Indian Culture: Music, Languages & Festivals

In eastern and north-eastern India (particularly West Bengal, Odisha, Assam), Goddess Kali is worshiped during Diwali as Kali Puja. Option C is correct. Goddess Durga is worshiped during Durga Puja, Saraswati during Vasant Panchami, and Lakshmi in northern/western India during Diwali.

Lam Kriyong (also spelled Loy Krathong) is Thailand's Festival of Lights, celebrated with floating baskets. Option B is correct. Korea has Chuseok, Bhutan has different festivals, and Nepal has Tihar (for Diwali).

During Dusshera, effigies of the demon king Ravana are burned along with his brother Kumbhakarna and son Meghnad (also called Indrajit). Option C correctly names both. Kansa (from Krishna legends) and Surpanakha (Ravana's sister) are not burned alongside Ravana.

Zanjeer (1973) launched Amitabh Bachchan as the 'angry young man' and was directed by Prakash Mehra. The protagonist witnesses his parents' murder, which transforms him into a vengeful character. Anand (1971), Coolie (1983), and Gambler (1971) are other Prakash Mehra films but don't fit this plot.

Dhanteras is the first day of the five-day Diwali festival, celebrated on the 13th lunar day of Krishna Paksha in Ashwin month. It's dedicated to worship of wealth and health. Diwali/Deepavali is the main festival day (day 3), and Dhan Raashi isn't a recognized festival name.

Bengali has over 260 million speakers worldwide, making it the second most spoken Indian language after Hindi. It is the official language of West Bengal and Bangladesh, giving it widespread geographic reach. Tamil and Telugu have significant speaker populations but number fewer than Bengali.

Kokborok is the indigenous language spoken by the majority of Tripura's tribal population and is recognized as an official language of the state. While Bengali is also widely spoken due to demographic changes, Kokborok remains the native language of most Tripuri people. Tripurari is not a recognized language, and Bhojpuri and Nepali are not native to the region.

Bhojpuri has approximately 26.6 million speakers but is not recognized as an official language in the Indian Constitution, despite its widespread use in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and surrounding regions. Tulu and Dogri have been added to the Eighth Schedule, while English is recognized as an official language for administrative purposes. Bhojpuri's exclusion remains a linguistic rights issue.

Brahui is indeed the only Dravidian language spoken outside India, primarily in Pakistan's Balochistan province. While other Dravidian languages like Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam are concentrated in southern India, Brahui's presence in Pakistan is a linguistic anomaly resulting from ancient migrations.

Konkani is the official language of Goa, spoken predominantly in the coastal state. It is also recognized in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and has official language status in Karnataka's coastal districts as well.

Khamyang is a critically endangered Tai-Kadai language spoken by approximately 50 people in Assam's Tinsukia district. It represents one of India's most threatened languages, with only a handful of elderly speakers remaining in the community.

The Korku tribal people primarily reside in Madhya Pradesh, particularly in districts like Khandwa, Betul, and Chhindwara. Korku is a Munda-language family tribal language spoken by this indigenous community in central India.

Tamil is one of the four official languages of Singapore, along with English, Chinese (Mandarin), and Malay. Singapore recognizes Tamil as the official Indian language due to its significant Tamil-speaking population from South India, particularly from Tamil Nadu, who migrated to Singapore during the British colonial period. This recognition dates back to Singapore's independence and reflects its multicultural heritage.

Ol-Chiki is the official script used to write the Santali language, which belongs to the Munda subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. Santali is primarily spoken by the Santal tribal people across states like Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Bihar. The Ol-Chiki script was developed by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in the 1920s to give Santali its own distinct writing system, and it was recognized as an official script by the Indian Constitution in 2003.

The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution originally included 14 languages but was amended to include 22 languages, giving them official status. This expansion happened through the 21st and 92nd Constitutional Amendments. The schedule now recognizes languages from various language families spoken across India.

Manna Dey received the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 2009 for his outstanding contribution to Indian playback singing. The award recognizes lifetime achievement in cinema and Manna Dey was indeed a worthy recipient for his legendary voice.

Shaan, born Shantanu Mukherjee, released his debut album 'Tanha Dil' in 2000 which became a major blockbuster. He's one of Bollywood's most successful playback singers with hits from films like Dil Chahta Hai and Kal Ho Naa Ho.

Kumar Sanu, born Kedarnath Bhattacharya, dominated Bollywood playback singing in the 1990s. His first major hit was 'Baazigar' (1993) and he went on to win five consecutive Filmfare Awards. He recorded the maximum number of songs in a single day.