Pahari painting grew in several centres in the hills of the western Himalayas. Which of the following pairs of a centre and what is said about it is correctly matched?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Chamba – a centre where offshoots of the Basohli style emerged and continued
Option (1) Kangra – began with a coarsely flamboyant style — Incorrect. Pahari painting began at Basohli with a coarsely flamboyant style. Kangra is where it reached its most refined form.
Option (2) Kashmir – a local school of Hindu book illumination in the Basohli style — Incorrect. In Kashmir (1846–1885), it was the Kangra style that started a local school of Hindu book illumination.
Option (3) Chamba – a centre where offshoots of the Basohli style emerged and continued — Correct. Chamba is named among the centres where offshoots of the Basohli style emerged and continued with some characteristics of their own.
Option (4) Guler – the most exquisite and sophisticated style of Indian painting — Incorrect. Guler was the pre-Kangra phase. The most exquisite and sophisticated style is the Kangra School.
NCERT (2026-27): “The Pahari Schools of Painting Pahari denotes ‘hilly or mountainous’ in origin. Pahari Schools of Painting includes towns, such as Basohli, Guler, Kangra, Kullu, Chamba, Mankot, Nurpur, Mandi, Bilaspur, Jammu and others in the hills of western Himalayas, which emerged as centres of painting from seventeenth to nineteenth century. Beginning at Basohli with a coarsely flamboyant style, it blossomed into the most exquisite and sophisticated style of Indian painting known as the Kangra School, through the Guler or pre-Kangra phase.…” “Kangra School …The Kangra School came to fore in the 1780s while the offshoots of the Basohli style emerged and continued in centres such as Chamba, Kullu, Nurpur, Mankot, Jasrota, Mandi, Bilaspur, Jammu and others with some of their specific characteristics. In Kashmir (1846–1885), the Kangra style initiated a local school of Hindu book illumination.…” |