Observe the image below and answer the following questions.
Which of the following statements is associated with this painting?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The nayika moves through the dark forest in the night.
This painting shows the Abhisarika, the nayika who hurries to meet her beloved in spite of every danger. Her friend (sakhi) tells how she crossed the woods at night, with her mind fixed on one aim.
Option (1) The Nayika lost her way home. — Incorrect. She is not lost. She crosses the woods on purpose, to reach her beloved.
Option (2) This painting describes the hot month of Jyeshtha. — Incorrect. The hot month of Jyeshtha comes from the Baramasa, the set of twelve paintings on the months of the year. It belongs to a different Kangra painting.
Option (3) The nayika moves through the dark forest in the night. — Correct. She moves through the dark forest in the night. Snakes, flashes of lightning and dark clouds show the dangers she braves.
Option (4) The time depicted appears to be that of evening. — Incorrect. The scene is set in the darkness of the night, not in the evening.
NCERT (2026-27): “Kangra School …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 situation conceived is, generally, full of bizarre and dramatic possibilities with the passion and steadfastness of the nayika, triumphing against the opposing elements of nature. In this painting, the sakhi is recounting how the nayika crossed the woods in the night to meet her beloved. The yoga, the poet speaks of, refers to the single-mindedness of purpose with which the nayika moves through the dark forest in the night.…”
Abhisarika Nayika, Kangra, 1810–20, Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, India |
