Observe the image and answer the following question.
Who painted the work in the image?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Nainsukh
Option (1) Nainsukh — Correct. The painting is Balwant Singh in prayer (1750) by Nainsukh. He painted his patron Balwant Singh of Jasrota on every possible occasion, here performing puja.
Option (2) Manaku — Incorrect. Manaku, Nainsukh’s brother, initiated the Guler style and painted portraits of Raja Govardhan Chand.
Option (3) Pandit Seu — Incorrect. Pandit Seu was the Guler artist who was the father of Manak and Nainsukh.
Option (4) Fattu — Incorrect. Fattu belonged to the next generation, the sons of Manaku and Nainsukh, and painted in the Kangra style.
Note: This topic was not named in the CUET 2026 syllabus, but it was part of the NCERT chapter. In 2025 and 2026, NTA also asked questions on topics in NCERT that the CUET syllabus did not name. So our mocks have questions from every part of the NCERT chapter, to give you enough practice. Read the whole chapter, not only the sub-topics named in the syllabus.
NCERT (2026-27): “Guler School …Nainsukh appears to have left his hometown in Guler and moved to Jasrota. He is believed to have initially worked for Mian Zoravar Singh, whose son and successor Balwant Singh of Jasrota was to become his greatest patron. Nainsukh’s celebrated pictures of Balwant Singh are unique in the kind of visual record they offer of the patron’s life. Balwant Singh is portrayed engaged in various activities — performing puja, surveying a building site, sitting in a camp wrapped in a quilt because of the cold weather, and so on.”
“Balwant Singh in prayer, Nainsukh, 1750, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK” |
