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Prelims · Art and Culture

Heritage Listing and Conservation

2 questions, from 2024 to 2026.

2024

1 question

2024 · Q65

Consider the following properties included in the World Heritage List released by UNESCO:

  1. 1.Shantiniketan
  2. 2.Rani-ki-Vav
  3. 3.Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas
  4. 4.Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodhgaya.

How many of the above properties were included in 2023?

  1. (a)Only one
  2. (b)Only two
  3. (c)Only three
  4. (d)All four
Show answer and explanation

Two properties were inscribed in 2023. Shantiniketan in West Bengal, the site of Rabindranath Tagore's institution, was inscribed in September 2023 as a cultural property. The Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas, comprising the temples at Belur, Halebid and Somanathapura in Karnataka, were inscribed shortly afterwards in the same session, becoming India's forty second World Heritage property. Rani ki Vav, the stepwell at Patan in Gujarat, was inscribed much earlier, in 2014. The Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodhgaya was inscribed in 2002 and is among India's older listings. Two therefore qualify, giving (b). Option (a) drops one of the two 2023 entries, while options (c) and (d) pull in the 2014 and 2002 inscriptions and mistake fame for recency.

Moderate · Current Affairs Inspired · Art and Culture · Heritage Listing and Conservation

2026

1 question

2026 · Q37

Which one of the following statements with regard to the Moidams, built by the Tai-Ahom kingdom and inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is/are correct?

  1. 1.They acted as army fortresses.
  2. 2.They were recreation centres of the Royals and Nobles.
  3. 3.They were burial grounds of the Royals and Nobles.
  4. 4.They were battle drill centres of the Royals and Nobles.
  1. (a)1 only
  2. (b)1 and 3
  3. (c)3 only
  4. (d)2 and 4
Show answer and explanation

Only statement 3 is correct, so (c) is the answer. Moidams are the burial mounds of the Ahom royalty and nobility, concentrated at Charaideo in Sivasagar district of Assam, each consisting of a vaulted brick or stone chamber holding the body together with grave goods, covered by an earth mound and enclosed by a wall, and the site became India's first cultural World Heritage inscription from the Northeast in 2024.

  • Statements 1, 2 and 4 are all wrong because they assign a military or recreational function to what is a funerary complex. The Ahom kingdom did build fortifications and earthworks, the ramparts and ditches associated with the Battle of Saraighat being the well known example, but those are separate structures and are not moidams.
  • Options (a), (b) and (d) therefore all rest on transferring functions from other Ahom remains to the burial mounds.

Easy · Current Affairs Inspired · Art and Culture · Heritage Listing and Conservation

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