Mythology quiz conducted by Quiz Club NITW on 10th April 2022, as a part of a trilogy of quizzes for the college fest Spring Spree 2022. The set has both the Prelims and Finals which include various questions on topics related to Mythology ranging from Hindu mythology to Greek and Norse mythology!
3. RULES
● 15 Written questions, 1 point each.
● Part points for getting half-correct answers.
● No Negatives, feel free to guess anything.
● Top 8 teams will qualify to the finals.
● Tie-breakers are marked with *
● In the case of a tie, tiebreakers will be evaluated.
● Write your team name and phone number on the sheet before submitting.
● Don’t google, have fun.
4. Question 1
One day during his everyday rituals, Sage Sutikshna found that two of his saligramas
which he used to worship went missing from his ashram and were found deep inside a
lake, he had to collect them from the lake. This kept happening everyday.
Later, he found that Salagramas were being carried and thrown into lake by two
monkeys. Enraged by the behavior of the monkeys, Sutikshna cursed the monkeys in
such a way that even if monkeys would repeat the act, it would not be so difficult for
sutikshna to bring the salagramas back. This curse helped these monkeys later in life.
What was the curse? How, later in puranas, did this curse help?
5. Question 2 *
“Two farmers approached Dharmaraj to settle their dispute over a pot of gold. One of
the farmers had sold his land to other and the latter found the pot of gold in the land
and offered it to the old owner but the old owner refused to take it as he had already
sold the land by the time the post was discovered. To settle the dispute, Krishna advised
Dharmaraj to ask the farmers to return after three months for the judgement. Three
months later, shockingly, the farmers fought each other to claim their sole
ownership.”
In puranas, this story is often used as an example to describe the onset of _______.
FITB.
6. Question 3
Although there is no particular origin or backstory of X in holy books, X is considered
as sacred and lucky number by many people across the world. One of the justifying
reasons is that when each letter of a particular holy phrase ______ is assigned a numeral,
the sum leads to X. While many argue this as made up one by the people of Indian
subcontinent, others still continue to believe in the significance of X and that is why X
appears in most of the places like on walls, in title of movies and most commonly on
vehicles across the world.
ID X
7. Question 4
The story behind this temple of X in south india dates back to the charming tale of
sibling rivalry between X & Y. According to Hindu mythology, A sage once visited the
celestial court of ____ to present to him the gyana-phalam ,that held in it the elixir of
wisdom and counselled against dividing it.
Thus _____ decided to challenge the contenders and pleased with Y’s ability to judge well
and cleverness , ____ awarded it to Y .
Upon return, X was furious to learn his efforts had been in vain and took up his abode in
hills in South India. It is believed that X felt the need to get matured from boyhood and
hence chose to remain as a hermit and Y had to pacify and bring him back.
ID X and Y and what we know the abode now as?
8. Question 5
Methemoglobinemia is a condition where hemoglobin is unable to release oxygen
effectively to body tissues. As the blood doesn’t get oxygenated, it causes a certain
reaction. This condition is given as a scientific explanation for a popular mythological
entity.
The religious interpretation of this condition involves the sayings of Swami
Chinmayananda, where he says that the certain reaction is seen as such because of the
perception of our eye to see anything immeasurable as X. Hence it justifies the fact that
the entity is beyond our perception and is apt to attribute X to this entity.
What is being talked about?
9. Question 6
X, while in his mischievous mood and having known
that Y is fond of Z’s ____, casts sleeping spell on Z and
does something that is shown in the image.
Consequently X is forced to visit the dwarfs to find new
____for Z and accidentally finds many items including
Y’s popular weapon.
An adaption of this on screen released in 2020 follows
the storyline similar to the myth but the consequence
he faced were presented in a comic way.
ID X and Y.
10. Question 7 *
About a year ago, as a flight departed from Mumbai to the west, Jair Bolsonaro
expressed his gratitude through social media as “Brazil feels honored to have a great
partner to overcome this obstacle by joining efforts. Thank you for assisting us with the
Z exports from India to Brazil. Dhanyavaad!”.
Jair also included an image referring a mythological incident, where a similar assistance
was done by X in transporting Y.
ID Y and Z.
11. Question 8
Since Draupadi was married to all 5 Pandavas, they created a rule among themselves
that if she was spending time with one of the brothers, no one else should enter.
Once, it so happened that a brother went to her chambers, and not finding any footwear
outside, he went in to find Draupadi and another brother in a compromising position.
Embarrassment all around, upon investigation, it turned out that a ___ had run off with
the footwear. Draupadi, angry with the ___, cursed the entire ___ race. What was the
curse?
12. Question 9
Few years ago, Minister of railways
announced the revival of a famous tourist
train following the shown route. Although
other trains reach the destination in
maximum of 3 days, this train takes around
16 days to cover the same path.
ID the train.
13. Question 10 *
With the one spear he smote the shield,
but it brake not through, for the gold stayed it, the gift of the god
and with the other he smote the right forearm of X a grazing blow,
and the black blood gushed forth; but the spear-point passed above him
The above paragraph from an important account of a mythological event proves that a
popular myth regarding X's strength, was actually not mentioned in the original. Many
other accounts of X also do not include any such divine explanations of his talent.
It is theorised that maybe the myth was made up to introduce a sense of irony or an
anticlimax.
Who is X/ What myth?
14. Question 11
The following characters appear in a popular Indian cartoon show, inspired heavily by
Hindu mythology. Here are the descriptions for some of the characters:
X -The main protagonist who is a divine boy with mystical powers, maintaining his cover
as a school student and seeks to defeat Y. He is portrayed as both powerful and childish.
Y - The principal of the school who secretly wants to conquer the world.
Z - A phone booth owner who reports the events happening in the school to the gods.
ID X Y and Z?
15. Question 12
X is a short film directed by a famous Indian director, which is a modern take on a
mythological tale.
The basic plot is that the policeman visits a famous artist who is a doll maker, to inquire
about the cases of a few missing men. To his surprise, he also meets a young beautiful
woman, who is actually the wife of the old doll maker. The woman tries to seduce the
policeman, who gives in to his sexual temptation. Finally, it is revealed that the
policeman finds himself trapped inside the figure of a doll.
The director used dolls to signify an important aspect of this mythological tale.
Id X and why did he use dolls?
16.
17. Question 13
The boon of Lord Shiva and Brahma made Ravana invincible. He wanted a similar fate for
his son Meghnath, and so when he was about to be born, Ravana kidnapped all the 9
deities and placed them in the 11th position so that his newborn too could be immortal
and invincible.
However, Lord Hanuman reached the place when he was searching for Mata Sita in
Lanka after she was kidnapped by Ravana. It was then Lord Hanuman rescued the
deities from Ravana. As a thank you gesture, one of the deities gave a boon to Lord
Hanuman that the effect of the deity’s in-auspiciousness will never affect him in any
way. In return, Lord Hanuman mentioned that none of his devotees should be affected
as well.
Which deity is specified here amongst the 9?
18. Question 14
Ganjifa is a card game and type of playing cards that are most associated with Persia
and India. After Ganjifa cards fell out of use in Iran before the twentieth century, India
became the last country to produce them. ___ Ganjifa is a 3 player game with 120 cards
played mainly in Sawantwadi in Maharashtra. There are 10 suits of 12 cards each, the suits
correspond to ___.
The following image shows the motifs on each card.
What do they represent?
19.
20. Question 15 *
According to the law of karma, the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states
of existence decides their fate in future existences and it applies to everyone.
Oneday, after receding into the forest after the kurukshetra war, Krishna was resting
under a tree. A hunter named Jara came there and from a distance, he mistook
Krishna’s partly visible left foot for that of a deer and shot an arrow, standing behind a
tree, wounding him mortally. Later krishna said that it was because of his previous act,
which made him feel this pain.
What was the previous act of Krishna?
22. Question 1
One day during his everyday rituals, Sage Sutikshna found that two of his saligramas
which he used to worship went missing from his ashram and were found deep inside a
lake, he had to collect them from the lake. This kept happening everyday.
Later, he found that Salagramas were being carried and thrown into lake by two
monkeys. Enraged by the behavior of the monkeys, Sutikshna cursed the monkeys in
such a way that even if monkeys would repeat the act, it would not be so difficult for
sutikshna to bring the salagramas back. This curse helped these monkeys later in life.
What was the curse? How, later in puranas, did this curse help?
23. Answer
The Curse - Anything Nala and Neela put in the
water would float.
This helped vanara army in building Rama Sethu
24. Question 2 *
“Two farmers approached Dharmaraj to settle their dispute over a pot of gold. One of
the farmers had sold his land to other and the latter found the pot of gold in the land
and offered it to the old owner but the old owner refused to take it as he had already
sold the land by the time the post was discovered. To settle the dispute, Krishna advised
Dharmaraj to ask the farmers to return after three months for the judgement. Three
months later, shockingly, the farmers fought each other to claim their sole
ownership.”
In puranas, this story is often used as an example to describe the onset of _______.
FITB.
26. Question 3
Although there is no particular origin or backstory of X in holy books, X is considered
as sacred and lucky number by many people across the world. One of the justifying
reasons is that when each letter of a particular holy phrase ______ is assigned a numeral,
the sum leads to X. While many argue this as made up one by the people of Indian
subcontinent, others still continue to believe in the significance of X and that is why X
appears in most of the places like on walls, in title of movies and most commonly on
vehicles across the world.
ID X
28. Question 4
The story behind this temple of X in south india dates back to the charming tale of
sibling rivalry between X & Y. According to Hindu mythology, A sage once visited the
celestial court of ____ to present to him the gyana-phalam ,that held in it the elixir of
wisdom and counselled against dividing it.
Thus _____ decided to challenge the contenders and pleased with Y’s ability to judge well
and cleverness , ____ awarded it to Y .
Upon return, X was furious to learn his efforts had been in vain and took up his abode in
hills in South India. It is believed that X felt the need to get matured from boyhood and
hence chose to remain as a hermit and Y had to pacify and bring him back.
ID X and Y and what we know the adobe now as?
30. Question 5
Methemoglobinemia is a condition where hemoglobin is unable to release oxygen
effectively to body tissues. As the blood doesn’t get oxygenated, it causes a certain
reaction. This condition is given as a scientific explanation for a popular mythological
entity.
The religious interpretation of this condition involves the sayings of Swami
Chinmayananda, where he says that the certain reaction is seen as such because of the
perception of our eye to see anything immeasurable as X. Hence it justifies the fact that
the entity is beyond our perception and is apt to attribute X to this entity.
What is being talked about?
32. Question 6
X, while in his mischievous mood and having known
that Y is fond of Z’s ____, casts sleeping spell on Z and
does something that is shown in the image.
Consequently X is forced to visit the dwarfs to find new
____for Z and accidentally finds many items including
Y’s popular weapon.
An adaption of this on screen released in 2020 follows
the storyline similar to the myth but the consequence
he faced were presented in a comic way.
ID X and Y.
34. Question 7 *
About a year ago, as a flight departed from Mumbai to the west, Jair Bolsonaro
expressed his gratitude through social media as “Brazil feels honored to have a great
partner to overcome this obstacle by joining efforts. Thank you for assisting us with the
Z exports from India to Brazil. Dhanyavaad!”.
Jair also included an image referring a mythological incident, where a similar assistance
was done by X in transporting Y.
ID Y and Z.
36. Question 8
Since Draupadi was married to all 5 Pandavas, they created a rule among themselves
that if she was spending time with one of the brothers, no one else should enter.
Once, it so happened that a brother went to her chambers, and not finding any footwear
outside, he went in to find Draupadi and another brother in a compromising position.
Embarrassment all around, upon investigation, it turned out that a ___ had run off with
the footwear. Draupadi, angry with the ___, cursed the entire ___ race.
What was the curse?
37. Answer
She cursed that all the dogs will hump in public from now, stripped of any shame and
embarrassment.
38. Question 9
Few years ago, Minister of railways
announced the revival of a famous tourist
train following the shown route. Although
other trains reach the destination in
maximum of 3 days, this train takes around
16 days to cover the same path.
ID the train.
40. Question 10 *
With the one spear he smote the shield,
but it brake not through, for the gold stayed it, the gift of the god
and with the other he smote the right forearm of X a grazing blow,
and the black blood gushed forth; but the spear-point passed above him
The above paragraph from an important account of a mythological event proves that a
popular myth regarding X's strength, was actually not mentioned in the original. Many
other accounts of X also do not include any such divine explanations of his talent.
It is theorised that maybe the myth was made up to introduce a sense of irony or an
anticlimax.
Who is X/ What myth?
42. Question 11
The following characters appear in a popular Indian cartoon show, inspired heavily by
Hindu mythology. Here are the descriptions for some of the characters:
X -The main protagonist who is a divine boy with mystical powers, maintaining his cover
as a school student and seeks to defeat Y. He is portrayed as both powerful and childish.
Y - The principal of the school who secretly wants to conquer the world.
Z - A phone booth owner who reports the events happening in the school to the gods.
ID X Y and Z?
44. Question 12
X is a short film directed by a famous Indian director, which is a modern take on a
mythological tale.
The basic plot is that the policeman visits a famous artist who is a doll maker, to inquire
about the cases of a few missing men. To his surprise, he also meets a young beautiful
woman, who is actually the wife of the old doll maker. The woman tries to seduce the
policeman, who gives in to his sexual temptation. Finally, it is revealed that the
policeman finds himself trapped inside the figure of a doll.
The director used dolls to signify an important aspect of this mythological tale.
Id X and why did he use dolls?
45.
46. Answer
X- Ahalya
Ahalya turned to rock because of Gautam
Rishi’s curse, which is being referred to by
making use of dolls in the short film
47. Question 13
The boon of Lord Shiva and Brahma made Ravana invincible. He wanted a similar fate for
his son Meghnath, and so when he was about to be born, Ravana kidnapped all the 9
deities and placed them in the 11th position so that his newborn too could be immortal
and invincible.
However, Lord Hanuman reached the place when he was searching for Mata Sita in
Lanka after she was kidnapped by Ravana. It was then Lord Hanuman rescued the
deities from Ravana. As a thank you gesture, one of the deities gave a boon to Lord
Hanuman that the effect of the deity’s in-auspiciousness will never affect him in any
way. In return, Lord Hanuman mentioned that none of his devotees should be affected
as well.
Which deity is specified here amongst the 9?
49. Question 14
Ganjifa is a card game and type of playing cards that are most associated with Persia
and India. After Ganjifa cards fell out of use in Iran before the twentieth century, India
became the last country to produce them. ___ Ganjifa is a 3 player game with 120 cards
played mainly in Sawantwadi in Maharashtra. There are 10 suits of 12 cards each, the suits
correspond to ___.
The following image shows the motifs on each card.
What do they represent?
52. Question 15 *
According to the law of karma, the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states
of existence decides their fate in future existences and it applies to everyone.
Oneday, after receding into the forest after the kurukshetra war, Krishna was resting
under a tree. A hunter named Jara came there and from a distance, he mistook
Krishna’s partly visible left foot for that of a deer and shot an arrow, standing behind a
tree, wounding him mortally. Later krishna said that it was because of his previous act,
which made him feel this pain.
What was the previous act of Krishna?
53. Answer
Rama killed Vali when he was not aware of from behind a tree
The same thing happened to krishna
55. FINALS
Team 3: Karna
Team 4: Nandi Ghosh
Team 1: Juggernaut
Team 2: Draupadi’s sugar babys
Team 5: Mytho Quiz
Team 6: Ja Ra Ramappam
Team 7: Soumyajit
Team 8: Barbie
Qualified teams:-
58. RULES
● 8 questions, one direct question per team.
● +10/-5 on pounce, +10/0 on bounce.
● Negatives on pouncing with half answers.
59. Question 1
In the ‘Man-eater of Malgudi’ by R.K. Narayan, an ancient mythological story has been
cleverly retold in a modern context. The plot of the novel is as follows;
The life of the protagonist Nataraj, who runs a printing press, is disrupted when he is
visited by a taxidermist Vasu. Vasu, described by Nataraj and his friends as a ‘Rakshasa’
encroaches and ruins all aspects of Nataraj’s life and is a nuisance to the town in
general. After a series of events that ruin Nataraj’s reputation, however, it is abruptly
announced that Vasu died in an attempt to squash a mosquito on his head which
damaged an important nerve. The book ends with the message that all monsters bring
downfall on themselves.
ID the mythical character / story, symbolising the triumph of good over evil, that this
story is based on.
61. Answer
Bhasmasura and Mohini
Bhasmasura was granted a boon that everything he
touched would turn to ash. Finally he was killed by
Mohini, a dancer, who tricked him into touching his
own head thus killing himself.
62. Question 2
In Greek mythology, X was the name of a river in the underworld that was also called
"the River of Unmindfulness" or "the River of Forgetfulness." Legend held that when
someone died, he or she was given a drink of water from the river to forget all about his
or her past life.
Eventually this act of forgetting came to be associated with feelings of sluggishness,
inactivity, or indifference. The name of the river and the noun "Y" all derive from "X"
Greek for "forgetfulness."
ID X and Y.
65. Question 3
X, as her name suggests, is the opposite of Y.
Thus, she is the goddess of poverty and suffering. Both are often depicted together in
sculptures and paintings. While Y prefers sweeter offerings like fruits and sweets, X
accepts sour and hot offerings. This is why Indians perform a certain ritual to ward away
X, by giving her these offerings.
ID X, and what practise?
66.
67. Answer
X - Alakshmi
Y - Lakshmi (not needed)
Practise - To hang “Nimbu-Mirchi” outside the house/ in the beginning of anything
auspicious
68. Question 4
Although finally removed from the musical, “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” had a group
of of four nerdy teenagers called X Chorus, who narrate the story and comment on
things happening in the play. X Chorus is a wordplay on Y Chorus (removing one letter)
which were a staple of ancient theatre of a particular region.
During Act-1 of the musical, the X contend that Peter Parker isn't actually the first person
to become a spider. They begins to tell the story of Z who was cursed because of her
hubris.
ID X and Z.
72. Question 5
X is widely used product in many households. It is made of Pyrethroid Cypermethrin
that is capable to paralysing the nervous system and chlorine pathway of cell
membrane leading to death. Hence it perfectly serves the purpose for which it is used
for.
They are marketed as Chinese _____ or miraculous _____ in other nations but it's Indian
manufacturer branded it as X since the procedure of application and functionality of X
resembles an incident from indian mythology.
ID X.
75. Question 6
"_____ __ ____" is the twenty-fourth and penultimate episode of the sixth season of a very
popular American television series.
The episode tells the story of the rivalry between two towns. When one town steals a
_____ tree, the main characters go on a rescue mission to bring it back.
They hide in a RV and park it outside a hospital, where it is impounded to the lot where
the tree is being held. When night falls, the town’s men and boys emerge from the RV
and escape and return the tree to their town.
What is the name of the episode?
78. Question 7
A team of scientists worked on the discovery and characterization of a gene in a certain
kind of fish. They also worked on the description of different variants that might be the
reason for the colour polymorphism in these fishes. These Central American fishes, start
out as black-and-white striped fish, and then, almost magically, some of these fishes lose
their colour and turn to something new (as shown in the image).
This similar phenomenon is observed in the field of mythology and hence these fishes
are called X cichlids.
ID X or the mythological reference.
82. Question 8
A very popular movie trilogy from 2010s involves a place where the characters in the
movie would go to stock up on their food supplies and weapons. The location, titled
‘Cornucopia’ featured at the centre of the _____ and had an constant supply of items
useful to the protagonists.
This object, ‘Cornucopia’, or ‘Horns of Plenty’ is directly taken from Greek mythology
and it is associated with abundance and prosperity.
Interestingly, the same concept is also mirrored in Hindu mythology where a similar
object was gifted to the central characters of an epic during a time of crisis.
Which 2012 movie? What object from Hindu mythology?
86. RULES
● Written round, 5 questions.
● Each question is +10/0.
● Submit your answer sheet after the round.
● Theme is MELAS.
87. Question 1 MUSIC
ID the mythological character being referred to in these song lyrics -
1. He said, "Will you be
mine?" I said, "No, sir"
I begged, "Let me go!"
And he said, "No,
ma'am"
I get what I want, one
way or the other
I'll own your heart and
soul, my lover
Six feet under
2. Serpent's bride, the end
awaits, human prey
No swords or armor shield
you from your fate
Hey you, you can't escape
Wicked smile, full of lies,
head of ______
Approach her cave, but
don't look __ ___ ____
3. Did he raise both fists and
say, "To hell with this" and
just let the ____ roll?
Let it roll, let it crash down
low
There's a house down there
but I lost it long ago
88. Question 2 ENTERTAINMENT
The ____ of X, is a golden, bejeweled treasure that has two rubies embedded on the front,
a blue jeweled inlay, silver filigree, and is overall studded with blue gemstones. This
treasure is shown in a popular action-adventure video game series, where they
supposedly reveal the origin of how the treasure ____ of X came to be.
Though there are numerous stories pertaining to the origin of ____ of X, the game
developers choose to use the myth where 2 Hindu mythological characters (X and Y)
fight against each other and during the fight, Y attacks X with his weapon and despite
the ability to dodge and counter-attack, X chooses to get struck by Y’s weapon and the
ripples of this battle lead to the formation of ____ of X.
ID X and the game franchise.
89. Question 3 LITERATURE
Author X drew inspiration from a whole slew of different fictional and historical sources
for his best-selling book series. The character Y fits a lot of the evil queen archetypes
from fairy tales, for one thing. Her name comes from the ancient Greek witch Z, both are
similar in their use of power to subdue men into doing their bidding.
Z is an enchantress and a minor goddess in Greek mythology. The best known of her
legends is told in Homer's Odyssey when Odysseus visits her island and she changes
most of his crew into swine.
ID Y and Z.
90. Question 4 ART
In one lecture on the mythological insights from X’s art, mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik
took the audience through many works by X.
Examining a painting (1), He drew attention to the power that apsara’s wielded by the
palpable tension on the subject’s face and his tight, nervous stance in the painting.
Themes of desire were common in many of X’s works, Pattanaik said, with paintings of
nymphs like Rumbah and Mohini. “Tapasvi is the opposite of Apsara,” he said, drawing
from the analogy that ‘Tapa’ means fire while ‘Aps’ means water.
Discussing the sovereignty of female characters in Indian mythology, the author pulled
up X’s famous painting (2). “She merely says she’s bored and despite the king’s
insistence, leaves. Society didn’t judge her for it, did not demonise her for it. Hard to
believe in these times, right?”
ID X and the works/mythological stories being talked about here (1 and 2).
91. Question 5 SPORTS
Deeply rooted in Indian culture for centuries, X has even found a mention in Hindu
mythology. In the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, it is said that the Pandava warrior, Arjuna,
mastered X's skills from Lord Krishna, where in Arjuna would breach the enemy walls
inconspicuously and would walk back unscathed with his skills.
A similar tale involves Arjuna's son Abhimanyu who invaded the seven-tiered defence-
Chakravyuha- of the Kauravas. It is believed that X was started in memory of the sacrifice
made by this valiant, young warrior as he fought against the odds.
Id X.
93. Question 1 MUSIC
ID the mythological character being referred to in these song lyrics -
1. He said, "Will you be
mine?" I said, "No, sir"
I begged, "Let me go!"
And he said, "No,
ma'am"
I get what I want, one
way or the other
I'll own your heart and
soul, my lover
Six feet under
2. Serpent's bride, the end
awaits, human prey
No swords or armor shield
you from your fate
Hey you, you can't escape
Wicked smile, full of lies,
head of ______
Approach her cave, but
don't look __ ___ ____
3. Did he raise both fists and
say, "To hell with this" and
just let the ____ roll?
Let it roll, let it crash down
low
There's a house down there
but I lost it long ago
95. Question 2 ENT
The ____ of X, is a golden, bejeweled treasure that has two rubies embedded on the front,
a blue jeweled inlay, silver filigree, and is overall studded with blue gemstones. This
treasure is shown in a popular action-adventure video game series, where they
supposedly reveal the origin of how the treasure ____ of X came to be.
Though there are numerous stories pertaining to the origin of ____ of X, the game
developers choose to use the myth where 2 Hindu mythological characters (X and Y)
fight against each other and during the fight, Y attacks X with his weapon and despite
the ability to dodge and counter-attack, X chooses to get struck by Y’s weapon and the
ripples of this battle lead to the formation of ____ of X.
ID X and the game franchise.
97. Question 3 LITERATURE
Author X drew inspiration from a whole slew of different fictional and historical sources
for his best-selling book series. The character Y fits a lot of the evil queen archetypes
from fairy tales, for one thing. Her name comes from the ancient Greek witch Z, both are
similar in their use of power to subdue men into doing their bidding.
Z is an enchantress and a minor goddess in Greek mythology. The best known of her
legends is told in Homer's Odyssey when Odysseus visits her island and she changes
most of his crew into swine.
ID Y and Z.
99. Question 4 ART
In one lecture on the mythological insights from X’s art, mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik
took the audience through many works by X.
Examining a painting (1), He drew attention to the power that apsara’s wielded by the
palpable tension on the subject’s face and his tight, nervous stance in the painting.
Themes of desire were common in many of X’s works, Pattanaik said, with paintings of
nymphs like Rumbah and Mohini. “Tapasvi is the opposite of Apsara,” he said, drawing
from the analogy that ‘Tapa’ means fire while ‘Aps’ means water.
Discussing the sovereignty of female characters in Indian mythology, the author pulled
up X’s famous painting (2). “She merely says she’s bored and despite the king’s
insistence, leaves. Society didn’t judge her for it, did not demonise her for it. Hard to
believe in these times, right?”
ID X and the works/mythological stories being talked about here (1 and 2).
100. Answer
X - Raja Ravi Verma
Painting 1 : Menka and
Vishwamitra
Painting 2 : Urvashi leaving
King Pururavas
101. Question 5 SPORT
Deeply rooted in Indian culture for centuries, X has even found a mention in Hindu
mythology. In the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, it is said that the Pandava warrior, Arjuna,
mastered X's skills from Lord Krishna, where in Arjuna would breach the enemy walls
inconspicuously and would walk back unscathed with his skills.
A similar tale involves Arjuna's son Abhimanyu who invaded the seven-tiered defence-
Chakravyuha- of the Kauravas. It is believed that X was started in memory of the sacrifice
made by this valiant, young warrior as he fought against the odds.
Id X.
105. Question 1
X is the daughter of Yama Dharma. One day while she was walking through the bank of
river Ganges, she saw an entity in meditation. He was very shining and she fell in love
with him. She asked him to marry her. When he refused, she cursed him. Due to this, he
cursed her in return and she realized her mistake. She begged for forgiveness. He said
that from her next birth, she will be a _____ but she will not be suited for worshiping him.
Upon her repeated asking, he gave a little exemption and that's what is followed even
today.
What is the exemption?
107. Question 2
Lord Hanuman once saw Goddess Sita applying X, to which in curiosity he asked her the
reason for applying X. Goddess Sita answered that it was related to Lord Ram. Since, Lord
Hanuman ardently worshipped Lord Ram, so on learning the reason, Lord Hanuman
applied X all over his body to show the mammoth devotion he had towards Lord Ram.
ID X.
109. Question 3
In the last decade, few petitions were filed for some temples stating that numerous
buildings around them violated a certain order which was given by the state
governments. The petitions talked about how it affected the sentiments of the devotees
as this was being followed from the time temples originated.
This order supports an old belief that we shouldn't live in a place where temples are not
present. Apart from religious beliefs, it also had a practical reason as the temple’s
gopuram offered protection to nearby houses against __________.
ID the practical reason.
110. Answer
Temples are supposed to be the
tallest building in their vicinity.
Hence they acted as lightning
protectors in ancient times.