Insights Static Quiz -62, 2018 –Art and Culture

Answer – a

• The earliest tradition of Indian music may be traced to Sama Veda which contained theslokas that were put to music. Chanting of Vedic hymns with prescribed pitch and accentstill form a part of religious rituals.
• The earliest text dealing exclusively with performing artsis Bharata’s Natyashashtra (compiled between second century BC and second centuryAD) which has six chapters on music.
• Another major text is Matanga’s Brihaddesi compiledbetween eight and ninth century AD. In this work ragas were first named and discussed atgreat length.

Answer – d

• Kashmir’s Gulraj is usually a folklore and Pandyani of MadhyaPradesh is a narrative put to music
• Rajasthani folksongs such as Mand and Bhatiali of Bengal are popular all over India.
• Ragini is a popularform of folk songs of Haryana

Answer – a

• Gangadhara, in Gujarat, wrote Lilavati Karamdipika, Suddhantadipika , and Lilavati Vyakhya. These were famous treatises which gave rules for trigonometrical terms like sine, cosine tangent and cotangent. Faizi, at the behest of Akbar, translated Bhaskara’s Bijaganit. Akbar ordered to make Mathematics as a subject of study, among others in the education system
• Akbar had a special interest in producing good breeds of domestic animals like elephants and horses. Jahangir, in his work – Tuzuk-i-jahangiri – recorded his observations and experiments on breeding and hybridization.
• The Mughals knew the technique of production of gunpowder and its use in gunnery, another application of Chemistry. The Indian craftspersons learnt the technique in evolved suitable explosive composition. The work Sukraniti attributed to Sukracarya contains a description of how gunpowder can be prepared using saltpeter, sulphur and charcoal in different ratios for use in different types of guns

Answer – c

• The first two ‘varnas’ exploited the most numerous and productive Vaishya varna, whereas the three in unision exploited the Shudras. The three higher ‘varnas’ were also entitled to the sacred (upanayana) thread ceremony and were known as ‘dvijas’ (twice-born).
• Jajmani system developed during the early medieval period and continued till
  modern times in the rural society. In this system the service castes rendered services to the land-owning peasant castes as well as to the high and dominant castes and were entitled to traditionally fixed shares of the produce and in some cases to a small plot of land. Thus, the leather-workers, the barbers, the priests, the garland makers, the ploughmen, and various types of smiths worked for the high castes or dominant landowning groups and were paid in kind on certain occasions or in the form of a land allotment

Answer – a

• According to Abul Fazl, the author of the Ain-i-Akbari, there were as many as fourteen silsilahs in India during the sixteenth century. Each order had its own khanqah, which served as a shelter for the Sufi saints and for destitutes, and later developed as a centre of learning.
• The sufis were also influenced by the Christian and Buddhist monks regarding the establishment of their khanqahs and Khanqah the institutions (abode of Sufis) set up by the Sufis in northern India took Islam deeper into the countryside. Mazars (tombs) and Takias (resting places of Muslim saints) also became the centres for the propagation of Islamic ideas
• Ajmer, Nagaur and Ajodhan or Pak Pattan (now in Pakistan) developed as important centres of Sufism.
• They preached the unity of God and self-surrender unto Him in almost the same way as the votaries of the Nïrgun Bhakti movement did. Music attracts everybody, irrespective of language. Slowly such music attracted the Hindus who started visiting the dargahs in large number. The Hindu impact on Sufism also became visible in the form of siddhas and yogic postures.