RAS question
The 'Panihari' folk song of Rajasthan describes:
Correct answer: (A) Women fetching water from wells.
The Panihari folk song of Rajasthan describes women fetching water from wells and rivers in an arid landscape where water collection shaped daily social life.
Explanation
Panihari songs are tied to the everyday act of women going to wells and rivers to bring water home. In arid Rajasthan, water collection was not only labour but also a social gathering. Rajasthan Foundation notes that women created Panihari music to express the shortage of water. That is why the theme is women fetching water, not a generic scene of trade, weather, or warfare. The songs turn a necessary domestic task into folk expression, often carrying emotions of separation and longing within a recognisably Rajasthani setting.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Market scenes do not match the water-centred setting of Panihari songs, where women fetch water and Rajasthan Foundation links the music to water scarcity.
- (C) Monsoon rains may relate broadly to water, but Panihari songs focus on the act of collecting water from wells and rivers, not on rainfall itself.
- (D) Warriors going to battle belong to martial or heroic song traditions, whereas Panihari is grounded in women’s daily water-fetching work and its emotions.
Concept
This tests Rajasthan folk culture, especially how everyday life in an arid region becomes a theme in oral traditions. RAS repeats such questions because folk songs, ecological context, and women’s social roles often intersect in Rajasthan art and culture.