The Pahari Schools of Painting grew in the hill towns of the western Himalayas. Which Pahari school is described as the most exquisite and sophisticated style of Indian painting?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Kangra School
Option (1) Kangra School — Correct. The Pahari style blossomed into the Kangra School, the most exquisite and sophisticated style of Indian painting.
Option (2) Basohli School — Incorrect. Basohli is where the style began, with a coarsely flamboyant manner.
Option (3) Guler School — Incorrect. Guler is the pre-Kangra phase, a stage on the way to Kangra.
Option (4) Chamba School — Incorrect. Chamba carried on the offshoots of Basohli, not the refined Kangra manner.
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.” |