India has been the land of diversities. Indian art has provided us with an extremely diverse nature of style, subject and medium used in its creation which has inspired many authors, art critics and art historians. Evidences of Indian art are available since the pre-historic times in the form of cave paintings. Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro provide us a proof of art being practiced then. Indian art flourished tremendously year after year since the ancient times. Earlier evidences of Mauryan Art, Mathura school, then Ajanta wall paintings to manuscripts of religious texts are available. Later miniature paintings began in the Mughal courts followed by Deccan style, Rajput paintings, Rajasthani paintings and Pahari miniature paintings to the Ragamala paintings. A new era of art started with Raja Ravi Varma to Madras school to Bengal school of art to modern art in India.

This whole journey of Indian art has been successfully comprised by all the three authors in this book. They have beautifully dealt with the history of art in a brief manner so as to bring it for the comprehension and understanding for the students of fine arts C.B.S.E. of 10+1 and 10+2. Central Board of Secondary Education has made a wise effort to bring the knowledge of Indian art and culture in a precise way in their prescribed syllabus.

Him Chatterjee, Professor and Chairman, Visual Art Dept. Himachal Pradesh University is an eminent artist and reputed scholar. His contribution to Indian contemporary art is remarkable. Dr. Gagan Gambhir and Ms. Sarbjit Kaur are dedicated scholars and teachers. Dr. Gagan Gambhir has studied in premier institutes of India. He has done Ph.D in Visual Arts, MFA from Kala Bhawan, Shantiniketan and BFA from Govt. College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai. Ms. Sarbjit Kaur completed her MA in Drawing and Painting from Apeejay college of Fine Arts, Jalandhar and MA in History of Arts from Punjab University, Chandigarh. I wholeheartedly congratulate all the three authors.

**Contents and Sample Pages**