In the Ahmadnagar school, which feature, present in a series of Ragamala paintings, gives the most striking and moving examples of the sixteenth century Deccan Schools of Painting?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Feminine dress
Option (1) Gorgeous colours — Incorrect. The gorgeous colours belong to the miniatures of the queen and her marriage in a volume of poems, not to the Ragamala series.
Option (2) Feminine dress — Correct. The feminine dress in the Ragamala series gives the most striking and moving examples.
Option (3) Gold skies — Incorrect. The gold sky, with the high circular horizon, is noted for its Persian influence.
Option (4) Stylised plants — Incorrect. Small stylised plants pattern the neutral ground that replaces the horizon.
NCERT (2026-27): “Ahmadnagar School of Painting …Most of the 12 miniatures that illustrate battle scenes are of no artistic interest, but interestingly, those depicting the queen and her marriage delight us with gorgeous colours and sensuous lines. …The high circular horizon and gold sky have Persian influence. We may see the debt of all Deccani kingdoms, which they owe to Persia for their landscape idiom. These feminine dress, present in a series of Ragamala paintings, are the most striking and moving examples of the sixteenth century Deccan Schools of Painting. The women’s hair is rolled up in a bun on the nape of the neck, similar to the Lepakshi murals. The horizon, in the painting, disappears and is replaced by a neutral coloured ground patterned all over with small stylised plants, or occupied by symmetrical architectural domes over the archades.” |