SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 17 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 23 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.

Match the dominant folk dance with the song-theme: Folk dance | Song-theme 1. Panthi | A. Devotional hymns to Guru Ghasidas (Hari-Gaitri) 2. Gotipua | B. Krishna-Jagannath leela narratives 3. Kalbelia | C. Sensuous serpent metaphors 4. Tippani | D. Work-song pounding couplets (saathiyo re)

(a)1-A 2-B 3-C 4-D
(b)1-B 2-A 3-D 4-C
(c)1-C 2-B 3-A 4-D
(d)1-A 2-C 3-B 4-D

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Panthi is the dance of Chhattisgarh's Satnami community, whose songs praise Guru Ghasidas: 1-A.

Gotipua is danced in Odisha by boys dressed as girls, in praise of Jagannath and Krishna: 2-B.

Kalbelia belongs to Rajasthan's snake-charmer community, and its movements copy a serpent: 3-C.

Tippani grew from Saurashtra women beating lime floors with long sticks, a work dance: 4-D. That is option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
1-B 2-A 3-D 4-C — Swaps every pair. It gives Panthi the Jagannath songs and Gotipua the Guru Ghasidas hymns, then puts Kalbelia on the work song and Tippani on serpents.
(c)
1-C 2-B 3-A 4-D — Swaps Panthi and Kalbelia. Serpent imagery belongs to Kalbelia, the snake-charmers' dance, and the Guru Ghasidas hymns belong to Panthi of Chhattisgarh.
(d)
1-A 2-C 3-B 4-D — Swaps Gotipua and Kalbelia. Gotipua sings of Jagannath and Krishna, while serpent-like movement is the mark of Kalbelia.

Concept

Each dance here belongs to one community, and its song-theme follows from that community's life.

Panthi is the dance of the Satnamis, followers of Guru Ghasidas. Gotipua is temple devotion in Odisha and a precursor of Odissi.

Kalbelia carries its community's snake-handling heritage into swirling, serpent-like movement. Tippani turns the labour of beating floors into a women's dance with long sticks.

The stem's labels 'Hari-Gaitri' and 'saathiyo re' are printed as given. The match does not need them: the dance-to-community link fixes all four pairs.

Key facts

Panthi is the folk dance of the Satnami community of Chhattisgarh, followers of Guru Ghasidas.
Gotipua is performed in Odisha by young boys dressed as women and is regarded as a precursor of Odissi.
Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan were inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010.
Tippani comes from the Veraval and Chorwad area of Saurashtra, Gujarat, where women beat lime into floors with long wooden sticks.

Study next

Folk dances of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Gujarat and their communitiesIndia's elements on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural HeritageOdissi and its roots in Gotipua

Common traps

Matching by guesswork on region: fix Panthi to the Satnamis and Kalbelia to the snake-charmers first, and the rest follows.
Taking Tippani for a devotional dance: it is a work dance born from beating floors.

The same dances are asked one at a time: Panthi and Guru Ghasidas at 14 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.19, and Kalbelia's snake movement at 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.20.

Tippani's Saurashtra origin is asked at 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.16, and a dance-to-community match with Kalbelia and Panthi at 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.24.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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