SSC
Kathak dancer Sitara Devi was described as 'Nritya Samragni' (Empress of Dance) by:
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Answer: Option C — Rabindranath Tagore
Detailed Solution
Explanation
Sitara Devi (1920-2014) was one of the most celebrated Kathak dancers of India. According to a well-known story, when Rabindranath Tagore saw her dance when she was about 16 years old, he was so impressed that he called her "Nritya Samragni", which means "Empress of Dance".
Sitara Devi was born in Kolkata into a family of Kathak artists of the Banaras tradition. Her father, Sukhdev Maharaj, was a Kathak dancer and Sanskrit scholar, and he trained her and her sisters in dance at a time when it was considered unusual for girls from respectable families to dance in public. She moved to Mumbai and performed as a dancer and actress in Hindi films in the 1930s and 1940s, such as "Mother India" (1957), where she appeared in a dance sequence. She was known for her energy, her speed, her powerful footwork and her ability to dance for hours without a break. She performed around the world, including at the Royal Albert Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York. She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1969) and the Padma Shri (1973). In 2002, she declined the Padma Bhushan, saying that she deserved the Bharat Ratna.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Mahatma Gandhi is not known for giving Sitara Devi this title.
- ✗Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, admired many artists, but the title "Nritya Samragni" was given by Tagore.
- ✗Sarojini Naidu, the poet and freedom fighter, was known as the "Nightingale of India".
💡 Exam tip
Link Sitara Devi with Kathak, the Banaras tradition and the title "Nritya Samragni" given by Rabindranath Tagore.💬 Discussions on this question
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Art & Culture Personalities — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Art & Culture Personalities, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the people behind India's art and culture: classical and folk dancers, vocalists and instrumentalists, painters, sculptors, theatre and film personalities, and the gurus who founded or revived art forms. Questions also cover the art form each person is known for and the honours they have received. Exams typically name a person and ask for their art form, or name an art form and ask who popularised it. Recent Padma award winners from the arts appear often, so link each name to the field and state the award was given for. Since award lists change every year, always revise from the latest official list rather than relying on older notes. Practise the art and culture personalities questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.