SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 9 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.

Mohiniyattam is associated with which of the following traditional dance styles?

(a)Lasya style
(b)Samapadam
(c)Tribhanga
(d)Chowk

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Mohiniyattam, the classical solo dance of Kerala, is danced in the lasya mode — the gentle, graceful, feminine manner of movement, as against the vigorous tandava.

The whole form follows from that: the swaying torso, the soft circular movement, the unhurried tempo, the plain off-white kasavu costume. Even the name points to it, from Mohini, the enchantress form of Vishnu.

The other three choices are postures or stances rather than modes, so option (a) is the only one that answers the question asked.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Samapadam — Samapadam is a posture, not a style — the erect standing position with the feet together from which many classical forms begin. It describes how a dancer stands, not what mode a dance is in.
(c)
Tribhanga — Tribhanga is the three-bend stance, with head, torso and hips deflected in opposite directions. It is the signature posture of Odissi, not of Mohiniyattam.
(d)
Chowk — Chowk, or chauka, is Odissi's other basic stance — a wide square position with the weight evenly divided, read as the masculine counterpart to tribhanga. Odissi again, not Kerala.

Concept

Indian classical dance is described in two different vocabularies, and SSC mixes them on purpose.

One is the pair of modes: lasya, graceful and feminine, and tandava, vigorous and masculine. The other is postures — samapada, tribhanga, chauka — which say how the body is held.

Mohiniyattam is classified by mode, and its mode is lasya. Read the question's word carefully: 'style' here means mode, and only one option is a mode at all.

Mohiniyattam had nearly disappeared before it was revived in the 20th century under the poet Vallathol Narayana Menon, who founded the Kerala Kalamandalam in 1930.

Key facts

Mohiniyattam is the classical dance of Kerala, traditionally a solo performed by women, and is characterised by lasya.
Tandava is the vigorous mode associated with Shiva, and lasya is its graceful counterpart.
Tribhanga and chauka are the two basic postures of Odissi.
The Kerala Kalamandalam was founded in 1930 by Vallathol Narayana Menon.

Study next

The classical dance forms and their home statesLasya and tandava in the Natyashastra traditionOdissi's basic postures, chauka and tribhanga, and Bharatanatyam's araimandi

Common traps

Choosing tribhanga because it is the most familiar dance term on the list, though it belongs to Odissi.
Treating a posture as a style, when the question is asking for a mode of movement.

SSC's art-and-culture slot pairs a form with a state, a posture or a maestro. This shift also asks Harela and its state at General Awareness Q.3, the instrument of Ustad Vilayat Ali Khan at Q.12, and the award given to Pandit Ravi Shankar in 1999 at Q.22.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.