SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 19 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

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SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Poikkal Kuthirai Aattam, or dummy horse dance, is performed primarily during religious festivals in which state?

(a)Kerala
(b)Tamil Nadu
(c)Karnataka
(d)Telangana

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Poikkal Kuthirai Aattam is a folk dance of Tamil Nadu. The name means false-leg horse dance: the dancer fits inside a light dummy horse and ties wooden legs to the feet, which sound like hooves when tapped.

It is arranged during religious festivals and is linked to the worship of Ayyanar, mainly around Thanjavur: option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Kerala — The dummy-horse dance is documented as a Tamil Nadu form centred on Thanjavur. Kerala is the home of Kathakali and Mohiniyattam.
(c)
Karnataka — Karnataka is the key for Yakshagana at 26 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.2. The dummy-horse dance belongs to Tamil Nadu and is performed mainly around Thanjavur.
(d)
Telangana — The dance is documented in Tamil Nadu, not Telangana. Its link to Ayyanar, a Tamil village guardian deity, ties it to Tamil Nadu festivals.

Concept

Poikkal Kuthirai Aattam, also called Puravi Aattam, is built around a dummy horse. The horse's body is made of light materials such as jute, cardboard and paper, and cloth at its sides swings to hide the dancer's legs.

It is performed by men and women, with a pair of dancers playing a king and queen, to instruments such as the nadhaswaram, thavil and pambai.

Other dummy-horse dances exist, such as Rajasthan's Kachchhi Ghodi from the Shekhawati region. The Tamil name, Poikkal Kuthirai, is what fixes this one to Tamil Nadu.

Key facts

Poikkal Kuthirai Aattam: poi = false, kaal = leg, kuthirai = horse. It is also called Puravi Aattam.
The dancer fits inside a dummy horse and ties wooden legs to the feet.
The dance is linked to the worship of Ayyanar and prevails mainly around Thanjavur.

Study next

Other Tamil Nadu folk dances: Karagattam, Mayil Attam and OyilattamKachchhi Ghodi, the dummy-horse dance of RajasthanBharatanatyam, the classical dance of Tamil Nadu

Common traps

Answering from the English gloss alone: Rajasthan's Kachchhi Ghodi also uses dummy horses, so anchor on the Tamil name.

Here a folk dance is given with an English gloss and the state is asked. The same frame appears at 12 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.19 (Cheraw, the bamboo dance, keyed Mizoram), and Tamil Nadu is keyed for Bharatanatyam at 11 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.4.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Culture — all 163 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.