Q 01/05

Which Odisha shrine, called the Black Pagoda by European sailors, is built as a huge stone chariot on carved wheels?

A) Konark Sun Temple

B) Modhera Sun Temple

C) Jagannath Temple

D) Mukteshvara Temple

Answer · why

A) Konark Sun Temple

Konark Sun Temple's dark tower was a landmark for ships in the Bay of Bengal, so sailors called it the Black Pagoda; Puri's Jagannath Temple was their...

Q 02/05

Which English word for an unstoppable force comes from the deity whose chariot is hauled through Puri each year?

A) Behemoth

B) Juggernaut

C) Leviathan

D) Steamroller

Answer · why

B) Juggernaut

Juggernaut is an old English spelling of Jagannath; early European travellers told lurid, probably apocryphal tales of pilgrims crushed under his gian...

Q 03/05

Which Mauryan emperor, sickened by the slaughter of his own Kalinga War, renounced conquest for Buddhism?

A) Ashoka

B) Chandragupta

C) Bindusara

D) Brihadratha

Answer · why

A) Ashoka

Ashoka had his remorse cut into rock: his thirteenth edict admits that 100,000 people were killed and 150,000 deported when he conquered Kalinga.

Q 04/05

Which brackish Odisha lagoon, cut off from the Bay of Bengal by a long sandbar, is home to endangered Irrawaddy dolphins?

A) Pulicat Lake

B) Vembanad Lake

C) Chilika Lake

D) Ansupa Lake

Answer · why

C) Chilika Lake

Chilika Lake was choking on silt and joined Ramsar's danger list in 1993; engineers cut a new mouth to the sea, the fish came back and the lake was ta...

Q 05/05

Which classical dance from Odisha's temples, revived by four gurus around 1950, is known for its tribhangi pose?

A) Kathak

B) Odissi

C) Kuchipudi

D) Mohiniyattam

Answer · why

B) Odissi

Odissi is often called the oldest surviving classical dance of India, and the tribhangi and chauka poses it uses appear in Jain Kalpasutra manuscripts...