SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 12 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Ustad Vilayat Ali Khan is a maestro in ________.

(a)Tabla
(b)Flute
(c)Sitar
(d)Mridangam

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Ustad Vilayat Khan, whom the paper names 'Ustad Vilayat Ali Khan', was a sitar player — one of the two names that defined the instrument in the twentieth century.

He belonged to the Imdadkhani (Etawah) gharana and is credited with the gayaki ang, a manner of playing that makes the sitar imitate the phrasing of the human voice, slides and ornaments included. He also reworked the instrument's stringing to serve that style. That is option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Tabla — The tabla's great twentieth-century names are Ustad Alla Rakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain. The honorific fits, which is precisely why this option is offered, but the instrument does not.
(b)
Flute — The bansuri belongs to Pandit Pannalal Ghosh, who brought it into Hindustani concert music, and to Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia after him.
(d)
Mridangam — The mridangam is a Carnatic percussion instrument, and Vilayat Khan was a Hindustani musician. The tradition is wrong here before the instrument is.

Concept

SSC's music slot is a maestro-to-instrument match, and the reliable way to hold it is by tradition first.

Hindustani: sitar (Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan), sarod (Ali Akbar Khan, Amjad Ali Khan), tabla (Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain), shehnai (Bismillah Khan), santoor (Shivkumar Sharma), bansuri (Hariprasad Chaurasia).

Carnatic: mridangam, veena, nadaswaram, ghatam. Fix the tradition and half the options fall away before you think about the individual.

The paper prints the name as 'Ustad Vilayat Ali Khan'. The sitar maestro is normally written Ustad Vilayat Khan (1928-2004), and the option set leaves no doubt who is meant.

Key facts

Ustad Vilayat Khan (1928-2004) was a sitar player of the Imdadkhani or Etawah gharana.
He is credited with developing the gayaki ang, a vocal manner of sitar playing.
He declined the Padma awards offered to him by the Government of India.
Pandit Ravi Shankar is also asked about in this shift, at General Awareness Q.22, on the award he received in 1999.

Study next

Hindustani instrumentalists matched to their instrumentsGharanas of Hindustani music, especially Imdadkhani, Maihar and KiranaCarnatic instruments: mridangam, veena, nadaswaram and ghatam

Common traps

Matching on the honorific, when 'Ustad' fits tabla, sarod and shehnai players just as well.
Picking a Carnatic instrument such as the mridangam for a Hindustani musician.

The instrument-to-maestro match can repeat inside a single section. This shift returns to the sitar at General Awareness Q.22, which asks which award Pandit Ravi Shankar received from the Government of India in 1999.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.