Rajasthani miniature paintings were coloured with mineral pigments. On what were these miniature paintings painted?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Waslis
Option (1) Palm leaves — Incorrect. Palm leaves carried the earlier manuscript paintings, not the Rajasthani miniatures.
Option (2) Palace walls — Incorrect. Walls carried murals, such as those in the chitrashala of the Bundi palace under Ram Singh. The miniatures were painted on paper.
Option (3) Cloth scrolls — Incorrect. Painted cloth scrolls are the phads of the bards of Rajasthan, a living folk tradition, not the court miniatures.
Option (4) Waslis — Correct. Waslis are layered, thin sheets of handmade papers glued together.
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): “The Rajasthani Schools of Painting …Paintings were painted on waslis — layered, thin sheets of handmade papers glued together to get the desired thickness. The outline was sketched on waslis in black or brown followed by colours fixed therein by brief notations or sample patches. Colour pigments were predominantly obtained from minerals and precious metals like gold and silver that were mixed with glue as the binding medium.” |