In the process of Mughal book painting, what did the stage called chiharanama involve?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Working on portraits
Option (1) Writing the text — Incorrect. The text was written on the ruled pages before the sheet went to the artist. It was not one of the artist’s stages.
Option (2) Final colouring — Incorrect. The final stage of colouring was called rangamizi.
Option (3) Making the composition — Incorrect. Making the composition was the first stage, called tarh.
Option (4) Working on portraits — Correct. Chiharanama was the stage of painting the portraits, between tarh and rangamizi.
NCERT (2026-27): “Process of Mughal Painting … For making book painting, the following process was adopted. Sheets of handmade paper were prepared and cut to suit the size of the manuscript. Designated space was left for the artist to fill it with a suitable visual composition. Then, the pages were ruled and filled with text. Once the text was written, it was given to the artist, who would compose a synoptic visual representation of the text. The artist would begin from the stage of making the composition, i.e., tarh, to portraits, i.e., chiharanama to the final stage of colouring, i.e., rangamizi.” |