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UPSC Mains 2025 · GS Paper I · Q3

UPSC Mains 2025 GS1 Q3: model answer

‘The sculptors filled the Chandella artform with resilient vigor and breadth of life.’ Elucidate.

10 marks150 wordsDirective: Elucidate

What the question wants

Explain, with examples from Khajuraho, how Chandela sculpture shows energy and the whole range of life: divine, courtly, everyday and erotic.

How to structure it

Intro: Chandelas and Khajuraho (c. 950–1050 CE). Body: themes, style, placement on Nagara temples. Conclusion: a celebration of life within a religious frame.

How to structure the answer
IntroductionChandelas and Khajuraho (c. 950–1050 CE)
Body: elucidate
  1. 1Themes
  2. 2Style
  3. 3Placement on Nagara temples
ConclusionA celebration of life within a religious frame

Model answer

The Chandela rulers of Bundelkhand built the Khajuraho group (c. 950–1050 CE), now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Of about 85 temples, some 25 survive, Hindu and Jain alike.

Vigor: figures twist in strong tribhanga postures, with deep carving that catches light. The surasundaris (celestial women) are shown writing letters, applying kohl or removing a thorn, caught mid-movement.

Breadth of life:

  • Gods and their forms: Vishnu's Varaha, Shiva, the Matrikas.
  • Court and war: processions, musicians, soldiers and hunting scenes.
  • Daily life: teachers and pupils, artisans, dancers.
  • Mithuna couples: read as auspicious and as symbols of union, placed on outer walls.

Placement: bands of sculpture wrap the jangha (walls) of temples like Kandariya Mahadeva and Lakshmana, rising with the shikharas so the building looks alive.

The sculptors did not separate sacred and worldly. That is the 'breadth of life' in the statement: the whole of human experience offered to the divine.

Keywords, cases and data to drop in

Khajuraho c. 950–1050 Kandariya Mahadeva Lakshmana temple surasundaris tribhanga mithuna Nagara style

Where most answers lose marks

  • Writing only about erotic sculpture.
  • Ignoring the Jain temples at Khajuraho.
  • Describing the architecture without the sculpture the question asks about.

Fresh examples from current affairs

GS1 · Art and Culture · Heritage

Sirpur in Chhattisgarh enters UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage sites

Sirpur, an archaeological site in Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund district with Hindu, Buddhist and Jain remains from the 5th to the 12th century CE, has been added to UNESCO’s Tentative List. The ASI now has about a year to prepare a nomination dossier proving its Outstanding Universal Value. Sirpur was once the capital of Dakshina Kosala.

UPSC angle: Prelims: Sirpur location, Lakshmana Temple, dynasties, UNESCO process. · Mains GS-I: heritage conservation and composite culture.

20 Oct 2026
GS1 · Culture

Backgrounder: 75 years of rebuilt Somnath temple

Somnath, at Prabhas Patan on Gujarat's Saurashtra coast, is the first of the twelve Jyotirlingas. On 11 May 2026 it marked 75 years since the rebuilt temple was consecrated by President Dr. Rajendra Prasad in 1951. The Somnath Swabhiman Parv also marks 1,000 years since the first recorded attack in January 1026.

UPSC angle: Prelims: Somnath history.

8 May 2026

Learn the concept

ExplainerIndian Temple Architecture: Parts of a Temple, Nagara, Dravida and Vesara Styles, with Key Examples (UPSC Notes + PYQs)ExplainerVijayanagara Empire (1336-1565): Dynasties, Krishnadevaraya, Administration, Hampi and Talikota (UPSC Notes + PYQs)

Question text as printed in the official UPSC question paper: https://www.upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/GENERAL-STUDIES-PAPER%20I-QP-CSM-25-010925.pdf The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.