Which of the following folk dances/celebrations of Uttarakhand is included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list?
- (a)Ramman
- (b)Chanchari
- (c)Cholia
- (d)Jhumelo
Correct — A, Ramman.
UNESCO inscribed Ramman on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009, under the full title "Ramman, religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas, India".
It is held every year in late April in the twin villages of Saloor-Dungra, in the Painkhanda valley of Chamoli district, and the festivities centre on the temple of the local divinity Bhumiyal Devta.
The event weaves together a recitation of the Rama epic and local legends, songs, and masked dances — the masked dance is one strand of it, not the whole thing.
Carry away the pairing itself: Uttarakhand's entry on UNESCO's intangible heritage list is Ramman, inscribed in 2009.
- (b)Chanchari — Chanchari is a Kumaoni folk dance associated with the Danpur region of Bageshwar district, danced by men and women together in a semi-circle at a very slow tempo, to drum accompaniment.
It is close kin to Jhora, the closed-circle form.
It is the right answer to a question on the community dances of the Danpur belt, not to one about a UNESCO inscription.
- (c)Cholia — Cholia (Chholiya) is the sword-and-shield dance of Kumaon, performed by costumed men to dhol and damau, and seen most familiarly in wedding processions.
It is the right answer to a question on Kumaon's martial sword dance.
Being the most publicly visible dance of a region is a different thing from being carried on an international list, and the two should not be collapsed.
- (d)Jhumelo — Jhumelo (Jhumailo) is a Garhwali dance-song led by women, performed in a swaying circle at fairs and seasonal festivals, with the song built around a woman's own voice and village life.
It is the right answer to a question on Garhwal's women-led fair-time dance-songs, not to one about the intangible heritage list.
UNESCO runs more than one heritage instrument, and they recognise different kinds of thing.
The Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, created under the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, recognises living practice — festivals, performing arts, craft skills — held by a community and passed on.
The World Heritage List, created under the 1972 Convention, recognises places: monuments, ensembles and natural sites. A festival cannot enter it, and a national park cannot enter the intangible list.
Ramman is inscribed on the first of these. It is described by UNESCO as a religious festival and ritual theatre, which is why a question that groups "folk dances/celebrations" together can hold it.
Uttarakhand appears in both UNESCO systems, but through different entries, and the two are easy to fuse into a single vague idea of "UNESCO heritage".
On the intangible side the state's entry is Ramman. On the tangible side Uttarakhand is represented by Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks on the World Heritage List.
Ramman also sits inside the wider Indian set on the Representative List, whose entries and years are listed in the key facts below — so the same fact can be reached from a state angle or a national one.
- UNESCO inscribed "Ramman, religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas, India" on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
- Ramman is held every year in late April in the twin villages of Saloor-Dungra, in the Painkhanda valley of Chamoli district, Uttarakhand.
- The festivities are centred on the temple of Bhumiyal Devta, the local divinity who hosts the festival; the hosting family follows daily observances through the year.
- The festival combines recitation of a version of the epic of Rama and various legends with songs and masked dances.
- UNESCO's description records that one of the most sacred masks, that of the half-man half-lion deity Narasimha, is worn by the Bhandaris, who represent locals of the Kshatriya caste.
- Uttarakhand is represented on the World Heritage List by Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks, inscribed under the separate 1972 World Heritage Convention.
- Indian elements on the Representative List include Ramlila (2008), Ramman (2009), Chhau dance and Kalbelia (2010), Kumbh Mela (2017), Durga Puja in Kolkata (2021), Garba of Gujarat (2023) and Deepavali (2025).
All four are Uttarakhand traditions; the keyed one is the entry carried on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
- Treating "UNESCO heritage" as one list. Ramman sits on the intangible heritage list under the 2003 Convention; Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks sit on the World Heritage List under the 1972 Convention, and an option can be genuinely UNESCO-linked through the wrong instrument.
- Picking the most visible dance instead of the inscribed one. Public familiarity — a dance seen at wedding processions — is not evidence of inscription, and the two signals point in different directions here.
- Reading the stem's word "dances" so narrowly that Ramman is rejected for being a festival. The stem says "folk dances/celebrations", and Ramman is a festival in which masked dance is one component.
- Mixing the year of the Convention with the year of the inscription: the intangible heritage Convention dates from 2003, while Ramman's inscription is 2009.
- Assuming the newest or most famous national entry answers a state-specific stem. Garba of Gujarat and Chhau dance are on the same list but are not Uttarakhand traditions.
This idea reaches you from two directions. One is the state angle — a list of four Uttarakhand folk forms with a single UNESCO-inscribed name hidden among them, as here.
The other is the national angle: which Indian element was the latest addition to the intangible heritage list, or an ordering of several elements by year of inscription. That first version has a moving answer, so date it to the paper you are reading.
A third variant tests the instrument rather than the item, mixing World Heritage sites, intangible elements and Creative Cities designations in one set of statements, so that knowing the name is not enough — you have to know which UNESCO list it lives on.
UPSC_2024_GS1_Q602024Same list — UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List — and the same one-of-four format. What differs is the axis: UPSC asks which Indian element was the latest addition as of that paper (Garba of Gujarat, inscribed 2023), testing chronology across the national set, while the UKPSC item restricts the field to one state's repertoire and tests which name is on the list at all.
NDA_GAT_2025_I_Q1172025Almost the same sentence — which dance form has been inscribed on the Representative List — with the answer again Garba. The difference is the pool: NDA sets four classical and regional forms from across India, whereas the UKPSC options are four Uttarakhand traditions, so recognising a famous national name will not carry you through the state version.
NDA_GAT_2024_II_Q1432024Shares the intangible heritage strand through its statement on Garba, but folds it into UNESCO's Creative Cities Network designations for Kozhikode and Gwalior. The skill it rewards is the one this item can also punish: knowing which UNESCO programme a name belongs to, not merely that UNESCO recognised it.
HPSC_2023_PRE_GSII_Q332023Same knowledge base, one step harder: it asks for five inscriptions in order of the year they entered the list rather than for a single name. Ramman is not among the five it lists, so the overlap is the underlying timeline of Indian entries, not the specific fact tested here.
UKPSC_2025_PRE_GSI_Q522025Same state and the same word 'UNESCO', but the other instrument — it asks about World Heritage Sites located in Uttarakhand, which are places inscribed under the 1972 Convention, while this item is about a living festival on the intangible heritage list. Reading the two together is the cleanest way to keep the instruments apart.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In which year was Ramman inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity?
- (a)2003
- (b)2008
- (c)2009
- (d)2010
Answerc — Ramman was inscribed in 2009.(a) 2003 is the year the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted, which is the instrument, not an inscription date.
(b) 2008 is when Ramlila, Kutiyattam and the tradition of Vedic chanting were incorporated on the Representative List. (d) 2010 is the year of Chhau dance, Kalbelia and Mudiyettu.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Ramman festival is celebrated around the temple of which divinity in the twin villages of Saloor-Dungra?
- (a)Golu Devta
- (b)Bhumiyal Devta
- (c)Nanda Devi
- (d)Baba Kedar
Answerb — UNESCO's own description names Bhumiyal Devta, the local divinity whose temple houses most of the festivities, and the hosting family observes daily rituals through the year.(a) Golu Devta is the Kumaoni deity of justice, worshipped at temples such as Chitai near Almora. (c) Nanda Devi is honoured through the Nanda Devi Raj Jat pilgrimage and the Nanda Devi fairs, not through Ramman.
(d) Baba Kedar is Shiva at Kedarnath, a Char Dham shrine unconnected to this festival.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Ramman of Uttarakhand finds a place on which of the following UNESCO lists?
- (a)World Heritage List
- (b)Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
- (c)Memory of the World Register
- (d)Creative Cities Network
Answerb — Ramman is a living festival and ritual theatre, and it was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.(a) The World Heritage List recognises places; Uttarakhand's entry there is Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks. (c) The Memory of the World Register covers documentary heritage — manuscripts, archives, recordings.
(d) The Creative Cities Network designates cities, such as Kozhikode as City of Literature and Gwalior as City of Music.