Telegram channel "Art and culture" — @upsc_art_and_culture

Art and culture

21 May 2021, 11:36

🔆First five re-printed volumes of Mongolian Kanjur Manuscripts released

▪️Synopsis of the article:

✅Indian Ministry of Culture has taken up the project of reprinting 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur under the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM).

▪️Mangolin Kanjur

✅Buddhist religious text that has 108 volumes (very prominent in Mangolia)
✅‘Kanjur’ = ‘Concise Orders’ (the words of Lord Buddha)
✅These texts are in Mangolian language
✅ It provides cultural identity to Mongolia
✅Mangolians worship Kanjur at temples and recite the lines of Kanjur in daily life as a sacred ritual

▪️What is National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM)?

✅ Purpose: To publish rare and unpublished manuscripts so that the knowledge enshrined in them is spread to researchers, scholars and general public at large
✅ Implementing agency: Ministry of Tourism and Culture

▪️How is this reprinting significant to India?

✅Buddhism was carried to Mongolia by Indian cultural and religious ambassadors long ago
✅As a result, today, Buddhists form the single largest religious denomination in Mongolia
✅India established formal diplomatic relations with Mongolia in 1955
✅ Since then, relationship between both the countries has reached to new heights
✅ Now, the publication of Mongolian Kanjur will act as a symbol of cultural symphony between India and Mongolia
✅ It will further strengthen bilateral relations of the countries

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Art and culture

21 May 2021, 11:32

🔆Kumbh Mela

✅Kumbh Mela is the largest peaceful congregation of pilgrims on earth, during which participants bathe or take a dip in a sacred river.

✅Kumbh Mela comes under the UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

✅The festival is held at Prayagraj (at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati), Haridwar (on the Ganges), Ujjain (on the Shipra) and Nasik (on the Godavari) every four years by rotation and is attended by millions of people irrespective of caste, creed or gender.

✅The event encapsulates the science of astronomy, astrology, spirituality, ritualistic traditions, & social & cultural customs & practices, making it extremely rich in knowledge.

✅The teacher-student relationship of the sadhus in the ashrams & akhadas remains the most important method of imparting and safeguarding knowledge and skills relating to Kumbh Mela.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 17:08

🔆About Madhubani Paintings ( From Mithila region in Bihar)

✅It is characterized by line drawings filled in by bright colors and contrasts or patterns.
✅Painting has been traditionally done by the women of the region, though today men are also involved .
✅Although initially, mud walls were the canvases for these paintings, now, cloth is used, apart from handmade paper.
✅The colors are derived mostly from plants.
✅The colors are applied flat with no shading and no empty space is left.
✅Figures from nature & mythology are adapted to suit their style. Social events like court scenes , wedding scenes etc. are also painted

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:22

🔆NIRMAL FORT AND UDASI MUTT

▪️WHY IN NEWS?

✅Nirmal Fort and Udasi mutt in Nirmal Town in Adilabad district of Telangana are undergoing ruination.

▪️ABOUT NIRMAL FORT

✅Nirmal is a prominent town in Adilabad district.
✅The town has glorious past due to patronization of arts and culture by ruling nobility.
✅The region was ruled by Kakatiyas, Chalukyas,the Qutubshahis and Nizams who have contributed immensely to the growth of cultural heritage.
✅ Nirmal Fort, also called as the Shamgarh fort, was built by the French.
✅Nirmal is about 280 km north of Hyderabad. It is renowned for wooden toy industry and Nirmal Plates that depict miniature paintings and floral design.

▪️UDASI MUTT

✅ The Udasi mutt in Nirmal town was built around 1822 in the Deccan by Dewan Chandulal, who was the Prime Minister for Nizam, Asaf Jah III, a follower of the Udasi sect of ascetics which was based on the teachings of
Guru Nanak’s elder son Sri Chand.
✅ Followers of Sri Chand established mutts at all
the places visited by Guru Nanak.
✅The mutt in Nirmal Town was built during Guru Nanak’s second Udasi between 1511 CE and 1513 CE.
✅ To spread the “real message of God” Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji travelled in all four direction –North, East, West and South, these long travels are known as the “Four Udasis”.
✅Udasis were the missionary travels of Guru Nanak, the second one covering Sri Lanka and the Deccan, including Vijayawada and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, and Hyderabad and Nirmal in Telangana.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Neolithic Sites:

1. Kodiwaha in Rajasthan where extensive cultivation of almost all crops (food crops, cereals etc) is evident.

2. Chirand in Bihar-Tools made of bones were found here.

3. Dharmagiri in Karnataka

4. Koppagai in Karnataka

5. Takkalikota in Karnataka

6. Hosur in Karnataka

7. Utnoor in Andhra Pradesh

8. Payampalli in Tamil Nadu
9. Mehargarh in Baluchistan (in present Pakistan). It survived for the longest period of all Neolithic sites (upto 3500 BC).

✅It was also the first culture to establish contacts with Mesopotamian civilization (present day Iraq), which was responsible for the origin of Indus Valley Civilization.

✅The common feature of Neolithic cultures in South was the ash mounds.

✅This is suggestive of the fact that extensive cultivation was taken up by clearing forests time and again.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Manipuri Dance

✅Theme – Vaishanvites and Shaivism – Rasleela, Ramleela
✅Based on rituals( birth, marriage), festivals, martial art etc –Lai Haroba, Thang-ta, Sankirtana
✅Maibas, Meiteis- priests and priestess
✅Tandava & Lasya
✅Manipuri classical style of singing is called Nat
✅Light body movts; arm movts graceful
✅Musical instruments – Pung, cymbals, flute

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Sattriya Dance

✅Assam, 15th Century
✅Music, dance and drama
✅Main theme – Radha krishna
✅Associated with Shankaradeva(Vaishnivism)
✅Tandava and lasya
✅Originally performed in sattras (monastery)
✅Governed by strictly laid down principles of hastamudras,
footwork, aharya, ,music

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Dravidian style
South india
- gopuram and vimana

▪️start by pallav king

✅1) mahendravarman...and
✅2) narashimha group - dharmraj and draupadi Rath
✅3) rajsinh group
✅4) nandivarman group...other Dravidian style of temple....chola -bruhadeswar
temple tanjor by rajaraj.
✅bronze nataraja sculpture in tandava mudra

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Idol of Devi Annapurna to be returned by Canada

✅Context: PM Modi has announced that a very old idol of Devi Annapurna that was stolen from a temple in Kashi, Varanasi, about 100 years ago, is being returned by Canada.

▪️About

✅Annapurna or Annapoorna, from Sanskrit meaning the giver of food and nourishment) is the Hindu goddess of nourishment.
✅She is an avatar (form) of Parvati, the wife of Shiva Located on the Dashashwamedh Road in VishwanathGali, near KashiVishwanath temple, the
Annapurna Temple worships the Mahagauri form of Durga.

▪️The story of Devi Annapurna

✅As per the popular legend and holy writ, Hindu deity Shiva, negated the importance of food, citing it as a cosmic illusion.
✅Hearing this, his spouse, Devi Parvati, the manifestation of Universal Shakti, got upset.
✅In order to teach Lord Shiva that food is an integral part of life, she made herself invisible to his eyes, and with her vanished all sources of food and nourishment from the earth.
✅Finally, Shiva realised the importance of food; holding a begging bowl in his hands, he begged for food as alms from his spouse Parvati, whose another form is Annapurna (the giver of food and nourishment).

▪️Where is it now?

✅The 18th-century idol of Goddess Annapurna was reportedly housed in Canada’s MacKenzie Art Gallery all these years.
✅This idol was stolen from a temple in Varanasi and smuggled out of the country around 100 years ago somewhere around 1913.

Over the past few months, the United Kingdom has also returned a couple of ancient statues that belonged to India, such as a 10th century Lord Shiva idol and three ancient idols of Lord Rama, Lakshman, and Sita that had got stolen.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior, Orchha on UNESCO World Heritage Cities List

✅Context: Gwalior and Orchha in Madhya Pradesh have been included in the list of UNESCO’s world heritage cities under its urban landscape city programme.

▪️Gwalior

✅Gwalior was established in the 9th century and ruled by GurjarPratiharRajvansh, Tomar, BaghelKachvaho and Scindias.
✅The memorabilia left by them are found in abundance in memorials, forts and palaces in the area.
✅ Gwalior is known for its palaces and temples, including the intricately carved SasBahuKaMandir temple.
✅The Gwalior Fort occupies a sandstone plateau overlooking the city and is accessed via a winding road lined with sacred Jain statues.
✅Within the forts, high walls are the 15th-century GujariMahal Palace, now an archaeological museum.

▪️Orchha

✅Orchha is popular for its temples and palaces and was the capital of the Bundela kingdom in the 16th century.
✅The famous spots in the town are Raj Mahal, JehangirMahal, Ramraja Temple, Rai Praveen Mahal,
and Laxminarayan Mandir.
✅After inclusion in the World Heritage City list, chemical treatment of historic spots like Mansingh Palace, GujriMahal and Sahastrabahu Temple will be done so that art inscribed on them will become more visible.
✅‘Historic Urban Landscape’ based planning by UNESCO
✅UNESCO defi nes HUL as an integrated approach towards managing heritage resources found within dynamic and evolving environments.
✅HUL acknowledges the interconnections within a city, which occur between the built and natural environments, the tangible and intangible values, as well as within the cultural and social practices of a community.
✅The approach considers these factors as key pillars towards sustainable urban heritage management and the development of the city.

▪️Which Indian cities are under HUL?

✅Gwalior and Orchha are among the few ciƟ es of India selected for the ambiƟ ous project.
✅Before this, Varanasi, Ajmer-Pushkar and Hyderabad were included among the pilot ciƟ es for HUL recommendaƟ on based planning in the year 2015.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Sculptors take center stage at Yadadri

✅Context: The Yadari Project which started in October 2016 for the renovation of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Yadagirigutta, renamed as Yadadri, has been completed.
✅The new sculptors build all gopurams using only black stone and comply with Agama Sastra guidelines.

✅Sri Lakshmi NarasimhaSwamy temple (Yadadri)
✅It is a Hindu temple situated on a hillock in Yadagirigutta of Telangana.
✅The temple is an abode of Narasimha, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

▪️Architecture

✅The temple architecture is based on Dravidian Architecture.
✅The architecture of the temple is based on Agama Shashtra.
✅The temple is built entirely in stone.
✅The three types of stones were being used for the temple-
✅Krishna Sila (PurushaSila) for presiding deities in the sanctum sanctorum
✅Sthri Sila for deities of Goddesses
✅Napusaka Sila for fl ooring and walls etc.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Hampi stone chariot now gets protective ring

✅Context: The protected monument is facing the risk of being damaged by such objectionable behaviour of some of the tourists.

▪️About Hampi stone chariot

✅The chariot was built by King Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire during the 16th
✅The chariot is a shrine dedicated to Garuda, built inside the Vittala Temple Complex.
✅The massive sculpture of Garuda, Lord Vishnu’s escort once was seated atop the chariot but it is empty at the present date.
✅It is internationally recognized as a world heritage site by the UNESCO.

▪️Architectural features of the Chariot

✅It is inspired by the Dravidian style of architecture.
✅The chariot looks like one solid structure but in fact, has been built by slabs of granite.
✅The base on which the chariot rests depicts beautiful mythical battle scenes in intricate details.
✅There were sculptures of horses where presently elephants are seated.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Tharu Tribe

✅Context: The Uttar Pradesh government has recently embarked upon a scheme to take the unique culture of its ethnic Tharu tribe across the world.

▪️About the Scheme

✅The Scheme is about connecting the Tharu villages in the districts of Balrampur,
Bahraich, Lakhimpur, and Pilibhit bordering Nepal, with the homestay scheme of the UP Forest Department.
✅The idea is to off er tourists an experience of living in the natural Tharu habitat, in traditional huts made of grass collected mainly from the forests.
✅It will encourage villagers to acquaint them with aspects of safety and cleanliness, and with the rules of the forest.
✅The intention is to put Tharu villages on the tourism map and to create jobs and bring economic independence to the tribal population.

▪️Who are the Tharu people?

✅The community belongs to the Terai lowlands, amid the Shivaliks or lower Himalayas.
✅The Tharus live in both India and Nepal.
✅ In the Indian Terai, they live mostly in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar
✅Most of them are forest dwellers and some practice agriculture.
✅Members of the tribe survive on wheat, corn, and vegetables are grown close to their homes.
✅A majority still lives off the forest.

▪️Details on Tharu language, food, and culture:

✅They speak various dialects of Tharu, a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup, and variants of Hindi, Urdu, and Awadhi.
✅In central Nepal, they speak a variant of Bhojpuri, while in eastern Nepal, they speak a variant of Maithili.
✅Tharus worship Lord Shiva as Mahadev.
✅Most Tharutribals consume alcoholic beverages, and some eat beef.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Attukal Pongala: the feast for millions

✅Context: The famed Pongala, which is said to be the largest congregaƟ on of women
in the world in connecƟ on with the annual fesƟ val at AƩ ukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram celebrated on February 27 this year.

▪️Important facts about Attukal Pongala Festival

✅Attukal Pongala is a 10-day religious festival celebrated at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram of Kerala.

✅The festival is devoted to Attukal Devi or Attukalamma. It is a women-centric festival.

✅The pongala preparation starts with the ritual called ‘Aduppuvettu’.

✅On the ninth day, there is a huge gathering of millions of women in the temple surroundings.

✅These women prepare a divine food made of rice in earthen pots and off er it to the Attukal Amma (Goddess of the Temple).

✅The off ering is made by valiyachennellu, native organic This variety is rich in iron content.

✅ This is the earliest Pongala festival in Kerala. The festival is marked as the largest annual gathering of women by the Guinness World Records.

▪️Attukal Bhagavathy Temple

✅The Attukal Bhagavathy Temple is a Hindu religious shrine, dedicated to Goddess Bhadrakali (Kannaki), the main deity of the temple. There are two idols of the Goddess in the sanctum sanctorum.

✅Architecture: The temple structure is a harmonious conglomeration of both Kerala and Tamil styles of architecture.

▪️Sculptures:

✅ " The beautifully carved fi gures of Mahishasuramarddini, Goddess Kali, Rajarajeswari, Sree Parvathy with Lord Paramasivaare depicted with other Gods.

✅" The corridors walls also adorn the epic stories of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu viz., the “Desavathara”.

✅" On the southern Gopura, the puranic story of “Dakshayaga” is depicted in sculptures.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Some important famous festivals of Kerala

▪️Onam - The National Festival of Kerala

✅It is a harvest festival celebrated by Malayalis.

✅The festival is celebrated to commemorate King Mahabali, whose spirit is said to visit Kerala at the time of Onam.

✅The earliest known reference to Onam is found in Maturaikkaaci – a Sangam-era Tamil poem.
✅Onam is celebrated by making Pookkalam (the fl ower rangolis). Other rituals are also performed which
includes-Vallam Kali (the boat races), Pulikali (the tiger dances), Kummattikali (mask
dances), Onathallu (martial arts), among others.

▪️Thiruvathira

✅The Thiruvathira festival falls on the asterism Thiruvathira in the Malayalam month of Dhanu (December-January).

✅The ArdraDarshan celebrated in Tamil Nadu corresponds to Thiruvathira of Kerala

✅It is considered to be high auspicious to worship Siva and the devotees go to the temple
before sunrise for ‘darshan’.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Five Iconic Archaeological Sites

✅The government has proposed to develop five archaeological sites as “iconic sites” with onsite museums in Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Sivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu) in the Union Budget 2020-21.

(1) Rakhigarhi click here

(2) Hastinapur

Hastinapur in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh finds mention in the Mahabharata and the Puranas. One of the most significant discoveries made at this site was of the “new ceramic industry”, which was named the Painted Grey Ware, which as per the report represented the relics of the early Indo-Aryans.

(3) Sivasagar

In Sivasagar (Assam), excavations at the Karenghar (Talatalghar) complex between 2000 and 2003 led to the discovery of buried structures in the north-western and north-eastern side of the complex. Among the structural remains found at the site were ceramic assemblages including vases, vessels, dishes, and bowls, etc. Terracotta smoking pipes were also found.

(4) Dholavira

Dholavira in Gujarat is located in the Khadir island of the Rann of Kutch, and like Rakhigarhi is one of the sites where the remains of the Harappan civilization have been found. It is unique because the remains of a complete water system have been found here.

(5) Adichnallur

Adichnallur lies in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu. The urn-burial site was first brought to light during a “haphazard excavation” by a German archaeologist in 1876. Following this, an Englishman Alexander Rae excavated the site between 1889 and 1905.

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Nagara style Temple

✅North india - panchayatan style.
✅River ganga yamumna image as goddesses.
✅Shikhara

🔆sub school of nagara style :

✅1)oddisha school - kornak temple, lingaraja
temple bhuvneshwar

✅2)khajuraho school - chandel rulers cental
india, kandariya mahadev temple, lakshman temple at khajuraho.

✅3)solanki school - modhera sun temple gujarat

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Folk Painting

✅Madhubani And Manjusha paintings -Bihar
(mithila region)
✅Phad - Rajasthan
✅Patachitra - Orrisa
✅Kalighat - Kolkata
✅Kalamkari - Andra Pradesh
✅Warli - Maharastra
✅Thangka painting - Sikkim(Buddhism)

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Art and culture

20 May 2021, 08:08

🔆Martial Art of India

✅Gatka and Lathi - punjab
✅Paika - orissa
✅Thang ta - manipur
✅kalaripayattu - kerala
✅Silambam - Tamil nadu
✅Musti yuddha - U.P(varsansi
✅Mardani khel -maharastra
✅Pari khanda -bihar
✅Thoda -Himachal Pradesh
✅Malls yuddha - South india
✅Kathi samu - Andhra Pradesh
✅Sky - Kashmir
✅Bandesh -All india

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