Art, Architecture, Folk Traditions & Festivals of Maharashtra — Practice

Question 1

Under which dynasty was the Kailasa temple at Ellora cut, and which cave is it?

Accepted Answer

Under the Rashtrakutas, in the reign of Krishna I. It is Cave 16.

Question 2

Which Maharashtra site was added to the World Heritage List in 2025?

Accepted Answer

The Maratha Military Landscapes of India: eleven forts in Maharashtra and Gingee in Tamil Nadu.

Question 3

What is a powada?

Accepted Answer

A heroic ballad sung by shahirs, celebrating figures such as Shivaji and, in the 1950s, the Samyukta Maharashtra movement.

Question 4

What is the Hemadpanti style? Name one example.

Accepted Answer

A temple style of the Yadava period, named after the minister Hemadri, using dressed stone fitted without mortar. The Gondeshwar temple at Sinnar is an example.

Question 5

Match the festival to its community or region: Narali Purnima, Bail Pola, Shimga.

Accepted Answer

Narali Purnima: Koli fisherfolk of the coast. Bail Pola: farmers, strongest in Vidarbha. Shimga: the Konkan's Holi.

Question 6

Which play is taken as the beginning of Marathi theatre, and when was it staged?

Accepted Answer

Vishnudas Bhave's Sita Swayamvar, staged at Sangli in 1843.

Question 7

Why is Maharashtra the centre of India's rock-cut architecture? (~150 words)

Accepted Answer

Three conditions came together. The Deccan basalt is massive and uniform, so large halls and even a free-standing monolithic temple could be cut from it, as at Ellora's Kailasa. The passes from the Konkan ports to the plateau, such as Naneghat, carried trade, and caves at Karla, Bhaja and Nashik stand on these routes. Merchants, guilds and rulers such as the Satavahanas, Vakatakas and Rashtrakutas endowed monks and temples. The result was a tradition of about a thousand years, from early Buddhist chaityas to the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves of Ellora, which records changes in religion, patronage and art, from the early chaitya to the painted halls of Ajanta.

Question 8

Discuss Maharashtra's folk performing arts as a medium of social and political expression. (~250 words)

Accepted Answer

Maharashtra's folk arts have long carried more than entertainment. The bharud, made famous by Eknath, used allegory to teach devotion and to mock hypocrisy, and the Varkari kirtan remains a form of moral instruction. The Tamasha, with its Lavani songs and its comic dialogue, satirised the powerful and commented on the social order, though its performers, often women from marginalised communities, faced stigma. The powada, the heroic ballad of the shahirs, celebrated Shivaji and in the 1950s became an instrument of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, when Anna Bhau Sathe, Amar Shaikh and Shahir Sable sang for a united Marathi state. Regional forms carried local identity: Dashavatar in the Konkan, Zadipatti theatre in east Vidarbha and the tarpa dance of Adivasi communities. The state has used these forms for public messaging on health and development. Their challenges are commercial decline, the stigma attached to some performers and the loss of patrons. Their strength is that they speak in the people's idiom, which is why movements from the Bhakti saints to the Samyukta Maharashtra movement used them.

Question 9

What is the significance of the Maratha forts' inscription on the World Heritage List? (~150 words)

Accepted Answer

In July 2025 twelve forts, eleven in Maharashtra and Gingee in Tamil Nadu, were inscribed as the Maratha Military Landscapes of India, India's 44th World Heritage property. The listing recognises a system rather than single monuments: hill forts such as Raigad and Rajgad, sea forts such as Sindhudurg and Khanderi, and coastal forts such as Vijaydurg, placed to control terrain and the sea. It brings international obligations to conserve the sites and manage tourism, and opportunities for local livelihoods. The challenges are encroachment, unregulated tourism and the conservation of forts outside the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India, some of which are with the state. The listing also strengthens the case for the many forts that were not included.

Practice — Art, Architecture, Folk Traditions & Festivals of Maharashtra

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