SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 8 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 5 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.

In which of the following states is Govindji Nartanalaya located?

(a)Assam
(b)Nagaland
(c)Tripura
(d)Manipur

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Govindji Nartanalaya is in Manipur.

The name is the giveaway. Shree Govindajee is the Vaishnav deity of the royal temple at Imphal, and *nartanalaya* means a house of dance.

That temple is the devotional home of the Raas Leela, the Manipuri classical dance, so an institution carrying its name belongs to Manipur and to none of the other north-eastern states offered.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Assam — Assam's classical tradition is Sattriya, nurtured in the Vaishnav sattras of Majuli in Sankaradeva's lineage — a different form with its own institutions.
(b)
Nagaland — Nagaland has a rich repertoire of tribal folk song and dance, but no Vaishnav Raas Leela tradition and no institution of this name.
(c)
Tripura — Tripura is known for folk forms such as the Hojagiri of the Reang community. The Govindajee temple tradition is specifically Manipuri.

Concept

Manipuri is one of the classical dance forms recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, built on Vaishnav devotion to Radha and Krishna.

Its central repertoire is the Raas Leela, given its present shape under King Bhagyachandra in the eighteenth century.

The movement vocabulary is soft and rounded rather than percussive. Female dancers wear the stiff barrel-shaped potloi costume, and the pung, a barrel drum, drives the accompaniment.

The Shree Govindajee temple at Imphal remains the ritual centre of the tradition.

The question tests the state, not the institution's history. Recognise 'Govindji' as a Manipuri Vaishnav marker and the rest follows.

Key facts

Govindji Nartanalaya is located in Manipur.
Manipuri is one of the classical dance forms recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and its core repertoire is the Raas Leela.
The Shree Govindajee temple at Imphal is the ritual centre of Manipuri Vaishnav dance.
Assam's classical dance is Sattriya, associated with the Vaishnav sattras of Majuli.

Study next

The classical dance forms recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and their home statesSattriya and the Vaishnav sattras of Assam under SankaradevaFolk dances of the north-eastern states and the festivals they belong to

Common traps

Picking Assam because both states have Vaishnav dance traditions — Sattriya and Manipuri are distinct forms with distinct institutions.
Treating north-eastern cultural names as interchangeable between states.

SSC asks state-to-institution and state-to-dance pairings almost every shift, usually phrased as 'is located in which state'. This shift runs a second culture item at GA Q.14, on Chhath Puja.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.