UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 42 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2018 question on Bani Thani Kishangarh
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2018
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectArt and Culture
- TopicIndian Painting
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
The well-known painting 'Bani Thani' belongs to the
Show answer
Answer: D. Kishangarh school
Analysis
Bani Thani belongs to the Kishangarh school, so the answer is (d).
Bani Thani is a painting of the Kishangarh school, executed by the artist Nihal Chand. Its subject, Bani Thani, was a singer and poet at Kishangarh during the time of King Savant Singh.
The closest distractors are the other Rajasthani schools, Bundi and Jaipur, and the question turns entirely on knowing which Rajput centre produced this particular work. Kangra belongs to the Pahari group rather than the Rajasthani group, so it can be set aside on regional grounds by anyone who has grouped the schools correctly.
Source
Times of India report on Bani Thani paintings at Kishangarh airport.
How to crack it
Miniature painting questions are decided by anchoring one signature work to each school, since the schools are otherwise easy to confuse. Fix Bani Thani to Kishangarh, and note the stylistic marker that goes with it, the sharply elongated eyes and arched brows, because UPSC sometimes describes the style instead of naming the work. Build a short table of school against best known painting and its patron court, and revise it as a unit.