Kangra painting flourished under Raja Sansar Chand, but not without breaks. Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R).
Assertion (A): Painting activity in Kangra was severely affected around 1805.
Reason (R): The Gurkhas besieged the Kangra fort, and Sansar Chand had to flee to his hill palace at Tira Sujanpur.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
Assertion (A): Painting activity in Kangra was severely affected around 1805. — True. Painting activity under Sansar Chand suffered a severe setback around 1805.
Reason (R): The Gurkhas besieged the Kangra fort, and Sansar Chand had to flee to his hill palace at Tira Sujanpur. — True. The siege drove Sansar Chand out of the fort until 1809, when the Gurkhas were driven away with the help of Ranjit Singh.
Why R explains A? The patron of the atelier had to flee because of the Gurkha siege. So painting activity was severely affected when the siege came. Even after the Gurkhas left, the work no longer matched the masterpieces of 1785–1805.
NCERT (2026-27): “Kangra School …Painting activity was severely affected around 1805 when the Gurkhas besieged the Kangra fort and Sansar Chand had to flee to his hill palace at Tira Sujanpur. In 1809, with the help of Ranjit Singh, the Gurkhas were driven away. Though Sansar Chand continued to maintain his atelier of artists, the work no longer paralleled masterpieces of the period 1785–1805.” |