1. Which one of these was a Harappan technology?
a) glass manufacture b) bead bleaching c) distillation d) cotton dyeing
Or
2. Which Tamil epic poem was written by Ilango Adigal, a jain monk?
a) Manimekalai b) Civaka Cintamaṇi c) Silappathikaram d) Kuṇṭalakeci
Or
3. Which of the following is NOT a contemporary of Mirza Ghalib?
a) Zauk b) Bahadur Shah Zafar c) Bulleh Shah d) Dag
On April 18, heritage enthusiasts in India can access a unique single window and tackle questions on arts and culture in what is being dubbed as India's first Heritage Olympiad. In an hour, registered participants can complete answering some 100 questions on literature, culture and history, get ranked and earn prizes and merit certificates.
An initiative by Cultre, a two-year-old arts consulting enterprise co-founded by Anjchita B. Nair and Vaibhav Chauhan, the Olympiad aims to break the template of international contests on math, science and chess. "The idea was born in lockdown last year when we were brainstorming ways to innovate online education. Because this is a format students are already familiar with, we realised it could be extended to cover heritage education as well. After talking to multiple stakeholders, we realised that apart from school students, heritage enthusiasts across age groups would be interested," says Nair, who was once part of the core team of Sahapedia, an open online resource on the arts.
Cultre, recognised by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade, has roped in multiple knowledge and institutional partners to build their question bank, including Amar Chitra Katha, National Rail Museum, Sahapedia, MICA Ahmedabad, Nehru Planetarium, Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Royal Opera House, Mumbai, India Heritage Walks, Kolkata Centre for Creativity, among others. The Olympiad will be conducted at four levels, the first three for school students up until Class XII, while the last level is open to undergraduate, graduate students and heritage enthusiasts.
To be held on World Heritage Day on April 18, users can log in any time of the day and participate in the hour-long contest. "A heritage Olympiad hasn't taken place anywhere in the world. We really didn't come across anything of the sort in the arts, culture and heritage space. We were frankly quite surprised ourselves," says Nair, whose tech team has produced aesthetically designed slides with the relevant artwork for each question. "In fact, we have put more questions than a person would attempt in an hour so they can skip and try as many questions as they can. This will make them see the sheer range of subjects that come under culture, the different domains like performing arts, literature and languages, practices and rituals, knowledge and culinary traditions, etc.," says Nair who promises this won't be another cookie-cutter GK or civils kind of test. All registered users will get a participating certificate.
The Heritage Olympiad portal can accessed at https://www.heritageolympiad.com/. Registration fee is Rs 299.
