Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

History

Chapter

Medieval India: Kings and Chronicles

Question:

The painting shown below is taken from Badshah Nama. Answer the questions that follow:

Who described paintings as a “magical art”, which had the power to make inanimate objects look as if they possessed life?

Options:

Muhammad Husayn

Amir Khusrau

Akbar

Abu’l Fazl

Correct Answer:

Abu’l Fazl

Explanation:

Paintings served not only to enhance the beauty of a book, but were believed to possess special powers of communicating ideas about the kingdom and the power of kings in ways that the written medium could not. The historian Abu’l Fazl described painting as a “magical art”: in his view it had the power to make inanimate objects look as if they possessed life.