Who is credited with transforming the Maach folk theatre style of Malwa into the present day performing art?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, Siddheshwar Sen. Maach is the traditional folk theatre of the Malwa region, with Ujjain as its home, and it is transmitted through an ustad-shagird lineage in which each generation is named. In accounts of that lineage the form is traced back to Guru Gopalji as its early founder-figure, while the shaping of Maach into the performance style seen on stage today — its stagecraft, its sung verse and the ordering of a full night's play — is credited to Siddheshwar Sen. That is the attribution the official key marks, and it is what the phrase 'into the present day performing art' in the question is pointing at.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Not the name carried in accounts of how Maach acquired its present form; the credit there goes to Siddheshwar Sen. The option works only as a plausible-sounding regional name.  (c) A near-twin of the previous option — the paper places two similar-sounding 'Singh' names side by side so that a candidate who half-remembers a name cannot recover it. Neither carries the Maach attribution.  (d) Does not hold the credit for reshaping Maach. If a modern name is wanted for Maach, the one MPPSC itself has tested is Om Prakash Sharma, asked in the 2024 paper as the person associated with traditional Maach singing.

Concept: Maach is Malwa's folk theatre, and its name comes from the raised open-air stage — the manch or machan — on which it is played. A Maach is an all-night performance: the stage is consecrated first, and then the story runs through dialogue that is sung in verse rather than spoken, carried by percussion and a small ensemble, with the actors' company held together by an ustad who trains his shagirds. The repertoire draws on puranic tales, legend and historical romance. Because the form is taught mouth-to-mouth rather than from a script, its history is written as a chain of named ustads, which is exactly why MPPSC can ask 'who is credited with' a stage of its development.

State PCS 2026 Q100 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2026 Q100 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer