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TNPSC Tamil Nadu art, architecture and culture: practice questions

By the PrepMatic team · Updated 9 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

The word "Culture" and the word "Heritage" in the Unit VI title are not decoration. They point to folk arts, temple architecture, music, festivals and monuments, which TNPSC tests as identification questions: which art, which place, which period. These are among the easiest marks in a unit that carries about 20 of the 75 General Studies questions, as long as you have seen the items before. The five questions below sample the main types. See TNPSC Tamil Nadu History, Culture and Heritage for the bigger picture.

What this topic covers

• Folk and classical arts: Bharatanatyam, Karagattam, Kolattam, Oyilattam, Therukkoothu, Villupattu and others.
• Temples and monuments: Pallava, Chola, Pandya and Nayak architecture.
• World Heritage Sites: UNESCO-listed sites in Tamil Nadu.
• Crafts and painting: Chola bronzes, Thanjavur paintings and the ancient cave paintings of Sittanavasal.

Tamil Nadu's UNESCO World Heritage Sites include the Group of Monuments at Mamallapuram, the Great Living Chola Temples (Thanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram) and the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, which is part of the Mountain Railways of India.

Sample questions

Question 1

Therukkoothu is a traditional form of:

• A. street theatre
• B. martial art
• C. temple sculpture
• D. musical instrument

Question 2

Which of the following is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tamil Nadu?

• A. Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai
• B. Group of Monuments at Mamallapuram
• C. Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Mylapore
• D. Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam

Question 3

The ancient cave paintings at Sittanavasal belong to the tradition of:

• A. Buddhism
• B. Hinduism
• C. Jainism
• D. Christianity

Question 4

The famous Chola bronzes were cast by the:

• A. sand-casting method
• B. electroplating method
• C. forging method
• D. lost-wax (cire perdue) method

Question 5

In Karagattam, the performer balances on the head a:

• A. wooden horse
• B. bamboo pole
• C. decorated pot
• D. sword

Answers and explanations

1. A. Therukkoothu is street theatre, performed in villages with music, make-up and costume, usually telling stories from the epics. It is not a martial art or an instrument.
2. B. The Group of Monuments at Mamallapuram was inscribed in 1984. The Meenakshi Amman Temple, the Kapaleeshwarar Temple and the Ranganathaswamy Temple are major heritage temples but are not inscribed UNESCO sites.
3. C. The Sittanavasal paintings, in a rock-cut cave temple in Pudukkottai district, are associated with Jain monks. They are some of the earliest surviving wall paintings in the south.
4. D. Chola bronzes were made by the lost-wax process, in which a wax model is covered in clay, the wax is melted out and metal is poured in. The Nataraja bronze is the best-known example.
5. C. Karagattam is a folk dance in which a decorated pot is balanced on the dancer's head, with movements designed to keep it from falling. The dummy-horse dance is Poikkal Kuthirai.

How to prepare art, architecture and culture

Use pictures. Search for photographs of each item in the tables above and spend ten minutes looking at them with the name written below. A dance or monument you have seen is much easier to identify than one you read about.

Organise architecture by dynasty and style, and link each to a phase of history: Pallava rock-cut and structural temples, Chola temples with a tall vimana (the tower above the sanctum), Pandya gopurams (the gateway towers), Nayak halls and long pillared corridors, as at Madurai. A simple sentence such as "Pallava starts, Chola perfects the vimana, Pandya and Nayak raise the gopuram" is enough to separate the styles.

For crafts and painting, make a one-line card for each: Chola bronze (lost wax), Thanjavur painting, Swamimalai bronze casting. Add the festivals of the state, including Pongal, with a one-line note on what is celebrated.

Combine this page with TNPSC Pallavas and Pandyas practice and TNPSC Cholas practice, where the buildings appear in a historical context.

Take the full topic test on PrepMatic

PrepMatic topic tests give you about 15 questions in 30 minutes, which is a good way to test culture topics that are hard to revise from notes alone. Your analytics show accuracy over time and speed per question, so you can tell whether you are slow on recall questions. If you want to review in Tamil, choose Tamil as the exam language.

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