RAS question
The Rajasthani tradition of 'Patta painting' (miniature on cloth) is associated with which school of painting?
Correct answer: (A) Nathdwara School (Vallabh Sampradaya tradition).
The Rajasthani tradition of Patta painting, a portable miniature-on-cloth devotional form, is associated with the Nathdwara School of the Vallabh Sampradaya tradition.
Explanation
Patta painting belongs to the Nathdwara School because the form grew around the same devotional world as Pichwai: Shrinathji, seasonal shringar and worship-centred imagery. Sundari Silks places Pichwai in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, and links it to the Vaishnavas of the Vallabhacharya school; these paintings depicted Lord Srinath Ji and were displayed in temples. Patta paintings developed at Nathdwara alongside Pichwai, but in a smaller, portable format. Their cloth base and use of natural pigments, with gold and silver in the Nathdwara idiom, make them devotional paintings rather than court or modern nationalist works.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Pahari School belongs to the Himalayan foothills, while Patta painting is tied to Nathdwara and the Vallabhacharya devotional setting.
- (C) Bengal School is a modern nationalist art movement, not the Nathdwara cloth-painting tradition centred on Shrinathji.
- (D) Mughal School is a separate painting tradition and does not explain the Nathdwara, Vallabh Sampradaya and Pichwai-linked context of Patta painting.
Concept
This tests Rajasthan painting schools, especially how local devotional centres shaped regional art forms. RAS repeats such questions because schools, patrons, religious traditions and media such as cloth are easy to confuse in art-and-culture MCQs.