With reference to the Indian history of art and culture, consider the following pairs. 1. A grand image of Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana with numerous celestial musicians above and the sorrowful figures of his followers below — Ajanta 2. A huge image of Varaha Avatar (boar incarnation) of Vishnu, as he rescues Goddess Earth from the deep and chaotic waters, sculpted on the rock — Mount Abu 3. “Arjuna’s Penance”/ “Descent of Ganga” sculpted on the surface of huge boulders — Mamallapuram Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

UPSC Prelims 2014: With reference to the Indian history of art and culture, consider the following pairs. — Answer & Explanation

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With reference to the Indian history of art and culture, consider the following pairs.

1.A grand image of Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana with numerous celestial musicians above and the sorrowful figures of his followers below — Ajanta
2.A huge image of Varaha Avatar (boar incarnation) of Vishnu, as he rescues Goddess Earth from the deep and chaotic waters, sculpted on the rock — Mount Abu
3.“Arjuna’s Penance”/ “Descent of Ganga” sculpted on the surface of huge boulders — Mamallapuram

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

The reclining Mahaparinirvana Buddha is in Ajanta Cave 26, and Arjuna's Penance is the great relief at Mamallapuram, so pairs 1 and 3 match. The famous rock-cut Varaha is at Udayagiri (near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh), not Mount Abu.

✓ 1. The biggest Buddha image in Ajanta Cave 26 is the Mahaparinibbana image.
✗ 2. The monumental Varaha panel is at Udayagiri, Madhya Pradesh (and Badami); Mount Abu is known for the Dilwara Jain temples.
✓ 3. The Mamallapuram panel is read as the descent of the Ganga or as Arjuna's penance.

Remember · Ajanta Cave 26: Mahaparinirvana Buddha. Mamallapuram: Arjuna's Penance / Descent of the Ganga. Udayagiri (MP): colossal Varaha.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 6 (practise this chapter)

Sources

NCERT Class 11 · An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Chapter 4 “Cave No. 26 is very big and the entire interior hall is carved with a variety of Buddha images, the biggest one being the Mahaparinibbana image.”
NCERT Class 11 · An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Chapter 6 “While some believe that it is the story of the descent of the Ganga from heaven to earth, others believe that the main story is of Kiratarjuniya or Arjuna’s penance”

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2014, General Studies paper. UPSC did not publish an answer key for 2014: the answer shown is the one the sources above support. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·

With reference to the Indian history of art and culture, consider the following pairs.

Prelims 2014 · archive

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