Observe the image and answer the following question.
Identify this painting and the school to which it belongs.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → The Abhisarika Nayika of Kangra
The nayika moves alone through a dark forest at night, among flashes of lightning, hissing snakes and falling jewellery. This is the Abhisarika Nayika, who hastens to meet her beloved, painted in the Kangra school. Utka, by contrast, is the nayika who anticipates the arrival of her beloved and patiently waits for him.
NCERT (2026-27): “Abhisarika Nayika Even though describing Ashta Nayikas remained a favourite among poets and painters, none of them is treated with as much flair as the Abhisarika, one who hastens to meet her beloved braving all hazards. … The broad iconography of the Abhisarika remains much the same. However, at times, painters vary their renderings in some measure. The ghouls that, usually, appear in many versions are omitted here. But the darkness of the night, flashes of lighting, murky clouds, snakes hissing about in the dark, emerging from hollows of the trees and falling jewellery are all painted.”
Abhisarika Nayika, Kangra, 1810–20, Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, India |
