The Hallisalasya painting in the Bagh Caves represents:
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) A joyous folk dance
Hallisa (hallisaka) is the old Sanskrit name for a circular dance performed by women under the direction of a man. The Bagh paintings, whose richest decoration NCERT places in Cave 4 (the Rang Mahal), include a lively group of women around a central dancing figure with musicians, a secular scene of celebration rather than a religious icon.
- ✓ (a) The Bagh survey of 1927 describes women standing around a central figure who dances, with musicians playing a hand-drum, wooden sticks and cymbals: a festive folk dance.
- ✗ (b) Bagh's caves are Buddhist viharas, which makes this option tempting, but the Hallisalasya panel is a dance scene, not an image of the Buddha.
- ✗ (c) Shiva and Parvati on Kailasha is a theme of Brahmanical sculpture, not of the Bagh dance panel.
Remember · Bagh Caves (Dhar, Madhya Pradesh): Buddhist viharas; Cave 4 is the Rang Mahal; its dance panel (Hallisaka) shows women around a central figure with musicians.
📘 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 4 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 11 · An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Chapter 4 “Most significant of the five caves is Cave No. 4, commonly known as the Rang Mahal, meaning the Palace of Colours, where paintings on the wall and ceilings are still visible.”
- NCERT Class 11 · An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Chapter 4 “Some of the most beautiful paintings were on the walls of the portico of Cave 4.”
- Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899), entry hallīśa, Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne ↗ · reference work “n. a circular dance (performed by women under the direction of a man), Kāvyād.”
- The Bagh Caves in the Gwalior State (J. Marshall and others, 1927), digitised by IGNCA, Ministry of Culture (Internet Archive) ↗ · reference work “Of the seven musicians one plays a tabor or hand-drum, three have each two little sticks, and three hold cymbals.”
Question and answer: UPSC's provisional GS Paper I (2026, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·