Question Discussion & Solution

The Correct Answer is Vaigai River.

Key Points

• Meenakshi Amman Temple is located on the Southern Bank of the Vaigai River in the temple city of Madurai., Tamil Nadu. 
• This temple dedicated to Thirukamakottam Udaya Aaludaiya Meenakshi, a form of Parvati, and her consort, Sundareshwar, a form of Shiva.
• In this temple, both God and Goddess are worshipped together in separate chambers.
• The temple is at the centre of the ancient temple city Madurai.
• It was built by King Kulasekara Pandya.
• It is a complex made in accordance with the Shilpa Shastra and has 5 main entrances with 14  gateway towers or 'gopurams', golden 'Vimanas', holy sanctums and shrines dedicated to the revered Goddess Meenakshi and many others. 
• It is a major tourist attraction, with thousands of devotees visiting the shrines every day.

Additional Information

Key Points

Mohini Attam:

• Mohiniattam or Mohiniyattam is an Indian classical dance form that evolved in the state of Kerala.
• Mohiniattam is among the two popular dance arts of the state, the other being Kathakali.
• Mohiniyattam is considered a very graceful form of dance meant to be performed as solo recitals by women.
• It is believed to have originated in the 16th century.
• It is one of the eight Indian classical dance forms recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Important Points

• Kalamandalam Sathyabhama, the doyen of classical dance form Mohiniyattam passed away in the Palakkad district of Kerala. She was 77.
• She was regarded as a matriarch of Mohiniyattam and was well-known for her experimental reforms in this classical dance form which helped to preserve and popularise the traditional art form. 

Thus, Mohini Attam is a famous dance form of Kerala.

Additional Information

Kuchipudi:

• Kuchipudi, one of the major dance forms of India was originated from Andhra Pradesh.
• It is the traditional dance of the state.
• It grew largely as a product of the Bhakti movement beginning in the 7th Century AD.
• Kuchipudi derives its name from the village Kuchelapuram, where it was nurtured by great scholars and artists who built up the repertoire and refined the dance technique.

Bharat Natyam:

• Bharata Natyam is a form of Indian classical dance that originated in the temples of Tamil Nadu.
• It is known for its grace, elegance, purity, tenderness, expression and sculpturesque poses.

Kathak:

• Kathak is a North Indian dance that originated in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
• The name Kathak comes from the word "Katha" which means a story.

Kathakali:

• Kathakali is a classical Indian dance form which is a story play genre of art is the folk dance form of Kerala.
• Kathakali is the most difficult style of the traditional dance form.
• In this, the actors speak ‘sign language’ where hand gestures are used to dictate word part of the character and facial and eye movements express emotions and mood.
• Kathakali is based on the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. 

Odissi:

• Odissi is a dance of love and passion touching on the divine and the human, the sublime and the mundane.
• The Natya Shastra mentions many regional varieties, such as the south-eastern style kanharis were the chief repositories of this dance.
• The maharis, who were originally temple dancers came to be employed in royal courts which resulted in the degeneration of the art form.

The correct answer is Raja Raj Chola I.

Key Points

• Raja Raj Chola I got the Brihadeshwara temple built at Thanjavur.
  • This South Indian style is most fully realized both in scale and detail in the Brihadeshwara temple built between 1003 and 1010 by the Chola king Rajaraja I.
  • Built by Tamil king Raja Raja Chola I between 1003 and 1010 AD, the temple is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Great Living Chola Temples", along with the Chola dynasty era Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple and Airavatesvara temple.

Additional Information 

• Rajaraja I often described as Rajaraja the Great, was a Chola emperor and in his time the most powerful king in the south who was primarily responsible for restoring Chola's power and establishing his control over South India and the Indian Ocean.
• Brihadishvara Temple locally known as Thanjai Periya Kovil, and also called Rajarajeswaram, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva located on the South Bank of the Cauvery river in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.

• The Kabir Bijak is preserved by the Kabirpanth (the path or sect of Kabir) in Varanasi and elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh. 
• Bijak is the best known of the compilations of the Kabir, and as such is the holy scripture for followers of the Kabirpanthi religion.
• The Bijak, an anthology of Kabir’s verses compiled in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and/or Bihar, is one of Kabir’s most influential works.

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Adi granth

• Guru Arjun Dev Ji, the 5th Guru of Sikhs composed and collected the hymns of the previous Sikh gurus and laid the foundation of the holy book of Sikhs known as Guru Granth Sahib (or Adi Granth). 
• The Guru Granth Sahib is written in Gurmukhi script and has 1,430 pages.
• It contains 5,894 hymns arranged into 31 musical groupings.
• It is a compilation of teachings and writings by Guru Nanak dev Ji and other Sikh Gurus in addition to the Hindu and Muslim saints.

Sursagar

• Sur Das is the author of Sursagar in Brajbhasha.
• It is full of verses on the charm of Lord Krishna and his beloved Radha.
• Surdas and Mirabai followed Vallabacharya.

Padawali

• It was written by Rabindranath Tagore. 

The correct answer is Neither I nor II.

Key Points

• Chhau dance is a traditional dance form performed by men from Eastern India that enacts episodes from epics including Ramayana and Mahabharata.
  • The main objective of this dance form is to celebrate martial arts.
  • Chhau dance can be classified into three divisions based on the place it is performed; Mayurbhanj Chau of Odisha, Seraikella Chau of Jharkhand, and Purulia Chau of Bengal.
• Kathak is a North Indian dance that originated in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
  • ​The name Kathak comes from the word "Katha" which means a story.
  • Shambhu Maharaj and Lacchu Maharaj are famous Kathak dancers.

Additional Information

• Eight dance forms have been acknowledged by Sangeet Natak Akademi as classical dance forms of India.
• The classical dance form originated from the Natya Shastra.
• Classical dance has a deep-rooted relationship with the Natya Shastra where the specific features of each of the Classical dance forms have been mentioned.
• There are 8 classical dance forms in India as per the source and scholar

Important Points

• The Cultural Ministry of India has included Chhau into the list of classical dances that make a total of 9 classical dance forms.