The current book on Ajanta, Bagh" and Badami attempts a three dimensional approach to these ancient historical sites in imparting information from aesthetic, technical and historical angles. This task has been made easier for the author because he has already made an extensive research in the field. This has enabled him to hand out the knowledge with a transparent grace which it is hoped would allow those interested in the field to grasp it with felicity. Furthermore, the narration of seven key Jataka tales of Buddha's former births in the writer's own words for which he may claim a distinction as a short story writer in addition would bring the readers' heart closer to Ajanta's fabulous romance. A chapter on India's rock-art vis-a-vis their counterparts in the West adds an additional flavour here. The book is tailed by an index and a congeries of colour and black and white reproductions of the mural romance of India's past.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sujit Narayan Sen
Sujit Narayan Sen was born near Kolkata in 1944. He is an Arts graduate from the city’s St. Xavier’s College and did two Masters in history and Ancient Indian History with Fine Arts from the Jadavpur U. and Calcutta U. respectively. He was awarded a Ph.D by the former university on ancient Indian mural painting in 1992. He completed two certificate courses in Urdu and Persian languages at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata. He joined the Art Section of the Indian Museum in 1968 and was superannuated in 2004. He did a stint as Keeper of the Victoria memorial Hall on lien in 1985. He was a guest lecturer at the Dept. of Museology, Calcutta U. for three years from 2001-2003. Sen has authored a number of articles on Indian metal crafts and paintings and delivered many lectures on Indian History and paintings from divense august podia like the Calcutta U., the Jadavpur U., the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of culture, Kolkata, the Singapore national Museum and the national U. of Singapore. His thesis entitled Aesthetics and Preparation of early Indian Murals was published by the present Publishers in 1995 that won him acclaim here and abroad. He has been associated with Educational Media research centre, Kolkata as a subject expert on Medieval art History of India and the programme Mughal Art During Akbar received the first prize in the Humanities and Communication in the 14th UGC-CEC Educational Video Competition, 2001. he reviewed four books in The Statesman on history, anthropology, Gandhi-ji and political affairs. Sen is an avid writer of English short stories. His two books Buddha’s Alms Bowl and the Naxalbari Night published by the Writers Workshops, Kolkata in 1996 and 1998 were praised in The Hindu (Sep.2, 1997) and The Statesman (April 12, 1999) and highly acclaimed in the States. He is a member of Kolkata’s Asiatic Society for nearly three decades and devotes his leisure hours in studying and writing.
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