RAS question
The 'Aipan' or 'Mandana' art is made using which primary materials?
Correct answer: (C) White lime (chuna) and red ochre (geru).
Aipan or Mandana art is traditionally made with white lime or khadiya paste for the motifs and red ochre, geru or red clay for the ground on floors and walls.
Explanation
Mandana is a floor-and-wall folk painting tradition, so the material pair matters: the design is not painted like a paper artwork or a studio canvas. The primary materials are white lime paste, called chuna or safed mitti, for drawing the patterns, and red ochre, geru or lal mitti, as the background wash. Madhya Pradesh Tourism describes the same working method for Mandana: the wall is first coated with clay made from cow dung and water, then decorated with white paint described as khadiya or chalk solution and red paint described as geru or red clay. This is why option C captures the traditional material base, not a modern colour medium.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Synthetic dyes do not match the traditional Mandana method, which uses natural white and red earthen materials rather than factory-made colourants.
- (B) Oil paints are a canvas-style medium, while Mandana is described as a wall-and-floor folk painting made with khadiya or lime-like white paste and geru red clay.
- (D) Watercolours on paper are wrong because Mandana is made on floors and walls, with Madhya Pradesh Tourism specifically describing house walls and floors as the surface.
Concept
This tests Rajasthan art and culture through the material vocabulary of folk painting, especially chuna, khadiya and geru. RAS repeats such questions because local art forms are often identified by their surface, ritual use and natural materials.