineage, associated with the sitar.

Ali Akbar Khan won the MacArthur Fellowship in 1991, the first Indian musician to receive it. He separately won the National Heritage Fellowship in 1997.

Yehudi Menuhin invited Ali Akbar Khan to New York in 1955, where his debut album became the first Indian classical LP released in the West.

Ustad Allauddin Khan redesigned the sarod and trained his son, Ali Akbar Khan, on the instrument from childhood.

The sarod descends from the Afghan rabab, adapted for Hindustani music from the 18th century onward.

Sidhar Khan Dhadi was active at the court of Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah in the early 18th century.

Sidhar Khan Dhadi is tabla’s earliest documented player, and founded its oldest school, the Delhi gharana. (Amir Khusrau’s invention is a popular but scholarly-rejected legend.)

Tabla’s two drums are the dayan (smaller, right hand) and the bayan (bass, left hand).

The nagaswaram is the shehnai’s Southern Indian cousin, playing a similar auspicious role in Carnatic music.

M.S. Subbulakshmi and Ravi Shankar were the first two classical musicians to receive the Bharat Ratna, before Bismillah Khan in 2001.

Bismillah Khan played at the Red Fort on 15 August 1947, India’s first Independence Day.

These dance-dramas, based on the Bhagavata Purana, are known as Ankiya Naat, developed under Sankardev’s guidance.

Sattriya was founded by the saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardev, as part of the Bhakti movement in 15th-century Assam.