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SSC CGL Art and Culture Questions 2026 (Dance, Music, Painting, Architecture & Festivals GK MCQ) — Free Chapter Wise Test in Hindi & English

Which state does Sattriya belong to, which instrument did Ram Narayan play, who built the Gol Gumbaz, where is the Goncha festival held — SSC asks Art and Culture as one-line facts, and the wrong options are always four dances, four musicians or four monuments that look equally right. Practise 425 questions in 17 tests covering the whole chapter: classical and folk dances, music and instruments, painting, temple and Indo-Islamic architecture, UNESCO heritage, festivals, puppetry and crafts, and cultural institutions. Every test is in English and Hindi, and every question has a 6–7 point solution that also covers the facts around it.

17 Tests 425 Questions 25 Questions per Test English & हिंदी

Art & Culture Tests — Pick a Test and Start

Tap below to see all the tests. They follow the order of the chapter — dance in Tests 1–4, music in Tests 5–8, painting in Tests 9–10, architecture in Tests 11–13, then UNESCO heritage, festivals, puppetry and crafts, and cultural institutions in Tests 14–17 — so you can take them one after another or jump to the part you are revising. Choose English or हिंदी on any test.

Art & Culture All Chapter Tests Checking… View tests

Set at real SSC CGL and CHSL level. Each test mixes the ways SSC asks Art and Culture — direct one-line questions, statement questions, match the following and assertion–reason, with a few arrange-in-order questions on recital sequences — and no fact is asked twice across the chapter.

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Art and Culture is a matching chapter. SSC does not ask you to describe a dance, a raga or a temple; it asks which state it belongs to, which artist is known for it, or which dynasty built it. The four options are always taken from the same list — four classical dances, four santoor and sarod players, four Mughal emperors — so a fact you have only half learnt is exactly what the paper is built to catch.

Marks are lost in three places. The first is dance–state pairs: Sattriya and Assam, Kuchipudi and Andhra Pradesh, Mohiniyattam and Kathakali both from Kerala, and the three styles of Chhau in three different states. The second is exponent–dance pairs: Kelucharan Mahapatra and Odissi, Vempati Chinna Satyam and Kuchipudi, Guru Bipin Singh and Manipuri, Birju Maharaj and Kathak. The third is builder–monument pairs: Rajaraja I and the Brihadeeshwara temple, Narasimhadeva I and Konark, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah and the Charminar, Nur Jahan and Itimad-ud-Daulah’s tomb. The tests here are built around exactly these three.

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How Many Art and Culture Questions Are Asked in SSC CGL?

Art and Culture gives one or two of the 25 General Awareness questions in most SSC CGL Tier I shifts, and dances — classical or folk — are the most common single topic among them. CHSL, MTS and the Tier II General Awareness paper follow the same pattern. The topics below are the ones SSC returns to most often, roughly in order.

TopicHow oftenWhat is usually asked
Classical dancesVery frequentDance–state pairs, gurus and exponents, recital items, recognition by the Sangeet Natak Akademi
Folk dancesVery frequentFolk dance–state pairs, the community that performs it, the festival or season it belongs to
Music and instrumentsFrequentMusicians and their instruments, gharanas, Hindustani and Carnatic forms
UNESCO heritageFrequentIntangible heritage elements and their year, World Heritage Sites
Painting, crafts and theatreRegularPainting schools and folk art by state, puppetry, folk theatre forms
Festivals and martial artsRegularFestival–state pairs, martial art–state pairs

Art and Culture also overlaps with History — temple architecture, the Natyashastra, Sankardeva and the Bhakti saints, and Sultanate and Mughal monuments are asked under both headings.

What Each Art and Culture Test Covers

The 425 questions run through the chapter in order, 25 to a test. Where a topic ends partway through a test, the next one begins in the same test.

TestTopics
Test 1The Natyashastra, its date and the four Vedas behind it; early evidence of dance; Tandava and Lasya; the four abhinayas; nritta, nritya and natya; the navarasas and mudras; the eight classical dances and their states; Bharatanatyam — its name, the Abhinaya Darpana, the Devadasis, the Tanjore Quartet, the recital order and Rukmini Devi Arundale
Test 2Kuchipudi — its village, Siddhendra Yogi and Bhama Kalapam, Tarangam, Manduk Shabdam, Jala Chitra Nrityam and the recital order; Kathakali — its roots in Ramanattam and Krishnanattam, opening items, make-up colours, character types, Kalaripayattu, Chenda and Maddalam, the Kalivilakku; Mohiniyattam — Sopanam, Hastalakshana Deepika, costume and Kerala Kalamandalam
Test 3Odissi — Udayagiri and Khandagiri, Maharis and Gotipuas, the Gita Govinda, the recital order and Tribhanga; Manipuri — the Raslila, Pung, Potloi, Choloms and Nagabandha; Kathak — the Kathakars, its four gharanas, Kramalaya and its exponents; Sattriya — Sankardeva, the sattras, Ankiya Naat, Borgeet and the Bhokots
Test 4Chhau and its three styles; folk dances of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Mizoram and other states; UNESCO intangible heritage in order; martial arts of India and the Paika Rebellion
Test 5Music: origins and theory — the Samaveda, Margi and Desi, Brihaddeshi and Sangita Ratnakara; the seven swaras, achal and chal, komal and tivra; saptak and shruti; audav, shadav and sampoorna ragas; raga time and seasons; Bhatkhande’s ten thaats and Paluskar; Tansen; tala, teentaal and other talas
Test 6Hindustani vocal music — dhrupad, its banis and the Dagars, dhamar; khayal and its gharanas (Gwalior, Agra, Kirana, Jaipur-Atrauli, Patiala, Rampur-Sahaswan, Mewati); tarana, thumri, dadra, tappa, chaiti and kajri; ghazal and Begum Akhtar; qawwali; noted vocalists and Bharat Ratna to musicians
Test 7Carnatic music — Purandara Dasa, Annamacharya, the Trinity, Swathi Thirunal; the 72 melakartas; kriti, varnam and other forms; Carnatic tala and laghu jaatis; the Madras Music Academy and M.S. Subbulakshmi; Baul, Abhang, Rabindra Sangeet, Alha and the folk songs of the states
Test 8Musical instruments — tata, sushira, avanaddha and ghana vadya; sarod, santoor, sarangi, the veenas, nadaswaram and thavil; Kerala and Rajasthani folk instruments; sitar, sarod, santoor, flute, tabla, violin, rudra veena, mohan veena, ghatam and mridangam exponents
Test 9Painting I — Bhimbetka and other rock paintings; the Shadanga; Ajanta, Bagh, Sittanavasal, Chola and Kerala murals; Pala and Western Indian manuscripts; Sultanate painting; Mughal painting under Humayun, Akbar and Jahangir; Deccan, Kishangarh, Rajasthani and Pahari schools
Test 10Painting II — Madhubani, Warli, Pattachitra, Kalamkari, Phad, Pithora, Manjusha, Thangka, Kalighat, Tanjore and other folk paintings; Company School; Raja Ravi Varma, Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, the Progressive Artists’ Group, M.F. Husain and Ram Kinkar Baij; the NGMA
Test 11Early art and architecture — Harappan town planning and sculpture; Ashokan pillars and the Sarnath Lion Capital; Didarganj Yakshi and the Barabar caves; stupas of Sanchi, Bharhut and Amaravati; chaityas and viharas, Ajanta and Ellora caves; Gandhara and Mathura schools; Gupta art and temples; Buddha mudras
Test 12Temple architecture — parts of a temple; Nagara, Dravida and Vesara; Odisha temples and Konark; Khajuraho, Modhera and the Bhumija style; Pallava, Chola, Nayaka and Vijayanagara temples; Chola bronzes; Chalukya and Hoysala temples; Dilwara and other Jain temples
Test 13Indo-Islamic and later architecture — Qutub Minar, Alai Darwaza, Tughlaq and Lodi tombs; provincial styles, Gol Gumbaz and Charminar; Humayun’s tomb, Fatehpur Sikri, Itimad-ud-Daulah and the Taj Mahal; Rajput forts, Hawa Mahal and Jantar Mantar; Harmandir Sahib; Goa churches and colonial New Delhi
Test 14UNESCO heritage — India’s 45 World Heritage Sites by category and state, the first sites of 1983, natural and mixed sites, every recent inscription up to Sarnath (2026); the Intangible Cultural Heritage list up to Deepavali (2025); UNESCO Creative Cities
Test 15Fairs and festivals — Pongal, Bihu, Onam and Nuakhai; festivals of the north-east including Hornbill and the Kut festivals; Hemis; tribal festivals of Jharkhand; Bastar Dussehra and Goncha; Bhagoria; fairs of Rajasthan and the Ajmer Urs; Hola Mohalla; festivals of Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra; Kumbh Mela
Test 16Puppetry, theatre and crafts — string, shadow, rod and glove puppets; Jatra, Burrakatha and the theatre forms of Kerala; sarees, silks and handlooms; Phulkari, Chikankari and other embroidery; block printing and tie-dye; Kashmir shawls; Bidriware, Dhokra, wooden toys, Blue Pottery and Longpi pottery; GI tags
Test 17Institutions, awards and languages — Sangeet Natak, Sahitya and Lalit Kala Akademis, NSD, ICCR, ASI and the museums; Darpana and other dance institutions; Kalidas Samman, Tansen Samman, Jnanpith and Saraswati Samman; the 11 classical languages; revived dance traditions and noted dancers

The three traps that cost the most marks

  • Eight or nine classical dances. The Sangeet Natak Akademi recognises eight classical dances; the Ministry of Culture adds Chhau to make nine. Read which body the question names before you count.
  • One name, two states. Bhavai is a pot-balancing dance of Rajasthan but a folk theatre of Gujarat; Jhummar is a men’s dance of Punjab while Jhumur belongs to the tea gardens of Assam; Ghoomar is from Rajasthan, Dhamal from Haryana and Dumhal from Kashmir. Learn the spelling with the state.
  • The extreme word in a statement question. “Only by women”, “all three styles use masks”, “performed in the daytime” — SSC hides the wrong statement in words like these. Kuchipudi was traditionally danced by men, Manipuri has vigorous male Choloms, and Mayurbhanj Chhau has no masks.

Solved Examples — SSC CGL Art and Culture

Q1. Hojagiri is a folk dance of which state?
(a) Tripura
(b) Assam
(c) Mizoram
(d) Nagaland
Hojagiri is performed by the women of the Reang (Bru) community of Tripura, who balance on an earthen pitcher while carrying a bottle or a lamp on the head. Bihu and Bagurumba belong to Assam, Cheraw to Mizoram and the war dances of the Nagas to Nagaland. Answer: (a)
Q2. Consider the following statements:
1. Mohiniyattam is a solo dance of Kerala performed by women.
2. Kuchipudi takes its name from a village in Andhra Pradesh.
3. Manipuri dancers traditionally wear ankle bells (ghungroo).
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Statements 1 and 2 are correct: Mohiniyattam, the dance of the enchantress, is a women’s solo form of Kerala, and Kuchipudi is named after Kuchipudi village in Krishna district. Statement 3 is wrong — Manipuri dancers do not wear ghungroo; ankle bells are an essential part of Kathak. Answer: (a)
Q3. Read the Assertion (A) and Reason (R) carefully.
Assertion (A): Bihu of Assam is closely linked with the agricultural calendar.
Reason (R): Bohag (Rongali) Bihu, celebrated in mid-April, marks the Assamese New Year and the start of the sowing season.
(a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
(b) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
(c) A is true, but R is false
(d) A is false, but R is true
Assam celebrates three Bihus, each tied to a stage of the paddy cycle — Bohag or Rongali Bihu in April at sowing time, Kati or Kongali Bihu in October and Magh or Bhogali Bihu in January after the harvest. The Bihu dance belongs to Rongali Bihu, which opens the farming year, so R explains A. Answer: (a)
Q4. ‘यक्षगान’ किस राज्य की पारंपरिक लोक नाट्य शैली है?
(a) केरल
(b) कर्नाटक
(c) तमिलनाडु
(d) आंध्र प्रदेश
यक्षगान कर्नाटक के तटीय क्षेत्रों की लोक नाट्य शैली है, जिसमें नृत्य, संगीत, संवाद और रंगीन वेशभूषा के साथ रामायण-महाभारत की कथाएँ प्रस्तुत की जाती हैं। यह संगीत नाटक अकादमी के आठ शास्त्रीय नृत्यों में शामिल नहीं है। तमिलनाडु का तेरुकूत्तु और आंध्र प्रदेश का वीधि नाटकम् इसी तरह की लोक नाट्य शैलियाँ हैं। उत्तर: (b)

How the Art and Culture Tests Work

  • 25 questions per test, with a full question palette — answered, skipped, marked for review, not visited.
  • 17 tests, 425 questions, in chapter order — dance, music, painting, architecture, UNESCO heritage, festivals, crafts and cultural institutions, with no fact repeated across the chapter.
  • All SSC question types — direct questions, statement questions, match the following and assertion–reason, with a few arrange-in-order questions.
  • Optional 15-minute timer — with the clock for exam speed, without it while you are still learning the facts.
  • Marking: +2 correct, −0.5 wrong, 0 unattempted — the same scheme as the real paper.
  • 6–7 point solutions open after you submit — the answer, the facts around it (states, artists, instruments, builders, dates) and what each wrong option actually refers to, so one question revises a whole topic.
  • English and Hindi — every test is available in both; choose the language when you start.
  • Free with a TrickySSC account — sign in once with Google or your mobile number, and every test is open to you.

How to Prepare Art and Culture for SSC CGL

  1. Keep one table per topic. Dance – state – gurus; instrument – three exponents; monument – builder – dynasty; festival – state – community. Most SSC Art and Culture questions are a single row of one of these tables.
  2. Learn folk dances state by state, not alphabetically. Rajasthan alone has Ghoomar, Kalbelia, Bhavai, Terahtali, Gair and the fire dance of the Jasnathis — a state list makes the look-alike names stick.
  3. Pair every dance with its community. Kalbelia and the snake-charmers, Bagurumba and the Bodos, Ponung and the Adis, Panthi and the Satnamis — SSC often hides the answer in the community.
  4. Read the solutions, not just the answer. Each solution here carries six or seven related facts — reading them is how 425 questions cover the whole chapter.
  5. Check yourself on real questions. One test a day keeps the earlier topics fresh while you move ahead, and the Art and Culture previous year questions show exactly how SSC words them.

All SSC CGL Chapter Wise Tests

Every chapter below has its own free chapter tests with full solutions.

Browse all 82 chapter tests — Maths (35) · Reasoning (28) · English (14) · GK (5)
English Language
General Intelligence & Reasoning
Quantitative Aptitude (Maths)
General Awareness

SSC CGL Art and Culture — Frequently Asked Questions

How many Art and Culture questions are asked in SSC CGL?
Usually one or two of the 25 General Awareness questions in an SSC CGL Tier I shift, and dances — classical or folk — are the single most common topic among them. CHSL, MTS and the Tier II General Awareness paper follow the same pattern.
Which Art and Culture topics are most important for SSC?
Classical and folk dances with their states come up most often, followed by musicians and their instruments, temple and Mughal monuments, tribal and regional festivals, UNESCO heritage, painting schools and folk paintings.
How many tests and questions are in this chapter?
Seventeen tests of 25 questions each, 425 questions in all: four on dance, four on music and instruments, two on painting, three on architecture and sculpture, one on UNESCO heritage, one on festivals, one on puppetry, theatre and crafts, and one on cultural institutions, awards and classical languages. No fact is asked twice.
Are the Art and Culture tests available in Hindi?
Yes. Every test is available in both English and Hindi with the same questions and the same answer key, and you choose the language when you start the test.
What kind of questions are in the tests?
All four kinds SSC uses: direct one-line questions, statement questions, match the following and assertion-reason, along with a few arrange-in-order questions on recital sequences.
What do the solutions contain?
Six to seven short points for every question: the answer, the related facts around it such as states, artists, instruments, builders, dynasties and dates, and what each wrong option actually refers to.
Is there a timer, and what is the marking scheme?
An optional 15-minute timer per test, and the real exam marking of +2 for a correct answer, −0.5 for a wrong one and 0 for an unattempted question.
Are the Art and Culture tests free?
Yes, every test is free. You need a free TrickySSC account to start one — sign in once with Google or your mobile number and every test is open to you.

More Free SSC CGL Practice

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