Observe the image and answer the following question.
The painting in the image is a folio of the Yuddha Kanda of the Ramayana, painted by Sahibdin in Mewar during the reign of Jagat Singh I. Which other works did Sahibdin paint during that reign?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Ragamala and Rasikapriya
Option (1) Bal Kanda of Ramayana and Bihari Satsai — Incorrect. Bal Kanda of Ramayana (1649) was the most significant work of Manohar. The Bihari Satsai was painted later, in 1719, by Jagannath.
Option (2) Harivamsha and Sursagar — Incorrect. These texts were illustrated in Mewar in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, after the reign of Jagat Singh I ended in 1652.
Option (3) Ragamala and Rasikapriya — Correct. Under Jagat Singh I, Sahibdin painted the Ragamala (1628) and Rasikapriya, besides the Bhagvata Purana and the Yuddha Kanda.
Option (4) Bal Kanda of Ramayana and Sursagar — Incorrect. Bal Kanda is Manohar’s work, and the Sursagar was illustrated in the last quarter of the seventeenth century.
NCERT (2026-27): “Mewar School of Painting …The reign of Jagat Singh I (1628–1652) is recognised as the period when pictorial aesthetics got reformulated under virtuoso artists Sahibdin and Manohar, who added new vitality to the style and vocabulary of Mewar paintings. Sahibdin painted the Ragamala (1628), Rasikapriya, Bhagvata Purana (1648) and the Yuddha Kanda of Ramayana (1652), a folio of which is discussed here. Manohar’s most significant work is that of Bal Kanda of Ramayana (1649). Another exceptionally gifted artist, Jagannath, painted the Bihari Satsai in 1719, which remains a unique contribution of the Mewar School. Other texts like Harivamsha and Sursagar were also illustrated in the last quarter of the seventeenth century.”
Yuddha Kanda of Ramayana, Sahibdin, Mewar, 1652, India Office Library, London |
