A series of Ragamala paintings of Ahmadnagar gives the most striking examples of sixteenth-century Deccani painting. In these paintings the horizon disappears. What replaces it?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → A neutral coloured ground patterned with small stylised plants
Option (1) A gold sky touching a deep azure sky — Incorrect. This is the sky of the five early Golconda pages bound in the Diwan of Hafiz. It is not the ground of the Ahmadnagar Ragamala.
Option (2) A neutral coloured ground patterned with small stylised plants — Correct. In the Ahmadnagar Ragamala the horizon disappears and a neutral coloured ground with small stylised plants takes its place.
Option (3) A sky coloured in gold and blue in separate bands — Incorrect. This is a feature of a Golconda manuscript of a Sufi poem. It does not belong to the Ahmadnagar Ragamala.
Option (4) A dark dense forest foliage with cranes in the background — Incorrect. This is the background of Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II hawking, a Bijapur painting. It is not the Ahmadnagar Ragamala.
NCERT (2026-27): “Ahmadnagar School of Painting …These feminine dress, present in a series of Ragamala paintings, are the most striking and moving examples of the sixteenth century Deccan Schools of Painting. The women’s hair is rolled up in a bun on the nape of the neck, similar to the Lepakshi murals. The horizon, in the painting, disappears and is replaced by a neutral coloured ground patterned all over with small stylised plants, or occupied by symmetrical architectural domes over the archades.…” |