QUIZ – 2020: INSIGHTS STATIC QUIZ, 14 May 2020 – Art & Culture

Solution: c)

Tabo Monastery is located in the Tabo village of Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh. It was founded in 996 CE in the Tibetan year of the Fire Ape.

Tabo is noted for being the oldest continuously operating Buddhist enclave in both India and the Himalayas. A large number of frescoes displayed on its walls depict tales from the Buddhist pantheon.

Kardang Monastery or Gompa is a famous Drukpa Lineage monastery, and is the most important monastery in the Lahaul valley, India. The monastery is a huge white building bedecked with prayer flags.

The Rumtek Monastery is currently the largest in Sikkim. It is home to the community of monks and where they perform the rituals and practices of the Karma Kagyu lineage.

Solution: d)

In addition to the Sangam literature, the Greek authors like Megasthenes, Strabo, Pliny and Ptolemy mention the commercial contacts between the West and South India.

The Asokan inscriptions mention the Chera, Chola and Pandya rulers on the south of the Mauryan Empire.

The Hathikumbha inscription of Kharavela of Kalinga also mentions about Tamil kingdoms.

The excavations at Arikkamedu, Poompuhar, Kodumanal and other places reveal the overseas commercial activities of the Tamils.

Solution: b)

Gatka is the name of an Indian martial art associated with the Sikhs of the Punjab and the Tanoli and Gujjar communities of the mountainous regions of northern Pakistan who practice an early variant of the martial art. The Punjabi name gatka properly refers to the wooden stick used.

Kalaripayattu also known simply as Kalari, is an Indian martial art and fighting style that originated in modern-day Kerala.

Yakshagana is a traditional Indian theatre form, developed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and western parts of Chikmagalur districts, in the state of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district in Kerala that combines dance, music, dialogue, costume, make-up, and stage techniques with a unique style and form.

Mallakhamb is a traditional sport, originating from the Indian subcontinent, in which a gymnast performs aerial yoga postures and wrestling grips in concert with a vertical stationary or hanging wooden pole, cane, or rope. On April 9, 2013, the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh declared Mallakhamba the state sport.

Solution: d)

The chariot is actually a shrine dedicated to Garuda, built inside the Vittala Temple Complex.  The massive sculpture of Garuda, Lord Vishnu’s escort once was seated atop the chariot but it is empty at the present date. The Hampi Chariot has earned its name among the other three famous stone chariots in India- One in Konark, Odissa, and the other in Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu).

The chariot was built by King Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire during the 16^th century, who got fascinated with the Konark Sun temple chariot while fighting a battle in Odisha. The chariot is meant to represent the beauty and artistic perfection of the Empire.

It has come to have a sacrosanct presence and is internationally recognized as a world heritage site even by the UNESCO.

Solution: b)

Nandikeshvara (5th century-4th century BC) was the great theorist on stage-craft of ancient India. He was the author of the Abhinaya Darpana (“The Mirror of Gesture”), a famous treatise on dance.