SSC
The word 'Kathak' is derived from 'Katha', which means:
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Answer: Option D — Story
Detailed Solution
The correct answer is Story. The name Kathak comes from the Sanskrit word "katha", which means story, and "kathakar", which means storyteller. "Katha kahe so kathak kahave", an old saying, means "the one who tells a story is called a kathak". This captures the original purpose of the dance.
Kathak began with the kathakars, travelling bards who lived in the temples and villages of northern India and narrated stories from the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and from the Puranas. They used song, gesture, expression and rhythmic footwork to bring these stories to life. During the Bhakti movement, the stories of Radha and Krishna became especially important, and Kathak absorbed elements of the Ras Leela of the Braj region. Later, under the patronage of the Mughal emperors and the Nawabs of Awadh, Kathak moved into the royal courts, where it became more refined and gained Persian and Central Asian influences, such as the straight-legged posture, the fast spins (chakkars) and the costume of the angarkha and churidar.
The storytelling part of Kathak is still central today. A Kathak performance includes both nritta (pure dance), with fast footwork, spins and rhythmic compositions such as tukda, tihai and paran, and abhinaya (expression), in which the dancer tells a story through gestures and facial expressions, often set to a thumri, bhajan or ghazal.
About the other options:
Stick, sword and temple are not meanings of katha. Stick dances in India include Kolattam of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and Dandiya Raas of Gujarat. Sword dances include the Paika dance and the Chholiya of Uttarakhand.
💡 Exam tip
Kathak is often called "the dance of the storytellers". Questions may ask for the meaning of the word, the gharanas (Lucknow, Jaipur, Banaras and Raigarh), or the dancers linked with it, such as Pandit Birju Maharaj.💬 Discussions on this question
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Indian Dance Forms — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Indian Dance Forms, 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.
Indian dance forms are one of the most frequently tested areas of static GK. This topic covers the eight classical dances recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam and Sattriya), the folk and tribal dances of every state, and related terms such as mudra, abhinaya, lasya and tandava. Most questions ask which state a dance belongs to, which community performs it, or which feature identifies a classical style. Learn the classical dances with their state and one signature feature each, such as the face make-up of Kathakali or the brass plate of Kuchipudi. For folk dances, group them state by state, since exams often list three or four dances and ask for the common state. Watch for dances shared by more than one state, such as Chhau, which has three styles. Practise the Indian dance forms 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.