'Dhamar' is a style in Hindustani classical music associated with which deity…

Concept: In Hindustani classical music a few vocal forms are defined not by their raga but by a fixed tala together with the subject matter of their poetry. Dhrupad, the oldest surviving classical vocal genre, carries one such companion form whose identity is set by a 14-matra tala and by devotional Braj bhasha verse about spring play.

Application: Dhamar is that form. It is sung to Dhamar tala of 14 matras, grouped 5+2+3+4, and its compositions are almost entirely in Braj bhasha, describing Krishna playing Holi with Radha and the gopis in Vrindavan. Because the poetry and the season are inseparable from the genre, Dhamar is performed chiefly around the spring festival of Holi, and vocalists commonly present it as 'Hori-Dhamar'.

Cross-check: Checking the offered deity and festival pairs against this test - does the pair own a fixed, tala-defined classical composition type?

• Durga and Navratri: Navratri singing runs to garba and dandiya-raas cycles and to Bengal's agomani songs; no dhrupad-family composition type is named after it.

• Vishnu and Diwali: Diwali singing runs to bhajan, kirtan and regional deepavali geet; again no fixed tala-defined classical genre bears its name.

• Shiva and Maha Shivratri: Shivratri singing runs to all-night jagran, damaru-accompanied bhajans and stotra recitation such as the Rudrashtakam; no classical composition type is defined by it.

• Krishna and Holi: this is the pair written into Dhamar's own Braj bhasha texts and into its Phalguna performance season.

Therefore 'Dhamar' is the Hindustani classical style associated with the deity Krishna and the festival of Holi. A useful memory hook: Dhamar tala, Dhamar composition and the Hori songs of Braj all belong to the same spring cluster.