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This volume is a collection of papers presented in a seminar that was held under the auspices of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. It endeavours to offer an integral vision of Indian arts in their autonomous and related domains and is designed to meet the requirement of having an authentic and popular sourcebook to enlighten average readers on different manifestations of Indian arts down the ages. It underscores that despite the vicissitudes of history, Indian art in its different forms embodies a remarkably distinctive spirit of creativity that has remained alive through ages and has often been reinvented in various ways in legitimizing the tradition and enriching its nuances and connectedness in practice.

The volume is divided into five sections: ‘Plastic Arts in Making’, ‘Beginnings and Efflorescence of Classical Idiom’, ‘Regional Inflexions: Bronzes, Sculpture and Architecture’, ‘Architectural and Painterly Tradition: Medieval, Modern and Folk’ and lastly, the ‘Performing Arts: Dance and Theatre-Tradition and Practice’. These five sections contain twenty one essays respectively on the heritage of Indian proto-historic phase, Mauryan pillars, Sanchi, the Karle chaitya, classical iconography, Ajanta and Bagh Paintings, Pallava and Chola Bronzes, Ellora, Khajuraho, Konarka, Chola temples, temples and sculptures of ancient Kashmir, temples of Uttarakhand, early medieval paintings, Mughal architecture, Rajasthani paintings, modern Indian paintings, loka chitras, classical dances of India and ancient dramatic tradition. It may easily be conceded that the readers would discover more content in the essays than is spelled out in this laconic brief.

Contents : Foreword. Preface. Section I: Plastic Arts in Making: 1. Indian Proto-Historic Phase: Town Planning, Sculpture, Seals/V.H. Sonawane. 2. Techno-artistic Re-appraisal of Mauryan Pillars: An Account of Archaeological Findings at Sarnath and Chunar/Vidula Jayaswal. Section II: Beginnings and Efflorescence of the Classical Idiom: 3. Sanchi/Susmita Pande. 4. Karle Chaitya: The Grandest Gift of Bhutapala/M.K. Dhavalikar. 5. Classical Iconography/R.C. Sharma. 6. The Buddhist Cave Paintings of Ajanta and Bagh/Mandira Sharma. Section III: Regional Inflexions: Bronzes, Sculpture and Architecture: 7. Norms of Excellence: Bronzes of Pallava and Chola Period/R. Nagaswamy. 8. The Marvels of Ellora: Some Random Thoughts/Deepak H. Kannal. 9. Khajuraho Masterworks: Images and Imageries/Devangana Desai. 10. Konarka: Chariot of the Sun God/Bettina Bäumer. 11. Gems of Chola Architecture/R. Nagaswamy. 12. Remains of Temples and Sculptures of Kashmir/R.D. Trivedi. 13. Masterpieces of Uttarakhand Temple and Sculpture/Rakesh Tewari. Section IV: Architectural and Painterly Tradition: Medieval, Modern and Folk: 14. Declining Painterly Tradition (Early Medieval India)/Neelima Vashishtha. 15. A Brief Survey of the Mughal Architecture/M.C. Joshi. 16. Rajasthani Painting: Origin and Development/Chandramani Singh. 17. The Identity of Painting in Modern India/Shivaji K Panikkar. 18. Tradition and Transformations of Loka-Chitra/Masatoshi A. Konishi. Section V: Performing Arts: Dance and Theatre-Tradition and Practice: 19. Poetry in Motion: The Classical Dances of India/Mandakranta Bose. 20. The Ancient Indian Dramatic Tradition/Anupa Pande. 21. Classical Indian Dramatic Tradition/Indra Nath Choudhuri.