Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – November 6

All the above statements are correct:

THE PALA SCHOOL (11th to 12th centuries)

The earliest examples of miniature painting in India exist in the form of illustrations to the religious texts on Buddhism executed under the Palas of the eastern India and the Jain texts executed in western India during the 11th-12th centuries A.D. The Pala period (750 A.D. to the middle of the 12th century) witnessed the last great phase of Buddhism and of the Buddhist art in India. The Buddhist monasteries (mahaviharas) of Nalanda, Odantapuri,Vikramsila and Somarupa were great centres of Buddhist learning and art.

The Pala painting is characterised by sinuous line and subdued tones of colour. It is a naturalistic style which resembles the ideal forms of contemporary bronze and stone sculpture, and reflects some feeling of the classical art of Ajanta.

The Pala art came to a sudden end after the destruction of the Buddhist monasteries at the hands of Muslim invaders in the first half of the 13th century. Some of the monks and artists escaped and fled to Nepal, which helped in reinforcing the existing art traditions there.

Statement 1 and 3 are incorrect:

• Tolkappiyam is the oldest extant Tamil grammar written by Tokkappiyar.
• Silappadikaram was written by elongavadigalin the second century A.D. It is a tragic story of a merchant, Kovalan of Puhar who falls in love with a dancer Madhavi, neglecting his own wife, Kannagi, who in the end revenges the death of her husband at the hands of the Pandyan King and becomes a goddess.
• The earliest script that the Tamils used was the Brahmi script. It was only from the late ancient and early medieval period, that they started evolving a new angular script, called the Grantha script, from which the modern Tamil is derived.

Types of Hindustani Music and its meaning:

• Dhrupad – Effort from vocal chords and lungs
• Dhamar – Play of Krishna during holy
• Khayal – Delicate, romantic and based on imagination.
• Thumri – Romantic religious literature
• Tappa – Quick turn of phase
• Bhajan – Religious devotional songs
• Tarana – Syllables stung together to set a rhythm
• Sabadas – Sikh religious songs
• Qawali – Indo- Muslim repertories of songs in groups.
• Ghazal – Independent couplets on love and devotion.

Statement 1 and 3 is Correct:

• Sahitya Academy is the Indian National Academy of letters meant to promote the cause of Indian literature through publications, translations, seminars, workshops, cultural exchange programmes and literary meets organised all over the country.
• The Academy was founded in March 1954 as an autonomous body fully funded by the Department of Culture.
• The Academy has recognised 24 languages. It has an Advisory Board for each of the languages that suggests various programmes and publications in the concerned languages. Its head office is in New Delhi.
• The highest honour conferred by the Academy on a writer is by electing him its fellow. This honour is reserved for the ‘Immortals of Literature’ and limited to 21 at any given time

The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789-1792)

• The War took place between Tipu Sultan and British began in 1789 and ended in Tipu’s defeat in 1792.
• Even though Tipu fought with exemplary bravery, Lord Cornwallis the Governor General had succeeded through shrewd diplomacy in isolating him by wining over the Marathas, the Nizam and the rulers of Travancore and Coorg.
• The Third Mysore War came to an end by the Treaty of Srirangapatnam in March 1792.

Munda Rebellion (1899-1900):

One of the most important and prominent rebellion which took place after 1857 was the Munda Rebellion. The Mundas traditionally enjoyed certain rights as the original clearer of the forest which was not given to the other tribes. But this land system was getting destroyed in the hands of the merchants and moneylenders long before the coming of the British. But when the British actually came into these areas they helped to destroy this system with a rapid pace when they introduced contractors and traders. These contractors needed people to work with them as indentured laborers.  This dislocation of the Mundas at the hands of the British and their contractors gave birth to the Munda Rebellion.

The most prominent leader of this rebellion was BirsaMunda who was more aware than the others as he had received some education from the Missionaries

Abhor- These tribes are found in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam

Alars- Also known as Chathans or Chatans, these tribes are found in the Kerala-Palghat region. They speak Alar and Malayalam.

Baiga Known by names like Baigai, Bega and Bhumis these people are found in Bihar, Maharashtra. Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal Their language is also known as Baiga

Chenchus- Known variously as Chenchucoolam, Chenchwar, Chenswar and Choncharu, these tribes are found primarily in the state of Andhra Pradesh and also in parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Orissa. Their native language (also-called Chenchus) belongs to the Dravidian language family. Many also speak Telugu.