ABOUT THE BOOK A vison of india's earliest knowns past as reflects in fur creative endeavour the Home twelve thousand years ago on the walls of the nomad's rock-shelter, his first home as also the ever first to breed in him, a feeling of belonging the Indian Art and Architecture, the first of the series, covers in its thirteen chapters thirteen major styles ut Indian art and architecture. It incorporates the material well researched by eminent scholars over past fifty years The book begins with the study of rock shelier drawings mainly those discovered from the forewers of Bhimbetka near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, now a world heritage site. India has thousands on rock-shelter drawings but rare in splendour Bhimbetka is not only the largest complex of rock-shelters and the largest concentration of pre historic art but also presents the widest. range of themes that rock-shelter drawings have anywhere in India or rather In the world. Hence, the book's focus mainly on Bhimbetka. The second chapter focuses on the art and architecture of Indus valley a city culture with -a structured habitation and well planned towns, diagonally opposite to the nomad's rock-shelters. Chapter three presents a vision of Mauryan era's sculptural art that combined art with architecture. Chapter four dwells on the study of the Shunga art, a period when sculpture and architecture witnessed a new efflorescence. Chapter five deals with carly Andhra art sculptural precision, 4 perfection and refinement attaining their all-time height. The rock-cut architecture of early Buddhism is the main theme of the Chapter six, and the Kushana art, that of the seven. Chapter eight is devoted to the study of Gandhara art. Chapter nine studies the history of later Andhra art Chapter ten throws light on the Gupta arta Chapter eleven is an effort to throw some light on the Nalanda stupas, and Chapter twelve presents a study of the Bodh Gaya temple, and the Pala and Sena art is the subject-matter of the last chapter. The book has been enriched and embellished with a number of plans and illustrations, both in colours and black and white.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR P.C. Jain the hor of Heritage of Jogust and aesthetician, began his career in 1961 as a university teacher. Later, he shifted to journalism and then to active politics Altes over hea decades of hectic political life he dedicated himself to writing his initial occupation he had as teacher and as journalist. Besides contributing over sixty monthly newsletters, each comprising over 4000 words, un a wide range of subjects art history, monuments, architecture, aesthetics religion, history among others, to a web-magazine, a number of research papers presented at national and international level seminars, docume nting with detailed entries over seven hundred art-objects, a book on Hindi Grammar that Mahatma Gandhi Antar-rashtriya Hindi Vishwa vidylaya, Wardha a Central university, published, 'Gandhi in Stamps, a book on the life and philosophy of Gandhi as reveals in postal stamps, and a translation of An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method' (two volumes) by Cohen and Nagel, he has written a number of books on subjects related to art, art history, monuments, mainly, the Magic Makers: Folk and Tribal Arts, Shakuntala, Monuments of India, Krishna Raga se Viraga Taka (Hindi), Khajuraho, Sri Harmandar Sahib, Indian Miniature Painting Magic of Miniature, Ramayana, and Journey of Thread Textiles and Costumes of India, Raghogarh Painting, and Vatsyayana Discovered Beyond His Words: Revisiting Kama sutra (in press). Apart the 'History of India' (three volumes) he has edited a number of other books for Prakash Books and Aravali Books International.
INTRODUCTION Discovering man's past on the subcontinent for over twelve thousand years the 'Indian Art and Architecture begins with nomadic art the earliest specimens of which it finds in his rock shelter drawings scattered over various parts of the subcontinent. Archaeologists date the earliest of them to 10,000 BC. The rock-art is the earliest record of both, the changing environmental scenario and the direction of man's endeavour to counter it-his effort to create along combating all that sought to destroy his life. The rock-shelters the nomad was compelled to resort to due to tortuous climatic conditions had completely changed the frame of his mind. Besides being possessive, especially of his female counterpart, he was instinctively drawn to her offspring-at least a little more than his co-inhabitant animals did. A feeling of concern crept into his mind and he not only sought some safer space for them but also made efforts to link it with his identity, as something that belonged to him, and put efforts to attribute it a character and make it look better. Perhaps to please his partner or to guide his offspring in matter of combating a danger he recorded his encountgainst. the by would befriend as also those they to be cautious against. Perhaps the rocks sheltering him were his and his partner's first were requires and also his offspring's first class-room. Thus, while these rock-shelter drawings reveal picture gallery, the nomad's perception of the world around, they also portray his transformation from the nomad to a domesticated householder.
The Indian Art and Architecture thus does not record merely the various phases of man's creative journey on the subcontinent but also discovers from behind the lines drawn on his rocks the creative process by which the brute had transformed into a social creature-one who felt concerned for others, sought to make things look better, and emotional replacing the instinctive. The present volume, the first in the series, explores this early art as also the incidence of this transformation, not just in its initial phase but also beyond. Within its scope this volume covers thirteen major phases of man's creative endeavour and accordingly it has been divided into thirteen chapters presenting major styles of Indian art, each defining one such phase.
Chapter one begins with the study of rock-shelter drawings mainly those at Bhimbetka in Central India near Bhopal, the capital town of Madhya Pradesh. The Bhimbetka rock-shelters, discovered in 1957 by V.S. Wakankar of the Vikram University, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, had left the world delightfully wondering for it felt proud to know that man's creative journey had begun as early as 10,000 BC Apart that the Bhimbetka drawings were the most splendid specimens of rock-art in the world the Bhimbetka complex had largest concentration of pre-historic art anywhere. There are in the complex about 800 rock shelters, few of them quite large and elaborate like man-made caves. The drawings at Bhimbetka complex are the man's earliest expression on the subcontinent. These drawings fill many gaps in the knowledge of pre-historic man's way of life. No other site in India is so much rich as Bhimbetka.
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