Which of the following best describes traditional Rajasthani music?

Correct — C. Rajasthan's traditional music is carried by hereditary performers, and their songs grow out of nature, daily life and long stories.

The Manganiyar of the Thar desert are known for compositions about humans, nature and salvation, and sing at births, weddings and deaths. The Bhopas sing the epic of the folk hero Pabuji in front of a painted cloth scroll, the phad.

That is option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Focuses only on temple rituals — The word only sinks it. Manganiyar and Langa musicians sing at births, weddings and deaths and in their patrons' gatherings, well beyond temple ritual.
• (b)
  Uses electric sounds as the base — Traditional here means acoustic: Manganiyar and Langa musicians play bowed instruments such as the kamaicha and the sarangi. An electric base belongs to modern fusion, not to the tradition.
• (d)
  Known only for classical ragas — Again the word only. Manganiyar musicians do sing ragas, but some of those ragas arose in the Thar and are absent from north Indian classical music, and their repertoire includes life-cycle songs and ballads.

Much of Rajasthan's traditional music belongs to hereditary musician communities. The Manganiyar and the Langa are Muslim musicians of the Thar desert, and the Manganiyar have sung for Rajput and Charan patron families for generations.

Their repertoire runs from songs for births, marriages and deaths to ballads such as Dhola-Maru.

The Bhopas, priest-singers of the Pabuji cult, narrate the epic of Pabuji, a medieval Rathore Rajput worshipped as a folk deity, using the phad as a portable temple.

Key facts

• The Manganiyar are hereditary Muslim musicians of the Thar desert, mostly in Barmer and Jaisalmer districts.
• Manganiyar and Langa musicians play bowed instruments such as the kamaicha and the sarangi.
• Bhopas narrate the epic of Pabuji in front of a phad, a long painted cloth scroll.

Common traps

• Picking (d) because a raga is part of the performance. The word only rules it out.
• Reading traditional as religious and choosing (a). Manganiyar songs mark births, weddings and deaths as well.

No directly related past PYQ was found.