Match the following writers from Madhya Pradesh with their respective works:

(a) Keshav Das

(b) Bhawani Prasad Mishra

(c) Padmakar

(d) Mulla Ramuji; (i) Gangalahari (ii) Gulabi Urdu (iii) Gandhi Panchsati (iv) Kavipriya

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A: (a)-(iv), (b)-(iii), (c)-(i), (d)-(ii). Keshav Das → Kavipriya: Keshavdas (c. 1555-1617), the acharya-poet of the Bundela court at Orchha, wrote Kavipriya as a treatise on poetics in Braj verse, alongside Rasikpriya and Ramchandrika. Bhawani Prasad Mishra → Gandhi Panchsati: the Hoshangabad-born modern Hindi poet, known for 'Geet Farosh' and 'Satpura ke Ghane Jangal', collected his Gandhian poems as Gandhi Panchsati. Padmakar → Gangalahari: Padmakar (Padmakar Bhatt, 1753-1833), the last great poet of the riti tradition, wrote Jagatvinod, Padmabharan, Himmatbahadur Virudavali, Ram Rasayan and Gangalahari. Mulla Ramuji → Gulabi Urdu: the Hindi humourist-satirist is remembered for Gulabi Urdu, his satire on the affected, Urdu-heavy Hindi of his day. One anchor decides the whole question: only option A pairs Keshav Das with Kavipriya.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Puts Keshav Das with Gulabi Urdu and Bhawani Prasad Mishra with Kavipriya — a four-century mismatch in both directions. Kavipriya is a riti-kaal work of about 1601; Gulabi Urdu is modern Hindi satire.  (c) Hands Gangalahari to Keshav Das (it is Padmakar's), Gulabi Urdu to Bhawani Prasad Mishra, and Gandhi Panchsati to Padmakar — who died more than three decades before Gandhi was born.  (d) Makes Keshav Das the author of Gandhi Panchsati, which is chronologically impossible, and moves Kavipriya to Padmakar. Only the last pair, Mulla Ramuji with Gulabi Urdu, survives.

Concept: This list quietly spans two very different eras of writing from the region. Keshavdas and Padmakar are Braj poets of the riti-kaal, court poets whose reputation rests on works of poetics and panegyric — Keshavdas at Orchha in Bundelkhand, Padmakar in the courts that patronised him a century and a half later. Bhawani Prasad Mishra and Mulla Ramuji belong to modern Hindi: the first a Gandhian poet of the post-Chhayavad generation from Hoshangabad, the second a humourist whose Gulabi Urdu mocked pretentious language. Once you sort the four names by period, half the wrong options fall away on chronology alone.

State PCS 2026 Q97 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2026 Q97 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer