Paper-II: Indian Culture - Art, Heritage, Thought and Performance
What Paper-II tests
Paper-II is the candidate's chosen subject: 100 questions × 2 marks = 200 marks. Indian Culture spans prehistory and protohistory, Vedic and heterodox thought, dynastic patronage, architecture, sculpture, painting, performing arts, literature, crafts and institutions, with heavy weighting on art history and the classical performing traditions.
Core rules and concepts
- Protohistory: Indus Valley (mature phase c. 2600–1900 BCE), script undeciphered; Lothal dockyard, Dholavira water reservoirs, Harappa granaries, Mohenjo-daro Great Bath.
- Sculpture schools: Gandhara (grey schist, Greco-Roman drapery, halo), Mathura (spotted red sandstone, indigenous idiom), Amaravati (limestone relief, later Chola-linked).
- Temple styles: Nagara (curvilinear shikhara, amalaka, kalasha), Dravida (pyramidal vimana, gopuram gateway, prakara wall), Vesara (hybrid, Deccan/Hoysala).
- Classical dance: the eight recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi - Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Odissi, Mohiniyattam, Sattriya (recognised 2000).
- Institutions: ASI (1861), Sangeet Natak Akademi (1952), Sahitya Akademi and Lalit Kala Akademi (1954), IGNCA (1985).
Worked example
A dance repertoire runs Alarippu → Jatiswaram → Shabdam → Varnam → Padam → Tillana, is set to Carnatic music, and is directed by a nattuvanar with cymbals. Step 1 - the Carnatic frame eliminates Kathak (Hindustani, tatkar, gharanas). Step 2 - the nattuvanar and the Alarippu opening eliminate Odissi (Batu, Moksha, Mangalacharan) and Manipuri (Ras Leela). Step 3 - the absence of a tarangam (plate dance) and of Telugu padams eliminates Kuchipudi. Answer: Bharatanatyam.
Traps that cost marks
- Ajanta is exclusively Buddhist and painted; Ellora is Buddhist, Hindu and Jain with sculpture dominating.
- Sattriya is classical; Chhau, Yakshagana and Bihu are not.
- Classical language status now covers eleven languages, including Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali added in 2024.
- Mughal painting (naturalism, akbar-period translation projects) is routinely swapped with Rajasthani/Pahari idioms.