RAS question
Surdas's 'Sursagar' is primarily devoted to:
Correct answer: (D) The childhood and youthful exploits of Lord Krishna.
Surdas's Sursagar is primarily devoted to the childhood and youthful exploits of Lord Krishna.
Explanation
Sursagar is associated with Surdas, the North Indian devotional poet whose lyrics are especially addressed to Krishna and are regarded as major works in Braj Bhasha. The question asks for the dominant devotional subject of the work, not merely the poet's sectarian background or the language of composition. Sursagar contains about 5,000 poems and chiefly describes Krishna's bal leela, meaning his childhood and youthful play. Encyclopaedia Britannica supports that focus: it says the work's modern reputation centres on Krishna as a lovable child, while its earlier form gravitates towards Krishna and Radha as youthful lovers. That makes option D the best answer.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Sufi mysticism does not fit Sursagar's devotional focus, which is centred on Krishna rather than Sufi themes.
- (B) Shiva's stories are not the primary subject of Sursagar; Krishna is the key figure in Surdas's lyrics and in the work's reputation.
- (C) Lord Rama's life is not the central theme here, even though Britannica notes that some Ramayana-related episodes appear in the broader corpus.
Concept
This tests the Bhakti movement and medieval Hindi literary tradition, especially the pairing of major poets with their devotional subjects. RAS repeatedly asks such questions because they connect literature, language, sectarian devotion and cultural history in one fact pattern.