RAS question
In Rajasthan art-culture, which statement best explains 'Sanjhi culture' as described in the cited textbook pages?
Correct answer: (A) A shared cultural pattern built through tolerance, Hindu-Muslim contact, common sacred spaces, and borrowing in daily life and arts.
In Rajasthan art and culture, Sanjhi culture means a shared, syncretic cultural pattern shaped by tolerance, Hindu-Muslim contact, common sacred spaces, and everyday borrowing in arts and social life.
Explanation
Sanjhi culture is a broad syncretic tendency in Rajasthan, not one isolated art form. Rajput-Mughal contact created new variety in arts and literature, while shared reverence developed around sites and figures such as Ajmer's Chishti shrine, Goga ji and Ramdev ji. The Rajasthan Tourism page on Ajmer describes Ajmer as a place where religion, community and culture coexist, and notes that the Ajmer Sharif Dargah is revered by both Hindus and Muslims. Option A fits because Sanjhi culture combines tolerance, common sacred spaces, and cultural borrowing in daily life, architecture, painting and recreation.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Sanjhi culture is wider than the folk-art form called Sanjhi because Rajasthan's composite cultural traditions form a broader social and cultural synthesis.
- (C) Fort-building belongs to a separate architectural and military topic, while Sanjhi culture centers on shared cultural practices and sacred spaces.
- (D) Sanjhi culture stresses exchange, blending and Rajput-Mughal contact, so a purely Rajput court culture that rejected Mughal influence reverses the idea.
Concept
Rajasthan's composite cultural traditions require distinguishing a broad social-cultural concept from a similarly named folk practice. In RAS art-culture, religious contact, patronage and everyday practices shaped Rajasthan's identity.