SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 17 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 9 of 98

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.

Identify the Indian classical dancer associated with Kathak.

(a)Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma
(b)Sharodi Saikia
(c)Rohini Bhate
(d)Kelucharan Mohapatra

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Rohini Bhate (1924-2008) was a Kathak dancer based in Pune.

She trained first in the Jaipur gharana under Sohanlal and afterwards in the Lucknow gharana under Lachhu Maharaj and Mohanrao Kallianpurkar.

She founded the Nrityabharati Kathak Dance Academy at Pune in 1947 and received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1979. The other three names on the list belong to three other classical forms.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma — Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma was a Kuchipudi exponent from Andhra Pradesh, celebrated for the Satyabhama role.
(b)
Sharodi Saikia — Sharodi Saikia is an exponent of Sattriya, the classical form of Assam, and a Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee.
(d)
Kelucharan Mohapatra — Kelucharan Mohapatra is the best-known name in Odissi, the classical form of Odisha.

Concept

Kathak is the north Indian classical form, built on rhythmic footwork, fast spins and abhinaya, and it matured in courts rather than in temples.

Its principal gharanas are Lucknow, Jaipur and Banaras, with Raigarh as a later addition.

The item is a name-to-form match, so the working knowledge it needs is a list of dancers attached to their forms rather than anything about technique.

Rohini Bhate trained in two Kathak gharanas, Jaipur first and Lucknow later, so writers cite her under either one.

Key facts

Rohini Bhate was a Kathak dancer from Pune and received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1979.
She founded the Nrityabharati Kathak Dance Academy at Pune in 1947.
Kelucharan Mohapatra is associated with Odissi and Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma with Kuchipudi.
Sharodi Saikia is an exponent of Sattriya, the classical dance of Assam.

Study next

The recognised Indian classical dance forms and the states they belong toKathak gharanas: Lucknow, Jaipur, Banaras and RaigarhSangeet Natak Akademi awardees in dance

Common traps

All four options are genuine classical dancers, so eliminating on 'not a dancer' gets you nowhere.
Kathak and Kathakali sound alike and belong to different regions and different forms.

SSC gives one dancer and asks the form, or gives the form and asks the odd one out.

Kuchipudi is asked from a list of names on 23 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.1, where the key is Vempati Chinna Satyam, and 'NOT related to Odissi' on 19 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.19. The Kathak gharana itself is asked through Ishwari Prasad on 25 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.11, where the key is Lucknow.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.