SSC
The Khajuraho Dance Festival, held against the backdrop of the Chandela temples, is celebrated in which state?
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Answer: Option D — Madhya Pradesh
Detailed Solution
The Khajuraho Dance Festival is a classical dance festival held every year in February at Khajuraho, in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. It is organised by the Madhya Pradesh Kala Parishad, under the state's Department of Culture, and was first held in 1975.
The festival is held in an open-air auditorium in front of the famous Khajuraho temples, especially the Chitragupta Temple (dedicated to the Sun god) and the Vishwanath Temple (dedicated to Shiva), which are lit up beautifully at night. Leading dancers from across India perform the major classical dance forms, such as Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam and Kathakali. In recent years, the festival has also included exhibitions, art workshops and other cultural events.
The Khajuraho temples were built by the Chandela dynasty between about 950 and 1050 CE. Out of about 85 temples originally built, only about 25 survive today. They are divided into three groups: Western, Eastern and Southern. The temples are dedicated to Hindu gods (Shiva and Vishnu) and Jain Tirthankaras, which shows the religious tolerance of the Chandela rulers. They are built in the Nagara style of temple architecture and are world famous for their beautiful and detailed sculptures, which depict gods and goddesses, celestial beings, musicians, dancers, warriors, animals and scenes from daily life. The largest and finest of the temples is the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, dedicated to Shiva. The Group of Monuments at Khajuraho was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.
Other dance festivals at heritage sites include the Konark Dance Festival (Odisha), the Modhera Dance Festival (Gujarat), the Pattadakal Dance Festival (Karnataka) and the Mamallapuram Dance Festival (Tamil Nadu).
Why not the other options?
- ✗Odisha holds the Konark and Mukteshwar dance festivals.
- ✗Karnataka holds the Pattadakal Dance Festival.
- ✗Gujarat holds the Modhera Dance Festival.
Quick tip
Remember: The Khajuraho Dance Festival = Madhya Pradesh, February, the Chandela temples and the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple. Khajuraho is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1986).
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Festivals & Fairs of India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Festivals & Fairs of India, 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 religious, harvest, tribal and cultural festivals of India, the fairs (melas) held across the country, and the states, communities and seasons linked to them. It also includes festivals listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, such as Kumbh Mela and Durga Puja in Kolkata. Most questions ask which state celebrates a festival, which tribe it belongs to, or what event it marks. Harvest festivals are especially common: Pongal (Tamil Nadu), Onam (Kerala), Bihu (Assam), Lohri and Baisakhi (Punjab) and Nuakhai (Odisha). Fairs such as the Pushkar camel fair (Rajasthan) and the Sonepur cattle fair (Bihar) are also frequently tested. Revise festivals state by state. Practise the festivals and fairs 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.