Question Discussion & Solution

Vikramshila University was founded by Dharampal.

• Vikramshila was one of the important Buddhist monasteries in India during the Pala Empire.
• It was established by the great Pala emperor, Dharmapala during 8-9 CE.
• It is located in Antichik village of Bhagalpur district Bihar.
• It was built due to the decline in the quality of scholarship at Nalanda.

Additional Information

• It was excavated by B.P. Sinha and later by Archaeological Survey of India.
• It is a huge monastery with a stupa in the center.
• It was laid upon more than one hundred acres of land.
• It was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193.

The correct answer is Ustad Bismillah Khan

Important Points

• Ustad Bismillah Khan was born on 21 March 1916 in Dumraon village, Bihar.
• He settled in Varanasi with his father Prophet Bakhsh Khan at a very young age.
• Bismillah Khan was awarded the "Bharat Ratna" in 2001 by the Government of India.
• Ustad Bismillah Khan played the clarinet from the Red Fort when the country became independent in 1947.
• He died on 21 August 2006 at the age of 90.
• Anant Lal was a famous shehnai player from the Banaras Gharana.
• Pandit Ram Sahay was the shehnai player of the Banaras Gharana and was a royal musician in the court of Nawab Asafuddaula of Lucknow.
• Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan was a famous shehnai player. He was awarded the 'Bangbhushan Award' by the Government of Bengal.

The correct answer is Rampurva, Bihar.

Key Points

The Bull capital of Ashoka:

• It is from Rampurva, Bihar.
• It belongs to the third century B.C.
• It is a mixture of Persian and Indian elements.
• The lotus capital is entirely formalistic.
• The motifs on the abacus are beautiful decorative elements like the rosette, palmette, and the acanthus ornaments, none of them is Indian.
• The crowning element of the bull capital, that is the bull proper, is a masterpiece of Indian craftsmanship, showing a humped bull, well modelled, with its soft flesh beautifully represented, with its strong legs, sensitive nostrils, and the ears cocked as if it were listening.

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• Kirana gharana is one of the most prominent Indian classical khayal gharanas and is associated mostly with the perfect intonation of notes.
• The gharana's style was further evolved and was established as one of the important styles in modern Indian classical music in the late 19th / early 20th centuries by the musicians Abdul Karim Khan and Abdul Wahid Khan.
• The name of this school of music comes from Kirana or Kairana, a town and tehsil of Shamli District in Uttar Pradesh.

The correct answer is Sonepur:

Key Points

• Sonepur city of Bihar is world-famous for the largest "Pashu Mela".
• It is held on the eve of Kartik Purnima every year on the confluence of river Gandak.
• It generally lasts for 15 days to 1 month.
• It is also known as the Harihar kshetra Mela.
• Trading of Elephants has been prohibited since 2004 owing to strict enforcement of Wildlife Protection Act,1972.