Painting, performing arts, crafts, literature, philosophy and festivals: previous-year questions
41 real UPSC Prelims questions (2011–2026) with the official answer and a clear explanation. 9 of them came in the last five papers.
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The Hallisalasya painting in the Bagh Caves represents :
Answer (a) & explanation
The Hallisalasya painting shows a joyous folk dance (a). The Bagh caves in Madhya Pradesh have murals close in style to Ajanta. The best-known panel shows hallisaka: women dancing in a ring around a male dancer while others play music. Hallisaka is an old folk dance named in Sanskrit texts, and lasya means graceful dance. Option (b) is wrong: it is not the Buddha meditating. Option (c) is wrong: Shiva and Parvati on Kailasha is a theme at Ellora. Option (d) is wrong: it is not Samudramanthan.
Notice Bagh's features: Buddhist caves of the 5th–6th centuries, cut in soft sandstone, near the Bagh river. Many paintings were damaged; some are now kept in the Gwalior museum. The town is also known for Bagh print textiles.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which one of the following Carnatic music ragas is similar to Raga Bilawal in Hindustani music ?
Answer (d) & explanation
Dheera Shankarabharanam matches Raga Bilawal (d). Bilawal is the Hindustani thaat with all seven notes natural (shuddha), the same scale as the Western major scale. Its Carnatic twin is Dheera Shankarabharanam, the 29th melakarta. Option (a) is wrong: Nat Bhairavi matches Asavari. Option (b) is wrong: Kamavardhini (Pantuvarali) matches Purvi. Option (c) is wrong: Hanumatodi matches the Hindustani Bhairavi.
Notice the two systems: Hindustani music has ten thaats, classified by V.N. Bhatkhande, while Carnatic music has 72 melakartas, organised by Venkatamakhin. Another easy pair: Kalyan (Yaman) matches Mechakalyani (Kalyani). Trick: match the notes, not the names, since some names, like Bhairavi, mean different scales in the two systems.
Hanumatodi sounds like Todi, but the Carnatic Todi scale is the Hindustani Bhairavi thaat, not Bilawal.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur, the famous classical singer from Karnataka, represented the :
Answer (d) & explanation
Mallikarjun Mansur represented the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana (d). Mallikarjun Mansur (1910–1992) from Dharwad was a khayal singer of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, founded by Alladiya Khan. He trained with Manji Khan and Bhurji Khan, Alladiya Khan's sons. Options (a), (b) and (c), Agra, Gwalior and Patiala, are wrong. He received the Padma Vibhushan.
Notice Dharwad's musical riches: it also gave Bhimsen Joshi and Gangubai Hangal, both of the Kirana gharana, and Kumar Gandharva trained nearby. The Jaipur-Atrauli style is known for complex, rare ragas. Kesarbai Kerkar and Kishori Amonkar were other famous singers of this gharana.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The first Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, a music training school, was set up in 1901 by Vishnu Digambar Paluskar in
Answer (d) & explanation
The first Gandharva Mahavidyalaya was set up in Lahore (d). Vishnu Digambar Paluskar started it in Lahore in 1901. It was among the first music schools open to the public, run on fees and public money rather than royal patronage. He later moved it to Bombay. Options (a), (b) and (c), Delhi, Gwalior and Ujjain, are wrong. Gwalior was famous for its own gharana of singing, a family tradition, not for this school.
Notice his partner in reviving Hindustani music: V.N. Bhatkhande, who classified ragas into ten thaats. Paluskar set Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram to its popular tune. His pupils included Omkarnath Thakur, and his son D.V. Paluskar.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which one of the following was the latest inclusion in the Intangible Cultural Heritage List of UNESCO ?
Answer (c) & explanation
Garba was the latest inclusion among these (c). Garba of Gujarat was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in December 2023, as India's 15th element. Option (b) is wrong: Durga Puja in Kolkata was added earlier, in 2021. Option (d) is wrong: Kumbh Mela was added in 2017. Option (a) is wrong: Chhau dance, of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal, was added in 2010. So Garba is the most recent of the four.
Notice the later addition: Deepavali, inscribed in December 2025 at the session hosted in New Delhi. Other Indian elements include Yoga, Vedic chanting, Ramlila, Kalbelia and Navroz. Do not confuse this list with the World Heritage list of sites.
The question says "latest", so you have to know the years. Durga Puja is the next most recent and catches people who know only the 2021 entry.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements :
- 1. There are no parables in Upanishads.
- 2. Upanishads were composed earlier than the Puranas.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Only statement 2 is correct (b). Statement 2 is right: the main Upanishads date from about 800–300 BCE, the end of the Vedic corpus, which is why they are called Vedanta. The Puranas took shape later, mostly in the Gupta period and after. Statement 1 is wrong: the Upanishads teach through stories and dialogues. Examples include Nachiketa and Yama (Katha), Satyakama Jabala (Chandogya), and the parable of the two birds on one tree (Mundaka). So options (a), (c) and (d) fail.
Notice the core ideas: Brahman (the ultimate reality), Atman (the self), and their oneness, captured in "Tat tvam asi". India's motto Satyameva Jayate comes from the Mundaka Upanishad.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which one of the following is a work attributed to playwright Bhasa ?
Answer (c) & explanation
Madhyama-vyayoga is a play attributed to Bhasa (c). Thirteen Sanskrit plays found in Kerala in 1912 by T. Ganapati Sastri are credited to Bhasa. They include Madhyama-vyayoga, Svapnavasavadatta, Pratijna-yaugandharayana and Urubhanga. Option (a) is wrong: Kavyalankara is a work on poetics by Bhamaha. Option (b) is wrong: the Natyashastra, on drama, music and dance, is by Bharata Muni. Option (d) is wrong: the Mahabhashya, a commentary on Panini's grammar, is by Patanjali.
Notice that Kalidasa praised Bhasa as an earlier master. Urubhanga is famous as a rare Sanskrit tragedy, since Sanskrit drama normally avoids sad endings. Kerala's Koodiyattam theatre kept Bhasa's plays alive.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following properties included in the World Heritage List released by UNESCO :
- 1. Shantiniketan
- 2. Rani-ki-Vav
- 3. Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas
- 4. Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodhgaya
How many of the above properties were included in 2023 ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Only two were included in 2023 (b). The Riyadh session of the World Heritage Committee in September 2023 added Santiniketan, Tagore's university town in West Bengal, and the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas (Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura) in Karnataka. That made India's count 42. Item 2 is wrong: Rani-ki-Vav, the stepwell at Patan, Gujarat, was listed in 2014. Item 4 is wrong: the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodhgaya was listed in 2002.
Notice the later additions: Assam's Moidams of the Ahom kings (2024) and the Maratha Military Landscapes, a group of twelve forts (2025), took India to 44. Do not confuse this list of places with the Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to ancient Indian History, consider the following pairs :
| Literary work | Author
| 1. Devichandragupta | Bilhana
| 2. Hammira-Mahakavya | Nayachandra Suri
| 3. Milinda-panha | Nagarjuna
| 4. Nitivakyamrita | Somadeva Suri
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
Answer (b) & explanation
Two pairs are correctly matched (b). Pair 2 is right: Nayachandra Suri wrote the Hammira-Mahakavya on the Chauhan king Hammira of Ranthambhore. Pair 4 is right: Somadeva Suri wrote the Nitivakyamrita, a Jain work on statecraft. Pair 1 is wrong: the Devichandragupta is a play by Vishakhadatta, who also wrote the Mudrarakshasa; Bilhana wrote the Vikramankadevacharita. Pair 3 is wrong: the Milinda-panha records the dialogue of the monk Nagasena with the Indo-Greek king Menander; its author is unknown, and Nagarjuna is not linked to it.
Notice the theme of the Devichandragupta: it tells how Chandragupta II killed a Shaka king to save Queen Dhruvadevi, a story used to fill gaps in Gupta history.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Who among the following is associated with ‘Songs from Prison’, a translation of ancient Indian religious lyrics in English?
Answer (c) & explanation
Gandhi is linked with "Songs from the Prison" (c). In Yeravda jail in 1930, Gandhi translated Sanskrit hymns and lyrics from the Ashram Bhajanavali into English. John S. Hoyland put them into verse, and they came out in 1934 as "Songs from the Prison". Option (a) is wrong: Tilak wrote the Gita Rahasya in Mandalay jail. Option (b) is wrong: Nehru wrote The Discovery of India in Ahmednagar Fort jail. Option (d) is wrong: Sarojini Naidu wrote her own poems, such as The Golden Threshold, and was called the "Nightingale of India".
Notice that Gandhi also wrote From Yeravda Mandir there. His autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, was written in Gujarati.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements :
- 1. 21st February is declared to be the International Mother Language Day by UNICEF.
- 2. The demand that Bangla has to be one of the national languages was raised in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
Answer (b) & explanation
Only statement 2 is correct (b). Statement 1 is wrong: UNESCO, not UNICEF, declared 21 February as International Mother Language Day in 1999. The date marks the students killed by police in Dhaka on 21 February 1952 during the Bhasha Andolan (Language Movement). Statement 2 is right: in February 1948, Dhirendranath Datta asked the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan to accept Bangla as a state language beside Urdu and English.
Notice that the language movement fed Bengali nationalism, which led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. Bangla became a state language of Pakistan in 1956. The Shaheed Minar in Dhaka honours the martyrs.
UNICEF and UNESCO are a standard swap. Culture and language days come from UNESCO.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to India, the terms ‘Halbi, Ho and Kui’ pertain to
Answer (d) & explanation
Halbi, Ho and Kui are tribal languages (d). Halbi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bastar (Chhattisgarh) and nearby areas. Ho is a Munda (Austroasiatic) language of Jharkhand and Odisha, with its own Warang Chiti script. Kui is a Dravidian language of the Kandha (Khond) people in Odisha. They are not dance forms (a), musical instruments (b) or cave paintings (c).
Notice the Eighth Schedule, which lists 22 languages; tribal languages in it are Santali (with its Ol Chiki script) and Bodo, added by the 92nd Amendment (2003). Demands remain to add Ho, Mundari and Kurukh. Notice the four language families of India: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to Madanapalle of Andhra Pradesh, which one of the following statements is correct?
Answer (c) & explanation
Tagore translated the National Anthem into English at Madanapalle (c). In February 1919, Rabindranath Tagore stayed at Besant Theosophical College, Madanapalle, with its principal, the Irish poet James Cousins. There he translated Jana Gana Mana into English as "The Morning Song of India", and Cousins's wife Margaret set the tune. Option (a) is wrong: Pingali Venkayya designed the flag but not at Madanapalle. Option (b) is wrong: Pattabhi Sitaramaiah was linked to Machilipatnam. Option (d) is wrong: the Theosophical Society started in New York (1875) and moved to Adyar, Madras, in 1882.
Notice that Jana Gana Mana was first sung at the Congress session in Calcutta in 1911, and adopted as the anthem on 24 January 1950.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to the history of ancient India, Bhavabhuti, Hastimalla and Kshemeshvara were famous
Answer (b) & explanation
All three were playwrights (b). They wrote Sanskrit plays. Bhavabhuti (8th century, court of Yashovarman of Kanauj) wrote Uttararamacharita, Mahaviracharita and Malatimadhava, and is often ranked next to Kalidasa. Hastimalla was a Jain dramatist of the Karnataka region, around the 13th century, who wrote plays on Jain and epic themes. Kshemishvara of Kanauj wrote Chandakaushika (10th century) on King Harishchandra. Option (a) is a trap: Hastimalla was a Jain, but not a monk. They were not architects (c) or chiefly philosophers (d).
Notice other Sanskrit dramatists: Bhasa, Shudraka (Mrichchhakatika), Vishakhadatta (Mudrarakshasa) and Harsha himself (Ratnavali, Nagananda, Priyadarshika).
Hastimalla was a Jain, but he is remembered as a playwright, not a monk.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to the scholars/litterateurs of ancient India, consider the following statements :
- 1. Panini is associated with Pushyamitra Shunga.
- 2. Amarasimha is associated with Harshavardhana.
- 3. Kalidasa is associated with Chandra Gupta — II.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Answer (c) & explanation
Only statement 3 is correct (c). Statement 1 is wrong because Panini, who wrote the Sanskrit grammar Ashtadhyayi, lived around the 5th–4th century BCE, well before the Shungas (from about 185 BCE). It was Patanjali, author of the Mahabhashya on Panini's grammar, who lived under Pushyamitra Shunga. Statement 2 is wrong because Amarasimha, who wrote the Sanskrit dictionary Amarakosha, is placed among the "nine gems" of Chandragupta II, not Harsha. Statement 3 is right because Kalidasa is also placed among those nine gems.
Notice Harsha's own circle: Banabhatta, who wrote Harshacharita and Kadambari. Harsha himself wrote three plays: Nagananda, Ratnavali and Priyadarsika.
Statement 1 swaps the grammarians: Patanjali, not Panini, goes with Pushyamitra.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to Mian Tansen, which one of the following statements is not correct?
Answer (a) & explanation
Option (a) is not correct, so it is the answer. Born Ramtanu Pandey near Gwalior, he received the title "Tansen" from Raja Vikramajit of Gwalior. Akbar brought him to court in 1562, from Raja Ramchandra of Rewa, and gave him the title "Mian". He became one of the navaratnas (nine jewels) of Akbar's court. Option (b) is correct because he composed dhrupads on Hindu gods. Option (c) is correct because he also sang praises of his patrons. Option (d) is correct because he is credited with ragas such as Miyan ki Malhar, Miyan ki Todi and Darbari Kanada.
Notice his teachers: Swami Haridas of Vrindavan and Muhammad Ghaus. The Tansen Samaroh is held every year at his tomb in Gwalior.
This asks for the statement that is not correct. Akbar gave him "Mian", not "Tansen".
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Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Who among the following Mughal Emperors shifted emphasis from illustrated manuscripts to album and individual portrait?
Answer (c) & explanation
Jahangir made the shift (c). Akbar's studio, led by Mir Sayyid Ali, Abd al-Samad and Daswanth, illustrated long manuscripts such as the Hamzanama, Akbarnama and Razmnama. Jahangir, a keen naturalist, preferred albums (muraqqa) of single paintings: portraits, court scenes, birds and animals. His artists included Ustad Mansur, who painted the Siberian crane and the zebra, and Abul Hasan, called Nadir-uz-Zaman. Jahangir boasted he could tell which artist painted each face. Humayun (a) brought the Persian masters back from exile. Shah Jahan (d) favoured formal court scenes and focused on architecture.
Notice the Mughal school's later influence on Rajput and Pahari painting, such as Kangra and Kishangarh's Bani Thani.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The well-known painting “Bani Thani” belongs to the
Answer (d) & explanation
Bani Thani belongs to the Kishangarh school (d). It was painted around 1750 by Nihal Chand at the court of Raja Sawant Singh of Kishangarh, who wrote poetry as Nagari Das. The model is said to have been his beloved, the singer Bani Thani. Her long face, arched brows, lotus eyes and pointed chin became the hallmark of the Kishangarh style, and it is often called "India's Mona Lisa." India put it on a postage stamp in 1973. Bundi (a), Jaipur (b) and Kangra (c) are other schools of Rajasthani and Pahari painting.
Kishangarh's paintings often show Radha–Krishna themes. Notice the main Rajasthani schools: Mewar, Bundi–Kota, Kishangarh, Marwar and Jaipur. The Pahari schools are Basohli, Guler and Kangra.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| Tradition | State
| 1. Chapchar Kut festival | Mizoram
| 2. Khongjom Parba ballad | Manipur
| 3. Thang-Ta dance | Sikkim
Which of the pairs given above is/are correct ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Pairs 1 and 2 are correct (b). Chapchar Kut (1) is Mizoram's spring festival, held in March after the bamboo forests are cleared for jhum (shifting) cultivation, with the Cheraw bamboo dance. Khongjom Parba (2) is a Manipuri ballad about the Battle of Khongjom in the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891, sung to the dholak. Pair 3 is wrong because Thang-Ta, the art of sword (thang) and spear (ta), is a Manipuri martial art. It is not from Sikkim.
Khongjom Day is marked on 23 April. Notice other northeastern traditions often asked: Hornbill Festival (Nagaland), Sangai Festival (Manipur), Losar (Sikkim/Arunachal), and the Manipuri dance Ras Lila.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to cultural history of India, consider the following statements :
- 1. Most of the Tyagaraja Kritis are devotional songs in praise of Lord Krishna.
- 2. Tyagaraja created several new ragas.
- 3. Annamacharya and Tyagaraja are contemporaries.
- 4. Annamacharya kirtanas are devotional songs in praise of Lord Venkateshwara.
Which of the statements given above are correct ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Statements 2 and 4 are correct (b). Tyagaraja (1767–1847), one of the Carnatic trinity with Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri, wrote mostly in Telugu and sang mainly to Rama, not Krishna, so statement 1 is wrong. He brought new ragas into use (2). Annamacharya (15th century), the Tirupati poet, wrote thousands of sankirtanas in praise of Lord Venkateshwara (4). Statement 3 is wrong because about three centuries separate them.
The Tyagaraja Aradhana at Thiruvaiyaru is held every year. Notice the related figures: Purandara Dasa (16th century) is called the father of Carnatic music, and Annamacharya is known as the "Pada-kavita Pitamaha."
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.