Raja Ravi Varma and Kshitindranath Majumdar painted Indian themes. Consider the following statements about them.
(A) Raja Ravi Varma was a self-taught artist of the Travancore Court in Kerala.
(B) Kshitindranath Majumdar’s power of expression was inspired by religious concepts, as a follower of the Bhakti Marga.
(C) Man Bhanjan of Radha and Birth of Sri Chaitanya are works of Abdul Rehman Chughtai.
(D) With the rise of nationalism, Raja Ravi Varma’s academic style was praised as truly Indian.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A) and (B) only
(A) Raja Ravi Varma was a self-taught artist of the Travancore Court in Kerala. — Correct. He worked away from the British art schools and taught himself.
(B) Kshitindranath Majumdar’s power of expression was inspired by religious concepts, as a follower of the Bhakti Marga. — Correct. Works such as Lakshmi and Sakhi and Radha show this power of expression.
(C) Man Bhanjan of Radha and Birth of Sri Chaitanya are works of Abdul Rehman Chughtai. — Incorrect. Both are works of Kshitindranath Majumdar, an early student of Abanindranath Tagore.
(D) With the rise of nationalism, Raja Ravi Varma’s academic style was praised as truly Indian. — Incorrect. Nationalists looked down upon it as foreign and too western to show Indian myths and history.
NCERT (2026-27): “Raja Ravi Varma …The most successful examples of this type of painting were found away from these art schools. They are best seen in the works produced by self-taught artist, Raja Ravi Varma of the Travancore Court in Kerala. …With the rise of nationalism in India by the end of the nineteenth century, this academic style embraced by Raja Ravi Varma came to be looked down upon as foreign and too western to show Indian myths and history.” “Rasa-Lila This is a watercolour painting in wash technique portraying the divine life of Sri Krishna made by Kshitindranath Majumdar (1891–1975). …He has painted mythological and religious subjects. Man Bhanjan of Radha, Sakhi and Radha, Lakshmi and Birth of Sri Chaitanya are few examples of his extraordinary power of expression inspired by his understanding of religious concepts as a follower of the Bhakti Marga.” |