Present work ‘Handbook of Indian Art’ has been based upon the study and progression of artistic styles of paintings and sculptures from Pre-history to the Modern period. Documentation of the sights bearing a marked cultural and art historical importance have been incorporated to highlight the flourishing ties that India maintained during ancient and medieval periods with the surrounding countries. Various artistic strands with amazing synchronization of cultural synthesis illustrating Indian Life and religion finds a vivacious depiction in the caves of Ajanta, Ellora, Elephanta and on the numerous wall surfaces of the temples like Khajuraho, Konarak, Mahabalipuram, etc. Miniature paintings together with the other representations of art during Mughal and Post-Mughal periods also reflect the culmination of Indo-Persian cultural cohesion. The present volume attempts to illustrate socio-political and economic undercurrents which prompted a change in the meter and character of Indian traditions. Pompous delineation of art with the highest aesthetics reflecting eastern precepts of art could not withstand the pressure of western cultural invasion in the 18th century. European merchants patronizing art activities encouraged the local artists to copy the western models of art which ultimately led to the disappearance of the local traditions. The western idea of democracy coupled with industrialization also brought a radical change in Indian life and culture, with the result Indian aesthetic consciousness and artistic creativity came under perpetual flux of modernism in which domination of experimentalism of material culture prevails supreme.
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