What was the purpose of Sahibdin’s oblique aerial perspective in the…

The correct answer is Option (4) → Employ narrative density.

Note: The given answer, Option (4), is as per the official NTA Answer Key. However, this answer appears to be wrong. As per the NCERT book, the correct answer should be Option (3) → Represent War’s Expensive Scale, as explained below.

Sahibdin painted the Yuddha Kanda (1652), or Book of Battles, of the Jagat Singh Ramayana. He made a new pictorial device, the oblique aerial perspective: the scene is seen from above, at a slant. He used it to make the huge scale of a war believable.

• Option (1) Enhance the decorativeness of the scenes. — Incorrect. The high, slanting view was meant for the size of the battle, not for decoration.

• Option (2) Incorporate Mughal influence into the composition. — Incorrect. The aerial perspective was Sahibdin’s own novel device, and its purpose was the vast scale of war, not Mughal influence.

• Option (3) Represent War’s Expensive Scale — Should be correct. Sahibdin used the perspective to give credibility to the ambitious scale that war pictures cover. The word “Expensive” here stands for “expansive”, the vast spread of the war.

• Option (4) Employ narrative density. — The answer given by NTA, but it seems to be incorrect. Sahibdin did pack several episodes into one painting. That is a separate narrative technique, not the purpose of the aerial perspective.

Advice for the exam: In the real exam, mark the answer that is correct as per the NCERT book. If NTA’s provisional answer key marks a different option, challenge it during the answer-key challenge window, giving proper reasoning. NTA does revise its key when a challenge is well justified, so a sound challenge can raise your marks.