Category: Prelims

Art & Culture: Literary Arts

Ancient Indian Literature It is not true to say that the Vedas are a series of sacred texts used in religious rituals and sacrifices. The Vedas are essentially archetypal poetry of high literary value....

Art & Culture: Puppet Forms of India

Introduction: A puppet is one of the most remarkable and ingenious inventions of the man. It has been said that a puppet has to be more than his live counterpart for it is definitely...

Art & Culture: Theatre Forms of India

Traditional Theatre Living traditions occupy a prominent place in the Indian social system. Any living tradition has a natural flow. There can be no doubt about the fact that traditional art forms reflect the...

Art & Culture: Indian Music

Introduction Natyasastra of Bharata which is supposed to have been written sometime between 2nd century B.C and 2nd century A.D is a landmark in the history of Indian music. It has several chapters that...

Art & Culture: Classical Dances of India

Bharatnatyam Dance Bharatnatyam Dance is considered to be over 2000 years old. Several texts beginning with Bharata Muni’s Natya Shastra (200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.) provide information on this dance form. The Abhinaya Darpana...

Art & Culture: Performing Arts

Introduction In India, various facets of performing arts are all pervading bringing colour and joy to numerous festivals and ceremonies, and reaffirming the faith of the people in their heritage. These facets have been...

Art & Culture: Miniature Painting Part II

The Central Indian And Rajasthani Schools (17th-19th Centuries) Unlike Mughal painting which is primarily secular, the art of painting in Central India, Rajasthani and the Pahari region etc. is deeply rooted in the Indian...

Art & Culture: Miniature Painting

1. THE PALA SCHOOL (11th to 12th centuries) The earliest examples of miniature painting in India exist in the form of illustrations to the religious texts on Buddhism executed under the Palas of the...

Art & Culture: Indian Painting

Wall Painting Introduction: Painting is one of the most delicate forms of art giving expression to human thoughts and feelings through the media of line and colour. Many thousands of years before the dawn...

Art & Culture: Medieval School of Sculpture

Introduction: Instead of the classical dignity, sobriety and simplicity, the sculpture is now more and more tending towards ornamentation, creating highly ornate art objects, with strange and unusual imaginary creatures, such as half human,...