MPPSC 2020 Prelims Paper-I · Question 31 of 100

Correct — A, Painting. Bhuri Bai is a celebrated Bhil tribal artist of Madhya Pradesh, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2021 for her folk painting. She is widely regarded as the first Bhil artist to move the community's traditional wall art onto paper and canvas (using acrylic and poster colours), and her dot-filled paintings of nature, animals and Bhil deities are held in Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal. So the field of art she is famous for is painting.

• (b)Music — Bhuri Bai is not a musician; her fame rests entirely on visual art (Bhil painting), not on any musical form.
• (c)Dancing — She is not known as a dancer; the Padma Shri to her recognised her painting, not the performing arts.
• (d)Writing — She is not a writer or poet; her contribution is to the pictorial folk-art tradition of the Bhils.

Bhil painting is a tribal folk-art tradition of the Bhil people of Madhya Pradesh (and adjoining western India). Its signature feature is the filling of figures with rows of multi-coloured dots; the subjects are drawn from nature, village life, festivals and tribal deities (as in the ritual Pithora wall paintings). Bhuri Bai is the best-known contemporary exponent of this style.

The question only asks the field, so the trap is minimal — but the other options (music, dance, writing) test whether you actually know Bhuri Bai rather than guessing. Anchor the name to a single fact: Bhuri Bai = Bhil painting = Padma Shri (2021).

• Bhuri Bai — Bhil tribal painter of Madhya Pradesh (from Jhabua district).
• Awarded the Padma Shri in 2021 for her folk painting.
• Credited as the first Bhil artist to paint on paper and canvas rather than only walls.
• Bhil art is recognised by its dense fills of coloured dots; the ritual form is called Pithora.

• Confusing Bhil painting with Gond painting — Gond art (Jangarh Singh Shyam's tradition) is a separate MP tribal style.
• Assuming a Padma Shri automatically means performing arts; here it is for visual art (painting).

MPPSC pairs a personality with an art form or asks 'famous for'. Lock Bhuri Bai ↔ Bhil painting ↔ Padma Shri (2021).

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Padma Shri Bhuri Bai is most closely associated with the folk art of which tribal community?

  • (a)Bhil
  • (b)Santhal
  • (c)Toda
  • (d)Warli

  Answer(a) Bhil — she is the best-known contemporary Bhil painter of Madhya Pradesh.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Pithora paintings, a ritual wall-art form, are traditionally made mainly by which communities of central and western India?

  • (a)Rathwa and Bhil
  • (b)Santhal and Munda
  • (c)Toda and Kota
  • (d)Gaddi and Bakarwal

  Answer(a) Rathwa and Bhil — Pithora is their ritual wall painting.