SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 4 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 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

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.

Which musical instrument from Sikkim is believed to have been the first created for the deity Tetlara Lahadongna, and is associated with mythological origins?

(a)Niyara Hongsing Ke
(b)Simikla Koom (Binayo)
(c)Yema Dhol
(d)Nagara of Yeba

Answer

Why

Correct — B. In the Limboo Mundhum myth, as the Sikkim Government's Cultural Affairs and Heritage page tells it, the first musical instrument was a bamboo harp: the Simikla Koom, Binayo in the Khas language.

The brothers Samdang Khewa and Lingdang Khewa made it for their sister Tetlara Lahadongna → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Niyara Hongsing Ke — Niyara Hongsing Ke belongs to the same Limboo myth, spelled as printed here, but the myth makes it the next instrument. The first, made for Tetlara Lahadongna, is the Simikla Koom.
(c)
Yema Dhol — A dhol is a drum. The first instrument in the Limboo myth, made for Tetlara Lahadongna, is a bamboo harp, the Simikla Koom.
(d)
Nagara of Yeba — A nagara is a drum too. The instrument made for Tetlara Lahadongna is the Simikla Koom, a bamboo harp, not a drum.

Concept

The Binayo is a traditional Kirati instrument made from Malingo, a variety of bamboo, and popular in the eastern Himalaya: Sikkim, Darjeeling, Nepal and Bhutan.

It is a mouth harp: the player grips it between the teeth and plucks its metal wire reed with the forefinger.

The Sikkim Government's retelling of the Limboo myth puts the first instruments in order: the Simikla Koom first, then the Niyara Hongsing Ke.

The stem calls Tetlara Lahadongna a deity. The Sikkim Government's page calls her the sister of the two brothers who made the harp. The wording does not change the answer.

Key facts

In the Limboo Mundhum myth, the first instrument is the Simikla Koom (Binayo in the Khas language), made for Tetlara Lahadongna.
The same myth makes the Niyara Hongsing Ke the next instrument.
The Binayo is a Kirati mouth harp made from Malingo, a variety of bamboo.
It is played by plucking its metal wire reed with the forefinger while it is gripped between the teeth.

Study next

Kirati communities of Sikkim and their instrumentsBamboo mouth harps of the North-East, such as Assam's gogona

Common traps

Picking a drum because a first instrument sounds ceremonial. The myth's first instrument is a small bamboo harp.
Picking Niyara Hongsing Ke because it belongs to the same Limboo myth. The myth makes it the second instrument, not the first.
Reading 'Binayo' in brackets as a different instrument. It is the Khas name for the Simikla Koom.

Regional instruments are also asked at 15 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.4 (Kerala's instrument heritage, keyed the Timila and Maddalam drums), and Sikkim's culture at 26 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.5 (keyed Rumtek Monastery).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Culture — all 246 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.