Fundamentals

KQA (Karnataka Quiz Association) is organising three quizzes today at The Institution of Agricultural Technologists, Queen’s Road, Bengaluru. The most interesting of them is ‘Chronosynchlastic Infundibulum’ a quiz on Speculative Fiction (for two member teams. It will start at 1.30 pm). The two other quizzes are The Junior College quiz for three member teams (will begin at 10 am) and The Ganesh Nayak Memorial Open Quiz is open to teams of four members(at 3 pm). More details on kqaquizzes.org.

Regular contributor U. Narasimha Murthy from Secunderabad contributes this week’s theme on temples of India.
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Temples of India

1. Arches formed by natural rock formation are a rarity. There are only three of its kind in the world. One is the Rainbow Arch in Utah in USA and the second one is Dalradian Quartzite in the UK. The third one is located in a famous temple town. Name the rock formation and its location.
2. In which temple in India is the deity in the form of empty space i.e. there is no idol, signifying that God is present everywhere in the universe?
3. Lord Brahma, as per Hindu mythology was believed to have started the work of creating the universe here after performing a huge yagna. A sacred shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva stands within this place. Which place?
4. Which temple town is known as “Dakshina Dwarka”?
5. Women in the age group of 10-50 are not allowed to visit the Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala in Kerala. In a particular temple, during a nine day festival celebrations, men are not allowed to the temple or the surroundings. All the festivities are carried out by women. What is the name of this temple and where is it?
6. This famous temple of Lord Shiva derives its name from the useful medicinal herbs available in the mountains, jungles and rivers surrounding the village where the temple is located. The village lies on the line drawn between Kanyakumari and Ujjain. Name the place and the temple.
7. This famous town connected with a great Hindu epic has nine gurudwaras in addition to many Hindu temples. It is said that nine out of ten Sikh gurus visited this town. Name the town.

Anything Goes

1. Maureen Connolly, Grand Slam tennis winner was nickname ‘Little Mo’, a name derived from the ‘Big Mo’. Who or what was ‘Big Mo’? (Deepjyoti Deka, Nalbari)
2. Who made his singing debut in the film, Yahudi Ki Beti (1933) but the songs were scrapped and re-sung by Pahari Sanyal? (Parvinder Bhatia, Jamshedpur)
3. Name the first woman to be selected as Time magazine’s Woman of the Year? (Abhijit Basak, Dum Dum )
4. Which popular Indian food item, a fruit, derives its name from Arabic meaning “Date of India”? (U. Narasimha Murthy, Secunderabad)
5. The only silent movie to win a best picture Oscar was also the first movie to win the best picture Oscar. Name the movie. (Akhilashwin R., Jolarpet)
6. Which country has the Cedar tree as the national emblem? (Sudipto Basak, Kolkata)
7. Which country’s national anthem incorporates five of its commonly spoken languages in one song? (Sushil Poddar, Kolkata)
8. The Öresund Bridge connects the Swedish city of Malmo with which other city currently in the news? (P. Ramakrishna, Chennai)
9. Which tea town in Sri Lanka literally means City of Lights in Sinhala language? (P. Shankar, Chennai)

ANSWERS
Temples of India
1. Sila Thoranam (Garland of rocks) at Tirumala, the famous temple town of Lord Venkateswara
2. Nataraja temple, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu
3. Brahma Sarovar lake in Kurukshetra (in Haryana). There was mention of this lake by Al-Biruni in his book Kitab-ul-Hind in the 11th century AD
4. Guruvayur in Kerala
5. Attukal Bhagavathi temple in Thiruvananthapuram, also known as Sabarimala of Women. The celebrations are called Ponkala Mahotsavam
6. Parali Vaidyanath temple
7. Kurukshetra where it is believed the great Mahabharata war took place and Lord Krishna delivered The Gita

Anything Goes
1. ‘Big Mo’ was the nickname of battleship USS Missouri which was based in her home town
2. S.D. Burman
3. Wallis Warfield Simpson
4. Tamarind. From Arabic Tamar-i-Hind meaning date of India
5. Wings
6. Lebanon
7.‘Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika’, the national anthem of South Africa. The five languages are Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, English and Afrikaans
8. Copenhagen
9. Nuwara Eliya