Consider the following statements about the folk instrument ‘Chautara’ and choose the correct option from below : A. It is a four stringed instrument. B. It is generally used in singing bhajans of Ramdev ji.

Correct — option (3), A and B both are true.

Statement A is true. K. S. Kothari's catalogue Indian Folk Musical Instruments (Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1968) describes the Rajasthani chautara as having four steel strings tied to pegs on a highly decorated wooden body, about 115 cm long.

The name carries the count as well: chau means four and tar means string.

Statement B is true. Kothari records that the Kamad community uses the chautara for rhythmic accompaniment with devotional singing. The Nagaur District Gazetteer (1975) says the Kamads sing and dance on night vigils before their deity, Ramdev.

Both statements hold, so the code is option (3), A and B both are true.

The idea to remember: chautara = chau (four) + tar (string), played by the Kamads, who sing before Ramdevji.

Why the others are wrong

• (1)
  Only A is true. — This code rejects statement B, but B is true. Kothari records the chautara as the Kamad community's accompaniment for devotional singing, and the Nagaur District Gazetteer places the Kamads' singing at night vigils before Ramdev.

  Only A is true would be the answer if B had tied the instrument to another tradition, such as the Pabuji ki Pad. There, the same Gazetteer says, the Bhopa plays the Rawan Hatha.

• (2)
  Only B is true. — This code rejects statement A, but A is true. Kothari counts four steel strings, and the name chau-tara itself means four strings.

  Only B is true would be the answer if A had called the instrument single-stringed. That describes the ek-tara (ek, one), not the chautara.

• (4)
  A and B both are false. — Both statements match the sources: four strings (Kothari, and the name itself) and use by the Kamads, who sing before Ramdev (Kothari and the Nagaur Gazetteer).

  Both false would be the answer if the two statements were made about the Rawan Hatha. Kothari describes it as a bowed instrument with two strings, one of hair and one of twisted steel wire, plus 3 to 16 sympathetic strings, played by the Bhopas who sing the ballad of Pabuji.

Folk string instruments can be sorted by how they are played and what they accompany.

Kothari records the chautara's use: the Kamad community plays it for rhythmic accompaniment with devotional singing. Its decorated wooden body and belly are in two separate parts, and it has no separate peg box; its four strings are tied to pegs on the upper side.

The Rawan Hatha is different. Kothari calls it an open-string bowed instrument, with a main hair string, a second string of twisted steel wires, and 3 to 16 sympathetic strings.

Key facts

• K. S. Kothari's Indian Folk Musical Instruments (Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1968) describes the Rajasthani chautara with four steel strings and a body about 115 cm long.
• The Nagaur District Gazetteer (1975) says the Kamads sing and dance on night vigils before their deity, Ramdev.
• Kothari records that the Kamad community uses the chautara for rhythmic accompaniment with devotional singing.
• Kothari describes the Rajasthani jantar, with 14 bone frets and two main steel strings, as the Bhopas' instrument for the ballad of Bagrawat.
• The Nagaur District Gazetteer names the Kamads of Didwana and of Junjhala near Kuchera as known for Terah Tali.

Common traps

• Confusing the chautara with the ek-tara: in Kothari's catalogue the chautara has four strings and the ek-tara one, as the number words chau and ek suggest.
• Pairing the wrong deity: the chautara goes with Ramdevji's bhajans, while the Rawan Hatha accompanies the Bhopas' Pabuji ki Pad.
• Reading 'generally used' as 'used only': statement B claims a typical use, so the instrument appearing in other music does not make B false.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2021 and 2013 here once those papers are published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  According to K. S. Kothari's catalogue Indian Folk Musical Instruments, the Bhopas use the Ravan Hatha to accompany the ballad on the life of which pastoral hero?

  • (a)Pabuji
  • (b)Bagrawat
  • (c)Ramdevji
  • (d)Tejaji
  Answer(1) — Kothari's Ravan Hatha entry names the ballad of Pabuji. Option (2) is the hero of the ballad Kothari links to the jantar; option (3) is the deity before whom the Nagaur Gazetteer says the Kamads sing; option (4) is not named in Kothari's Ravan Hatha entry.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which community of Rajasthan, known for Terah Tali, sings and dances at night vigils before Ramdevji?

  • (a)Kamad
  • (b)Kalbeliya
  • (c)Garasia
  • (d)Sahariya
  Answer(1) — The Nagaur District Gazetteer describes the Kamads performing before Ramdev and names Kamads of Didwana and Junjhala as known for Terah Tali. Option (2) is linked to the Shankariya dance and option (3) to the Loor dance in RPSC's keys; option (4) is not the community these sources name for Terah Tali.