SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 18 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 2 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.

Which of the following pairs of temple style & region are correctly matched? 1. Vesara – Deccan 2. Rekha-Deul – Odisha 3. Bhumija – Malwa 4. Kalinga – Tamil Nadu

(a)1 & 2 only
(b)1, 2 & 3 are correct
(c)2 & 4 only
(d)only 1

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Check each pair against the region where the style grew.

Vesara – Deccan holds: the hybrid style is common in the later Chalukya and Hoysala temples of the Deccan, particularly Karnataka.

Rekha-Deul – Odisha holds: the rekha deula is one of the three temple types of Kalinga architecture.

Bhumija – Malwa holds: the style was invented in Malwa under the Paramaras.

Kalinga – Tamil Nadu fails, because Kalinga is Odisha's style. So pairs 1, 2 and 3 → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
1 & 2 only — Stops at two. Pair 3 is also right: Bhumija was invented around the 10th century in the Malwa region under the Paramara dynasty.
(c)
2 & 4 only — Keeps the false pair 4. Kalinga architecture, with its rekha, pidha and khakhara deulas, belongs to Odisha, not Tamil Nadu.
(d)
only 1 — Rejects two true pairs. The rekha deula is an Odisha temple type, and Bhumija is a Malwa style, so pairs 2 and 3 hold along with pair 1.

Concept

Indian temple styles are named by form, and each has a home region.

Bhumija arose in Malwa (west Madhya Pradesh and south-east Rajasthan) under the Paramaras. Built over a whole shrine, it counts as a sub-type of Nagara.

Vesara blends Dravida site layouts with Nagara shape details. Kalinga architecture of Odisha has three temple types: rekha deula, pidha deula and khakhara deula.

Pair 2 names a temple type rather than a whole style. In Kalinga architecture the rekha deula houses the sanctum and the pidha deula forms the outer halls, so the region, Odisha, still matches.

Key facts

Vesara is common in the later Chalukya and Hoysala temples of the Deccan, particularly Karnataka.
Kalinga architecture of Odisha has three temple types: rekha deula, pidha deula and khakhara deula.
Bhumija was invented around the 10th century in Malwa under the Paramara dynasty.
The 11th-century Udayesvara (Nilakanthesvara) temple at Udaypur, Madhya Pradesh, is the best-preserved Bhumija temple.

Study next

Nagara sub-types: Latina, Phamsana, Valabhi and BhumijaKalinga temple types: rekha, pidha and khakhara deulaHoysala and later Chalukya temples of Karnataka

Common traps

Dropping pair 3 because Bhumija is unfamiliar: it is the Malwa style of the Paramara period.
Rejecting pair 2 because Rekha-Deul is a temple type, not a style name: the region, Odisha, is still right.

Here styles are tested as style–region pairs. Nagara sub-types are tested by roof shape at 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.2 (Latina, Phamsana, Valabhi), and a temple centre by dynasty at 10 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.8 (Mahabalipuram under the Pallavas).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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