Comprehension:
Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The history of Deccani miniature painting can largely be constructed from the late sixteenth century until the 1680s — the time when the Mughals conquered the Deccan. The Deccani style of painting has been in Indo-Persian art for a long time. It was considered to be Middle Eastern, Safavid, Persian, Turkish and even Mughal in origin. Art historians acknowledged its uniqueness but failed to recognise it as a full-fledged school which was sustained by a class of rulers, who had their peculiar political and cultural vision. They hired and nurtured artists and commissioned works that enhanced their artistic sensibilities and specific requirements of governance in their kingdoms.
The art of portraiture and representation of historical and religious figures are seen elsewhere in other contemporary schools of painting. Mughal portraiture, in this sense, was not wholly unique as we see such artistic inclinations in the Safavid and Ottoman Schools of Painting. The highly documentary nature of portraits is a singularly unique development seen extensively in Asian Islamic art as also in Mughal art in India. The kingdoms of Bijapur, Golconda and Ahmadnagar developed highly sophisticated and distinct schools of court painting. Its unique sensuality and intense colours have a strong affinity to regional aesthetics. The school preferred dense composition and created an aura of romance, which invariably expressed itself in an idiom that was eloquently natural and vivid. The earliest examples of Deccani painting can be found in a volume of poems celebrating the reign of Hussain Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar, and while the twelve miniatures that depict battle scenes are of no artistic interest, those depicting the queen and her marriage delight us with gorgeous colours and sensuous lines. The woman represented in it belongs to the northern tradition of pre-Mughal painting, which was flourishing especially in Malwa and Ahmadnagar during this time. The women wear a modified northern costume with a choli (bodice) and long braided pigtails; only a long scarf passing around the hips in a Southern fashion.
Which statement supports the premise that the influence of the region creeped into the Deccani paintings?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The pre-Mughal painting, which was flourishing especially in Malwa and Ahmednagar during this time depicted women wearing a modified northern costume with a choli (bodice) and long braided pigtails; only a long scarf passing around the hips in a Southern fashion.
The passage says that the women in the earliest Deccani paintings wear a modified northern costume, with "only a long scarf passing around the hips in a Southern fashion". A northern costume altered by a southern way of wearing the scarf shows the local style of the region entering the paintings.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: The Mughal conquest of the Deccan significantly influenced the culture of the Deccan, which was reflected in the painting style. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the Mughal conquest is mentioned only as the end of the period, "until the 1680s — the time when the Mughals conquered the Deccan"; its effect on Deccani culture is not discussed, and it is an outside influence, not the region's own.
Option 2: The Deccan schools created an aura of romance and intrigue by introducing foreign costumes. — Incorrect. Contradicted: the aura of romance comes from composition ("The school preferred dense composition and created an aura of romance"), and the scarf is worn "in a Southern fashion", not a foreign one; "intrigue" is not mentioned.
Option 4: The northern tradition of pre-Mughal painting flourished in Malwa and Ahmednagar at that time, which influenced the idiom of expression and style. — Incorrect. Wrong link: this describes the influence of the northern tradition ("belongs to the northern tradition of pre-Mughal painting"), not the influence of the Deccan region itself.