Birha is the popular folk song of which group of tribal women?
- (a)Gond
- (b)Kol
- (c)Bhil
- (d)Sahariya
Correct — A, Gond. MPPSC's official key credits Birha as a popular folk song of Gond tribal women in Madhya Pradesh. The name comes from 'viraha' (separation) — Birha songs are built around a woman's longing for an absent or distant loved one, a theme recurring across several folk-song traditions of central India.
- (b)Kol — Not the official identification for this item — the key attributes Birha to Gond women. The Kol are MP's other major central-Indian tribal group, concentrated in the Baghelkhand belt (Rewa-Satna-Sidhi-Shahdol), with their own rich folk-singing tradition.
- (c)Bhil — Not the official identification — the Bhil, MP's other major tribal group (concentrated in the western Jhabua-Alirajpur belt), are associated with their own distinct dance forms (e.g. Bhagoria, Gair) rather than Birha.
- (d)Sahariya — Not the official identification — the Sahariya, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group of MP concentrated in the Gwalior-Chambal region, are not credited with the Birha folk song.
Birha (from 'viraha,' separation) is a folk-song genre built around a woman's longing for an absent loved one — a theme recurring across several communities of central India's tribal and folk-song traditions. MPPSC's official key attributes this particular folk-song form to Gond tribal women, Madhya Pradesh's largest tribal community.
MPPSC frequently tests 'which tribal community performs/sings X' — since several MP tribes have overlapping-sounding folk-song and folk-dance traditions (and some song forms and names circulate across community lines), the safest study approach is to lock each named form to the community the official key credits, rather than assuming uniqueness from the song's theme or region alone.
- Birha: a folk-song genre named for 'viraha' (separation), centred on a woman's longing for an absent loved one.
- MPPSC's official key attributes Birha to Gond tribal women.
- Gond: Madhya Pradesh's largest tribal community, with other well-known folk-song/dance forms of its own (e.g. Saila, Karma).
- Kol tribe: concentrated in MP's Baghelkhand belt (Rewa, Satna, Sidhi, Shahdol) — MP's second-largest tribal group after the Gond.
MPPSC's official key attributes the Birha folk song to Gond tribal women; the other three options are distinct MP tribal communities concentrated in different regions.
- Assuming a folk-song theme (separation/longing) uniquely identifies one community — such themes recur across several central-Indian tribal traditions.
- Treating all MP 'tribal folk songs' as interchangeable — MPPSC tests specific song-to-community pairings from its official key.
MPPSC directly names a folk song/dance and asks the performing community — build a form-to-tribe table anchored to the official key rather than assuming from theme or geography alone.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
'Saila' and 'Karma', well-known folk dances of central India, are principally associated with which tribal community (among others)?
- (a)Gond
- (b)Bhil
- (c)Kol
- (d)Sahariya
Answer(a) Gond — Saila and Karma are widely-cited Gond (and Baiga) dance forms.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Kol tribe of Madhya Pradesh is concentrated mainly in which region of the state?
- (a)Jhabua-Alirajpur (west)
- (b)Baghelkhand — Rewa, Satna, Sidhi, Shahdol
- (c)Mandla-Dindori (east)
- (d)Gwalior-Chambal (north)
Answer(b) Baghelkhand — Rewa, Satna, Sidhi, Shahdol — the Kol's main area of concentration in MP.