SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 23 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 1 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 10 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.

Who among the following Indian classical dancers is associated with Kuchipudi?

(a)Meenakshi Medhi
(b)Sanjukta Panigrahi
(c)Malavika Sarkar
(d)Vempati Chinna Satyam

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Vempati Chinna Satyam was the guru who carried Kuchipudi out of its temple-village setting in Andhra Pradesh and onto the proscenium stage, training generations at the Kuchipudi Art Academy he founded in Chennai.

The pairing to hold is Kuchipudi — Vempati Chinna Satyam. The item tests dancer-to-form matching, not biography.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Meenakshi Medhi — Nothing ties this name to Kuchipudi. In a form-to-dancer item, an option you cannot place is not evidence of a rare exponent — it is a name the stem gives you no way to connect.
(b)
Sanjukta Panigrahi — Sanjukta Panigrahi was the foremost exponent of Odissi and a disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Odisha, not Andhra Pradesh, and a form with its own separate repertoire.
(c)
Malavika Sarkar — Kuchipudi's documented lineage runs through the gurus of Kuchipudi village in Andhra Pradesh, the Vempati and Vedantam families. This name sits nowhere in it.

Concept

The Sangeet Natak Akademi recognises eight classical dance forms, and General Awareness tests the map between a form, its state and the people who carry it.

Kuchipudi takes its name from a village in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh. It grew as a dance-drama tradition performed by male brahmin troupes, its repertoire traced to Siddhendra Yogi's Bhama Kalapam.

Vempati Chinna Satyam's contribution was to codify that dance-drama repertoire into solo items that could be taught and performed away from the village stage.

The stem gives the form and asks for the person. SSC also runs the recall in reverse, giving the form and asking for the state, so learn the pair in both directions.

Key facts

Kuchipudi is named after Kuchipudi village in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh.
Vempati Chinna Satyam founded the Kuchipudi Art Academy in Chennai and was awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Sanjukta Panigrahi was an Odissi exponent trained by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra.
Sattriya is the classical dance form of Assam, rooted in the Vaishnava sattras.

Study next

Kuchipudi repertoire — Bhama Kalapam and the Tarangam plate itemOdissi and its gurus, Kelucharan Mohapatra and Sanjukta PanigrahiSattriya and the Vaishnava sattras of Assam

Common traps

Taking the most famous dancer on the list as the match for whichever form the stem names
Placing Kuchipudi in Tamil Nadu because the tradition is southern

SSC runs the dance map in both directions.

24 Sep 2024, 16:00, General Awareness Q.20 asks which state Kuchipudi belongs to, and 17 Sep 2024, 09:00, General Awareness Q.9 asks for the Kathak dancer with Kuchipudi's Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma sitting among its wrong choices.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.