SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 21 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 20 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.

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.

Fill in the Blank: Thoda is performed mostly by _____ community.

(a)Rajputs
(b)Brahmins
(c)Jats
(d)Ahirs

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Thoda is a martial tradition of Himachal Pradesh that combines archery, dance and music. Two teams, the pasha and the saatha, shoot blunt arrows at each other's legs.

One account of the game places it among the Khasas of Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur, and says the players usually belong to the region's Thakur community. Thakur is a title widely used by Rajputs, which is the reading the key takes: option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Brahmins — Thoda is a warrior's game, a mock battle between teams who see themselves as descendants of the Pandavas and Kauravas. One account names Thakur players, not the priestly Brahmins.
(c)
Jats — One account of Thoda describes its players as the Thakur community of the Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur hills. The Jats are not the community it names.
(d)
Ahirs — The Ahirs are not the community one account of Thoda names. It describes Thakur players from the Himachal hills in a mock battle between Pandava and Kaurava sides.

Concept

Thoda is Himachal Pradesh's archery-based martial game. Its name may come from the round wooden block fixed on the arrow to blunt it, and archers aim below the knee, losing points for a hit above it.

It is played at local fairs, including around Baisakhi, to the nagara, dhol and shehnai. In 2015 Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh announced that Thoda would be included among rural games such as kho-kho and kabaddi.

One account of Thoda, its Wikipedia entry, says it is popular among the Khasas of Solan, Shimla and Sirmaur and that participants usually belong to the region's Thakur community. It does not use the word Rajput.

Thakur is a title widely used by Rajputs, so option (a) is the choice consistent with that account.

Key facts

Thoda is an archery-based martial game of Himachal Pradesh that mixes archery, dance and music.
Its two teams are the pasha, for the five Pandavas, and the saatha, for the Kauravas, whom local folklore counts as sixty.
Archers aim below the knee, and a hit above the knee costs points.
In 2015 Himachal Pradesh's then Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, announced that Thoda would be included among rural games such as kho-kho and kabaddi.

Study next

Folk dances and folk music of Himachal PradeshTraditional martial arts of India, such as Kalaripayattu, Gatka and Thang-TaMartial festivals such as Hola Mohalla

Common traps

Picking Jats or Ahirs because they are prominent north Indian communities: one account of Thoda names Thakurs of the Himachal hills.
Treating Thoda as a pure dance: it is an archery contest with dance and music woven in.

Himachal's folk traditions also appear at 15 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.3, on the Narsingha wind instrument, and state-wise folk dance at 23 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.23 (Hojagiri, keyed Tripura).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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