A Chunar Ragamala folio of Bundi shows Raga Dipak at night. Given below are two statements:
Assertion (A): In this folio, nothing except the label of Dipak Raga is written in the yellow patch reserved for writing.
Reason (R): A painting was usually finished before it was passed on to a scribe for the verse, and here the verse was never written.
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): In this folio, nothing except the label of Dipak Raga is written in the yellow patch reserved for writing. — True. The finial of the palace dome reaches into the yellow patch, and only the label stands there.
Reason (R): A painting was usually finished before it was passed on to a scribe for the verse, and here the verse was never written. — True. The verse was to be added after the painting was done, and in this folio it was never added.
Why R explains A? The scribe wrote the verse only after the artist had finished. Since the verse was never written here, the patch kept only the label, which told the artist what to paint. So R explains A.
NCERT (2026-27): “Bundi School of Painting …Raga Dipak is portrayed in a night setting, seated with his beloved in a chamber that is warmly illuminated by flames from the four lamps; two lamp holders are innovatively shaped like ornate human figures. …One may observe in this painting that the finial on the domical structure of the palace protrudes into the yellow patch reserved for writing and except for the label of Dipak Raga nothing else is written. This gives an insight into the process of painting and one discerns that the painting was, usually, finished before it was passed on to scribe for the verse to be written. In this case, the verse was never written and the label was more of an indication to the artist as to what he should be painting.”
Raga Dipak, Chunar Ragamala, Bundi, 1519, Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi |
