SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 17 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.

Gangu bai Hangal and Prabha Atre were exponents of the ___________ Gharana.

(a)Mewati
(b)Jaipur
(c)Kirana
(d)Rampur

Answer

Why

Correct - C. Both singers belong to the Kirana gharana, the khayal school named after Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh and shaped by Abdul Karim Khan and Abdul Wahid Khan.

Gangubai Hangal trained under Sawai Gandharva, a disciple of Abdul Karim Khan. Prabha Atre learnt from Sureshbabu Mane and Hirabai Barodekar, who came from the same line - so the two names in the stem share one lineage, option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Mewati — The Mewati gharana is the school of Pandit Jasraj. Neither singer in the stem trained in it, and its style and lineage are separate from the Kirana line.
(b)
Jaipur — The Jaipur-Atrauli gharana was founded by Alladiya Khan and carried by Kesarbai Kerkar, Mallikarjun Mansur and Kishori Amonkar. It is a distinct khayal school with its own complex raga treatment.
(d)
Rampur — The Rampur-Sahaswan gharana is associated with Mushtaq Hussain Khan, Ghulam Mustafa Khan and Rashid Khan. It has no connection to the two singers named in the question.

Concept

A gharana is a lineage of training, not a region of birth - a school defined by who taught whom and by a shared way of building a raga.

Kirana takes its name from Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, and its hallmark is slow-tempo elaboration with exact intonation of each swara, note by note, before the tempo lifts.

Gangubai Hangal sang from Dharwad in Karnataka and Prabha Atre from Maharashtra - which shows the point: the gharana travels with the teacher, not with the map.

Key facts

The Kirana gharana is named after Kairana in Uttar Pradesh and is associated with Abdul Karim Khan and Abdul Wahid Khan.
Gangubai Hangal and Bhimsen Joshi were both disciples of Sawai Gandharva in the Kirana line.
Prabha Atre trained under Sureshbabu Mane and Hirabai Barodekar, children of Abdul Karim Khan.
Both Gangubai Hangal and Prabha Atre were awarded the Padma Vibhushan.

Study next

The main Hindustani khayal gharanas and their founders: Gwalior, Agra, Kirana, Jaipur-Atrauli, Rampur-SahaswanInstrumental gharanas such as Maihar and the Senia lineageKathak gharanas: Lucknow, Jaipur and Banaras

Common traps

Confusing the Jaipur khayal gharana of Alladiya Khan with the Jaipur gharana of Kathak.
Guessing the gharana from where the singer lived - Kirana singers worked mainly in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

This is a straight artist-to-gharana pairing, and SSC repeats it with the names swapped.

Prabha Atre and the Kirana gharana are asked again on 17 Sep 2024, 09:00, General Awareness Q.4, Ali Akbar Khan and the Maihar gharana on 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, General Awareness Q.10, and the Lucknow gharana of Kathak on 25 Sep 2024, 09:00, General Awareness Q.11.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.