The sikh pilgrimage site “TAKHAT SRI HARIMANDIR JI PATNA SAHIB” which is considered as the second holiest Takhat is located at

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Correct — C, Patna. Takht Sri Harimandir Ji stands in Patna City, in the eastern part of Patna, Bihar, on the site where the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, was born on 22 December 1666. He spent his early childhood in Patna before the family moved to Anandpur Sahib, which is why the shrine is counted among the five Takhts — the seats of Sikh temporal authority — and why Sikhs across the world know Patna by the name Patna Sahib. The present building was not raised by the Sikh community of Bihar but commissioned in the nineteenth century by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore; it was damaged in the great earthquake of 1934 and rebuilt between 1948 and 1957 at a cost of about ₹20 lakh. The other two Bihar cities on the list are famous for other traditions entirely — Bhagalpur for silk and for the ruins of Vikramshila at Antichak, near Kahalgaon in the same district, Gaya for the Vishnupad temple and for Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment — and neither has ever held a Takht. On the stem's own description, 'second holiest', treat it as the paper's characterisation rather than a formal ranking: what is settled is that Patna Sahib is one of the five Takhts, that the Akal Takht at Amritsar is the supreme seat, and that the other three are Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib and Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo, both in Punjab, and Hazur Sahib at Nanded in Maharashtra. Note too that the stem contains its own answer — the shrine's name ends in 'Patna Sahib' — which is worth spotting when the clock is running.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) A major Bihar city on the south bank of the Ganga, known for its tussar silk and as the district that holds the Vikramshila ruins at Antichak, near Kahalgaon, and it gives its name to the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary. It has no Takht and no association with Guru Gobind Singh's birth.  (b) Bihar's great pilgrimage city, but for two other traditions — the Vishnupad temple and the pind-daan rites for ancestors, and Bodh Gaya nearby, where the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. Its fame as a place of pilgrimage is exactly what makes it a plausible-looking wrong answer here.  (d) This option is correct only when at least two of the other three are simultaneously true — and a single building has a single address. Takht Sri Harimandir Ji stands at one site in Patna City; no part of it is at Bhagalpur or Gaya, so only one of the three cities can be right and this option cannot be.

Concept: A takht, literally a throne, is a seat of temporal authority in Sikhism, from which decisions binding on the community — hukamnamas — may be issued. There are five. The Akal Takht at Amritsar, established by the sixth Guru, Hargobind, is the supreme seat and sits directly opposite the Harmandir Sahib. Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab marks the founding of the Khalsa in 1699. Takht Sri Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda district, Punjab, is where Guru Gobind Singh prepared the final recension of the Guru Granth Sahib. Takht Sri Hazur Sahib at Nanded in Maharashtra marks the place where he died in 1708. And Takht Sri Harimandir Ji at Patna Sahib marks his birth in 1666. So the five Takhts trace the life of the tenth Guru almost end to end, and two of the five lie outside Punjab — one in Bihar, one in Maharashtra, which is the fact this question is really testing.

State PCS 2024 Q133 — Art & Culture PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q133 — Art & Culture PYQ with Answer