Indian Architecture, Sculpture & Pottery Quiz — 7 Free Questions

Question 1

At which UNESCO World Heritage site in Karnataka do temples in both the Dravida style, such as the Virupaksha Temple, and the Nagara style, such as the Papanatha Temple, stand side by side, illustrating an important meeting point of the two traditions?

Question 2

Which regional worship tradition of Tamil Nadu is especially associated with large terracotta horse figures, and sometimes elephants, placed at village boundaries as offerings to a guardian folk deity?

Question 3

What name is given to the hybrid architectural style developed by British colonial architects from the mid-nineteenth century, which combined Indo-Islamic elements such as domes, chhatris and jalis with European Gothic Revival or Neoclassical forms?

Question 4

The famous terracotta Bankura horse, later adopted as a symbol of Indian handicrafts, is traditionally made by potters of which village?

Question 5

Which early Chalukyan town in Karnataka, sometimes called a 'cradle' of Indian temple architecture because of the wide variety of experimental early temple forms found there, includes the Durga Temple and the Lad Khan Temple?

Question 6

Which war memorial in New Delhi, designed by Edwin Lutyens and originally named the All India War Memorial, commemorates the roughly seventy thousand Indian soldiers who died fighting in the First World War and related campaigns?

Question 7

Into which five successor states did the Bahmani Sultanate of the Deccan break up in the early sixteenth century, each associated with a distinct ruling family and its own building traditions?

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About Indian Architecture, Sculpture & Pottery

This quiz is meant for students preparing for the IAS examination and other competitive tests, and for anyone who wants a wide-ranging survey of Indian architecture, sculpture and pottery from prehistoric times to the modern era. It begins with the rock art of Bhimbetka, the pottery and terracotta of the Indus Valley Civilisation and the Chalcolithic and Megalithic cultures that followed it. It then covers Buddhist rock-cut architecture, from stupas and chaityas to the great cave complexes of Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta, and the classical schools of sculpture at Gandhara, Mathura and Amaravati. It surveys the Nagara, Dravida and Vesara styles of Hindu temple architecture, from Odisha and Khajuraho to the Pallava, Chola, Chalukya, Hoysala and Vijayanagara temples of the south and Deccan. It covers Indo-Islamic architecture in the Deccan Sultanates and beyond, and India's living pottery and craft traditions, from Jaipur's blue pottery to Bidriware and terracotta folk art. It closes with the colonial Indo-Saracenic style, the New Delhi of Lutyens and Baker, the Bengal School and modern Indian art, and the stepwells and UNESCO World Heritage sites that showcase this long artistic tradition. When complete it will have one hundred and fifteen carefully checked questions, arranged in five packs of twenty-three.

Every question has four options, and the correct option can be in any position. After each question there is a detailed explanation of more than five lines, in simple Indian English that a school student can follow, giving the important names, dates, dynasties and the points that examiners like to test.

Every fact has been checked against standard reference books on Indian art history and archaeology.