UPSC Prelims 2015 · Question 96 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2015 question on Kalamkari Painting
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2015
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectArt and Culture
- TopicIndian Painting
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
Kalamkari painting refers to
Show answer
Answer: A. a hand-painted cotton textile in South India
Verdict
The answer is a hand-painted cotton textile in South India. Kalamkari is pen work on cotton, practised chiefly in Andhra Pradesh.
Analysis
The name itself is the definition, since kalam means pen and kari means work, so kalamkari is literally pen work. It is executed with a bamboo or date palm pen on cotton fabric using natural dyes, and the two principal centres are Srikalahasti, where the work is freehand and narrative, and Machilipatnam, where blocks are also used. The other options relocate the craft to the North-East, the Western Himalaya and the North-West, and change the medium to bamboo, wool and silk respectively.
Source
National Institute of Open Schooling material on Indian culture.
How to crack it
Break compound craft names into their Persian, Sanskrit or regional roots, because Indian craft terminology is overwhelmingly descriptive. Kalam gives pen and kari gives work, which immediately requires a hand painted rather than a block printed or woven answer. The same decoding handles bandhani as tie and dye, pietra dura as hard stone inlay, and zardozi as gold embroidery. Root reading is the single highest yield technique in art and culture.