Arts of India

Books that have appeared so far on the art of India confine themselves to architecture, sculpture and painting. In the present work, the coverage has been extended for the first time to include music, dance and handicrafts too.

The weighty reason for this is that in traditional India, are reflected and further strengthened an integrated living. Temple architecture generally provided halls for the performance of music and dance, for these too were ways of worship. Some of the finest Indian sculptures have dances as their themes. Siva, deity and dancer, had been represented in dance postures and gestures in reliefs which are veritable manuals of dance illustrated through sculpture. Music parties and dances have figured repeatedly in painting. As for crafts, it is not elitist art that makes gracious the daily living of the masses but the art of the artisan who streamlines humble articles of daily use into timelessly enduring beauty.

The textual outlines conserve the essential contours of the historical evolution of these arts and familiarise the reader with the masterpieces of the heritage which have been illustrated to the maximum extent possible.

About the Author:

Krishna Chaitanya whom a national periodical has described as "one of the most vigorous and stimulating minds writing in the subcontinent today" and as "our nearest approximation to the Renaissance man" is the author of over thirty books whose interdisciplinary range got him the "Critic of Ideas" award of the Institute of International Education, New York. The major categories are: a five-volume philosophy of freedom for which he got a Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship; a ten-volume philosophy of world literature in English and several Indian languages which won a special award from the Kerala Sahitya Academy; several widely-acclaimed books on Indology; books for children one of which got the Federation of Indian Publishers' award for the best children's book published during the International Year of the Child.

Chaitanya has a distinguished record in the field of the arts. He is the author of a four-volume history of Indian painting, has been for three decades are critic of one national periodical and music and dance critic of another, has been a member of the jury for Madhya Pradesh Government's Kalidas Award for eminent musician (1985) and visual artist (1987). As Chairman or member of functional committees he has been associated with over a dozen national cultural organisations and institutions. Recently he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) by he Rabindra Bharati University.