UPSC Prelims 2017 · Question 19 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2017 question on Padmapani Painting Ajanta
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2017
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectArt and Culture
- TopicIndian Painting
- DifficultyEasy
- TypeDirect
The painting of Bodhisattva Padmapani is one of the most famous and oft-illustrated paintings at
Show answer
Answer: A. Ajanta
Verdict
The answer is Ajanta. The Bodhisattva Padmapani painting is in Cave 1 at Ajanta.
Analysis
The painting is on the back wall of the interior hall before the shrine antechamber in Cave 1, dating to the late fifth century. The Bodhisattva holds a padma, a lotus, from which the name Padmapani derives, and the figure is rendered with large shoulders, three bends in the body creating movement in the picture space, soft modelling and a large crown worked in fine detail. Badami and Ellora are celebrated for rock cut sculpture and architecture rather than for this painting, and Bagh has related but far less famous murals.
Source
An Introduction to Indian Art, page 54.
How to crack it
Ajanta is to painting what Ellora is to rock cut architecture and Mahabalipuram is to Pallava relief, so attaching one medium to each site resolves most questions of this kind. Decode the name too, since Padmapani means lotus bearer and identifies the iconography rather than the site, which tells you the question is really asking where India's most famous Buddhist mural cycle is.