Indian Arts & Culture

 

Few important Art & Culture one-liners=>  

• Major Stupas in India:
• Few Important Tourist Places in India:
  

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• Temple Architecture in Ancient India:

• The 12 feet Statue of Adi Guru Shankracharya was unveiled: at Kedarnath Temple in Uttrakhand, near the Mandakini river.

• Raja-Rani Temple: is in Bhuvneshwar(Odisha).
•  Channapatna Toys: is the term given to toys manufactured In Channaptna village/hamlet in Karnataka. To read more, click here 
• 1.      The Sangai Festival is celebrated in: Manipur
• 2.      The temples constructed at Khajuraho are: -1. Jain temples 2. Vaishnavite Temples 3. Saivite Temples 
• 3.      The famous ‘Hornbill festival’ is celebrated in: Nagaland
• 4.      Gandhara School of Art: 1) It displays Greek artistic influence and the concept of the “man-god” was essentially inspired by Greek mythological culture. 2) Artistically, the Gandhara school of sculpture is said to have contributed wavy hair, drapery covering both shoulders, shoes and sandals etc. 3) The Gandhara art primarily depicted the Buddhist themes.
• 5.      Gundecha brothers are well-known exponents of Dhrupad styles of Hindustani Classical Music
• 6.      Elephant festival is celebrated annually in:  Jaipur
• 7.      ‘Me-Dam-Me-Phi’ festival is a festival of the Tai-Ahom community in North Eastern India.
• 8.      Today’s Gurmukhi, Dogri and Sindhi scripts have developed from Sarada script.
• 9.      Ezhuthachan Puraskaram is the highest literary award of Kerala Govt.
• 10.  Karnataka state Government confers the Basavashree award
• 11.   A Fire temple is a place of worship for: Zoroastrians
• 12.  Bageshwari Qamar is India’s first and only (possibly) woman player of Shehnai, the music instrument.
• 13.  The Mathura school of arts used: Red Sandstone
• 14.  Barabar Caves is the oldest surviving rock-cut cave system in India
• 15.  Yakshagana, a dance drama is popular in Karnataka .
• 16.  Sindhu Darshan was the earlier name of “Leh Singhe-Khababs” Festival
• 17.  Tangaliya shawl, a unique weaving style has been given GI (Geographical Indications) recognition by the Central government in the latter half of 2009. This is an indigenous craft of Gujrat.
• 18.  “Matrimandir” is located in: Pondicherry.
• 19.  “Temple of the Emerald Buddha”  is located in Thailand.
• 20.  Kallol was the name of one of the most influential movements in Bangla Literature.
• 21Vishwakarma Jayanti celebration is observed by worshipping tools.
• 22.      Sattriya dance, which is one of the eight principal classical Indian dance traditions is from Assam

3.     Konark Sun Temple, Orissa was called as “The Black Pagoda” by the Europeans.

4.     Monolithic human figures carved from a rock called Moai Statues , which are also counted under seven forgotten wonders of the medieval world are located in Chile

5.     A festival called Chapchar Kut is celebrated in March in Mizoram.

6.     Gaudavaho of Vakpati narrates the Digvijay of Yasovarman

7.     Shore Temple is located in Tamilnadu.

8.      Vyas Samman is given in the field of Literature.

 

Performing Arts=>

=>Classical Dances:

1.  Bharatnatyam

2.  Kathakali

3.  Kathak

4.  Manipuri

5.  Odissi

6.  Kuchipudi

7.  Sattriya

 

A) Hindustani Music

The music of India includes multiple varieties of classical music, folk music, filmi, Indian rock, and Indian pop. Indian pop and

 Indian rock is derived from western rock and roll. India's classical music tradition, including Hindustani music, 

Bhartiya music and Carnatic music have a history spanning millennia and developed over several areas. Read any Indian Epic, will find a mention of Music. Music in India began as an integral part of socio-religious life. Be it peasantry life or business class they have an affinity/liking for music.

Music in Indian Culture is not a new phenomenon Here, Digging in the past gives you enough witness. ...

The 30,000 years old paleolithic and neolithic cave paintings at the UNESCO world heritage site at Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh show

musical instruments and dance. Mesolithic and chalcolithic cave art of Bhimbhetka illustrates musical instruments such as harp, drums, gongs, daf etc.

Chalcolithic era (400 BCE onward) narrow bar-shaped polished stone celts like music instruments, one of the earlier musical instruments in India, were excavated at Sankarjang in the Angul district of Odisha. There is historical evidence in the form of sculptural evidence, i.e. musical instruments, singing and dancing postures of damsels in the Ranigumpha Caves in Khandagiri and Udayagiri at Bhubaneswar.

Dancing Girl sculpture (2500 BCE) was found from the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) site. There are IVC-era paintings on pottery of a man with a dhol hanging from his neck and a woman holding a drum under her left arm.

=>Classical Music:

The two main traditions of Indian classical music are Carnatic music, which is found predominantly in the peninsular regions, and Hindustani music, which is found in the northern, eastern and central regions. The basic concepts of this music include shruti (microtones), swaras (notes), alankar (ornamentations), raga (melodies improvised from basic grammars), and tala (rhythmic patterns used in percussion). Its tonal system divides the octave into 22 segments called Shrutis, not all equal but each roughly equal to a quarter of a whole tone of the Western music.

        Sangeet Natak Academy recognizes eight classical dance and music forms, namely Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Sattriya, Manipuri and Mohiniyattam. Additionally, India's Ministry of Culture also includes Chhau in its classical list.

⇒ Carnatic Classical Music

·        

      => Some Basics of Carnatic music explained here: 

   1) Swara: Swara refers to a type of musical sound that is a single note, which defines a relative higher or lower) position of a note, rather than a defined frequency. Swaras also refer to the solfege of Carnatic music, which consists of seven notes, "sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni" These names are abbreviations of the longer names shadja, rishabha, Gandhara. madhyama, panchama, dhaivata and nishada.

   2)Raag System: Raaga in Carnatic music prescribes a set of rules for building a melody. It specifies rules for movements up (aarohanam) and down (avarohanam), the scale of which notes should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes may be sung with gamaka, which phrases should be used, phrases should be avoided, and so on

   3)Taal System: Taal or Tala refers to the beat set for a particular composition (a measure of time). Taals have cycles of a defined number of beats and rarely change within a song.

     4)Kriti: Carnatic songs (kritis) are varied in structure and style, but generally consist of three units, which is Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charana. This kind of song is called a keerthana or a Kriti.

    5)Varnam: This is a special item, which highlights everything important about a raga; not just the scale, but also which notes to stress, how to approach a certain note, classical and characteristic phrases, etc. 

     6)Raga Alapana: This is the exposition of the raga of the song that will be performed. 

    7) Niraval: This is usually performed by the more advanced concert artists and consists of singing one or two lines of a song repeatedly, but with improvised elaborations.

    8)Thanam: This form of improvisation was originally developed for the veena and consists of expanding the raga with syllables like tha, nam, thom, aa, nom, na, etc.

   9)Kalpanaswaram: The most elementary type of improvisation, usually taught before any other form of improvisation. It consists of singing a pattern of notes, which finishes on the beat and the note just before the beat and also on the note on which the song starts.

 

B) ⇒ Regional Music

• Pankhida - Rajasthan
• Lotia  Rajasthan
• Pandavani - Chattisgarh
• Shakunakhar-Mangalgeet, Kumaon
• Barhamasa - Kumaon
• Mando - goa
• Alha - U.P.
• Hori - U.P.
• Sohar -  U.P.
• Chakri - Kashmir
• Laman - H.P.
• Kajri -  U.P.
• Qawwali
• Tappa - Punjab
• Powada - Maharashtra
• Teej Songs - Rajasthan
• Burrakatha - Andhra Pradesh

C) ⇒ Traditional Theatre forms

·       Bhuta Song - Kerela

·       Daskathia - Odisha

·       Bihu Songs - Assam

·       Sana lomak - Manipur

·       Saikuti Zai - Mizoram

·       Chai Hia - Mizoram

·       Basanti - Garhwal

·       Ghasiyari Geet - Garhwal

·       Villu Pattu - Tamil Nadu

·       Sikar Ke Biah - Bhojpuri Song

C) ⇒ Traditional Theatre forms

·        Bhand Pather

·        Swang

·        Nautanki

·        Raasleela

·        Bhavai

·        Jatra

·        Maach

·        Bhaona

·        Tamaasha

·        Dashavatar

·        Krishinattam

·        Mudiyettu

·        Theyyam

·        Koodiyattam

·        Yakshaagana

·        Therukoothu

D) ⇒ Puppetry:

Puppets or “Kathputli” is an ancient and popular form of folk entertainment. Egyptians are probably the earliest known puppeteers. String Puppets of wood performing the action of kneading bread is the oldest evidence of puppets in Egypt as early as 2000 BC. Puppetry in India must have originated earlier than the 5th century B.C. In the 2nd century, the Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar mentioned `marionettes moved by strings` in his compositions. The mention of the `pavai koothu` in the Tamil epic Silappadhikareita by Ilango Adigal is also very significant regarding the history of puppetry. In Srimad  Bhagavata, the God Almighty has been likened to a puppeteer who with three strings-Sattva, Rajas and Tamas-manipulates all the beings in the created universe.

There are four types of puppets glove, rod, shadow and string. They are differentiated based on the different ways of manipulation of puppets. These  4 types that are in practice, are: :::

 1)String Puppets

          2)Shadow Puppets

3)    3)Rod Puppets

      n  4) Glove Puppets   

🎨 Famous paintings

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🎨 Madhubani paintings - Bihar Warli - Maharashtra 

 Kalighat painting or Bengal 

pat - west Bengal 

 Phad -Rajasthan 

 Kalamkari - Andhra Pradesh

 Miniature painting - Rajasthan

 Gond painting- Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh , Odisha Kerala 

Murals - Kerala 

 Patachitra - Odisha 

 Picchwai - Rajasthan 

 Pithora painting - Gujrat

 ***_______***_______ Floor painting 

👉 Chaok purna -UP 

👉 Aipan - Uttarakhand 

👉 Mandana - Rajasthan 

👉 Muggulu - Andhra Pradesh 

👉 Kalam Jatra - Kerala

 👉 Aripuna - Bihar

 👉 Rangoli - Maharashtra 

👉 Alpana - west Bengal

 👉 Kollam - Tamil Nadu 

👉 Aroop - Himachal Pradesh 

👉 Athiya - Gujrat