Which of the following is the correct chronological order in the evolution of Indian painting (starting with the earliest) ? 1. Mahajanaka Jataka, Ajanta 2. Bhimbetka rock art 3. Royal portrait, Sittannavasal cave 4. Heavenly musicians, Brihadishvara temple Select the answer using the codes given below :

Correct — B, (b) 2, 1, 3, 4 - Bhimbetka rock art, the Mahajanaka Jataka at Ajanta, the royal portrait at Sittannavasal, and the heavenly musicians at the Brihadishvara temple.

Entry 2, Bhimbetka rock art, is prehistoric and is by an enormous margin the earliest. The painted shelters in the Vindhyan hills of the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh carry work from the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic onwards, executed in mineral pigments on sheltered rock faces. Nothing else in the list is within tens of thousands of years of it.

Entry 1, the Mahajanaka Jataka at Ajanta, belongs to the fifth century CE. The great mural cycle in Cave 1 at Ajanta was painted under Vakataka patronage in the second, Mahayana phase of the site's excavation, and the Mahajanaka Jataka - the story of a king who renounces his kingdom - occupies a whole wall of that cave. It is the classical high point of Indian mural painting.

Entry 3, the royal portrait at Sittannavasal, belongs to the period between the seventh and the ninth centuries CE. Sittannavasal is a Jain rock-cut cave in the Pudukkottai region of Tamil Nadu whose paintings, including the figures of a royal couple, are attributed by different accounts to Pallava patronage in the seventh century or to the Pandya period in the ninth. Either dating places it after Ajanta and before the Cholas, so the uncertainty does not affect the order.

Entry 4, the heavenly musicians at the Brihadishvara temple, belongs to the early eleventh century CE. The great temple at Thanjavur was built by Rajaraja I and consecrated about 1010, and the Chola murals in its passage around the sanctum - long hidden under a layer of Nayaka-period painting - include celestial figures and musicians.

So the sequence runs prehistory, fifth century, seventh to ninth century, eleventh century, which is 2, 1, 3, 4.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)1, 2, 3, 4 — This is the printed order of the entries, and it opens with the Ajanta mural and places Bhimbetka second. Nothing in Indian painting is older than the rock shelters, and the gap is not marginal: Bhimbetka's earliest work belongs to prehistory, while Ajanta's murals are of the fifth century CE. As on the paper's other chronology item, the first option reproduces the list as printed, and a list printed in its correct order would make the question pointless - which is a reason to check that option first and expect to reject it.
• (c)2, 4, 3, 1 — This is the serious rival, because it begins correctly with Bhimbetka and so survives the one test that eliminates half the field. It then goes wrong twice. It places the Brihadishvara musicians second, when the Thanjavur temple was consecrated about 1010 CE and is the latest of the four; and it places the Ajanta mural last, when Ajanta's painting belongs to the fifth century and is the earliest of the three historical entries. The option is in effect the correct answer with its two historical extremes exchanged, which is a common way of building a near-miss in a chronology item and a reason to check the last entry as well as the first.
• (d)3, 1, 4, 2 — This option opens with Sittannavasal and closes with Bhimbetka, which reverses the whole sequence at both ends: the Tamil cave paintings are among the later works in the list and the rock shelters are the earliest by tens of thousands of years. Its middle is wrong too, placing the Ajanta mural of the fifth century before the Chola work of the eleventh - which is correct in itself - but only after beginning from the wrong point, so the ordering as a whole cannot stand. There is no partial credit in an item of this shape.

The history of Indian painting is usually taught as four stages, and a chronology item is answered by placing an example in the right stage rather than by recalling a year.

Prehistoric rock art. Painted shelters at Bhimbetka and elsewhere, from the Upper Palaeolithic onwards, in mineral pigments - haematite red, manganese and charcoal black, limestone white - on sheltered rock surfaces. Subjects are animals, hunting scenes and dancers, with horsemen and battle scenes in the later layers.

Classical mural painting. Ajanta above all, in two phases - the earlier Satavahana-period caves and the great Vakataka-period cycle of the fifth century, which includes the Mahajanaka Jataka and the bodhisattva figures of Cave 1. Related work survives at Bagh in Madhya Pradesh, at Badami, and at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka.

Southern mural traditions of the Pallava, Pandya and Chola periods. Sittannavasal, a Jain cave in Tamil Nadu with a painted ceiling of a lotus pond and figures including a royal couple, dated variously to the seventh or the ninth century; the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram; and the Chola paintings in the circumambulatory passage of the Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur, of the early eleventh century, which were found beneath later Nayaka work.

Miniature painting. From the palm-leaf and paper manuscripts of eastern and western India, through the Sultanate and Mughal ateliers, to the Rajasthani, Pahari and Deccani schools.

Holding the four stages in order, with two examples each, answers most chronology questions in this area without any need to remember exact dates - which is fortunate, because several of the works themselves are dated only within a range.

Key facts

• Bhimbetka's painted rock shelters, in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh, carry work from the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic onwards and are prehistoric - far earlier than any other entry in the list.
• The Mahajanaka Jataka is painted on a wall of Cave 1 at Ajanta and belongs to the fifth-century Vakataka phase of the site, the classical high point of Indian mural painting.
• Sittannavasal is a Jain rock-cut cave in the Pudukkottai region of Tamil Nadu; its paintings, including the figures of a royal couple, are attributed to the seventh century under the Pallavas or to the ninth under the Pandyas.
• The Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur was built by Rajaraja I and consecrated about 1010 CE; the Chola murals in its passage around the sanctum lay hidden beneath later Nayaka-period painting.
• The two live orderings differ in where they place the Chola work and the Ajanta mural, so the item can be settled by fixing the earliest and the latest entries without deciding Sittannavasal's contested date.

Common traps

• Choosing the ordering that reproduces the printed sequence of entries, which chronology items almost never intend.
• Dating Bhimbetka to the historical period because the shelters also carry medieval work; the site's earliest painting is prehistoric and that is what fixes its place.
• Placing the Chola murals early because temple painting feels older than cave painting; Thanjavur is of the eleventh century and is the latest of these four.
• Being detained by the contested date of Sittannavasal, which lies between Ajanta and Thanjavur on either attribution and so does not affect the order.
• Accepting an ordering because its middle entries are right, when a chronology item is decided by the whole sequence.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The murals in the circumambulatory passage of the Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur are associated with which dynasty and period ?

  • (a)The Vakatakas, fifth century CE
  • (b)The Cholas, early eleventh century CE
  • (c)The Pandyas, ninth century CE
  • (d)The Nayakas, sixteenth century CE

  Answer(b) The Cholas, early eleventh century CE - the temple was built by Rajaraja I and consecrated about 1010, and the Chola paintings were later covered by Nayaka-period work, which is why they survived.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following : 1. Ajanta murals of the Vakataka phase 2. Bagh cave paintings 3. Bhimbetka rock paintings 4. Chola murals at Thanjavur Which one of the following is the correct chronological order (starting with the earliest) ?

  • (a)3, 1, 2, 4
  • (b)1, 2, 3, 4
  • (c)3, 2, 1, 4
  • (d)2, 3, 1, 4

  Answer(a) 3, 1, 2, 4 - Bhimbetka is prehistoric, the Vakataka phase at Ajanta belongs to the fifth century, the Bagh paintings are usually placed slightly later than Ajanta's, and the Chola murals at Thanjavur are of the early eleventh century.