RAS question
'Pata' in Rajasthani art refers to:
Correct answer: (B) Cloth scroll for narrative painting.
In Rajasthani art, pata or pat refers to a cloth scroll used for narrative Phad painting, traditionally carried and performed by Bhopa artists.
Explanation
Pata or pat is an art term for a cloth scroll, not an object of daily use. In Phad narrative painting, Bhopa performers carry the painted scroll and use it to tell a story. Exotic India Art describes narrative folk painting as work on a scroll-type large canvas, paper or cloth, and identifies Rajasthani pars as scrolls associated with Bhopas. That is why the key idea is the medium and function together: a painted cloth scroll that carries a narrative, especially in the Rajasthani Phad tradition, rather than a loose painting category or a household item.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) A cooking vessel belongs to domestic material culture, while pata in this art context denotes a cloth scroll used for narrative painting.
- (C) A turban is an item of dress, whereas the question asks for an art term linked to scroll-based narrative painting.
- (D) A sword is a weapon, but the art-context meaning of pata is a painted cloth scroll used in Phad storytelling.
Concept
This tests terminology from Rajasthan's folk painting traditions, especially the link between Phad, Bhopa performance and painted scrolls. Such terms recur in RAS because art-and-culture questions often ask for the medium, performer and function of a tradition, not just its name.