Dr. Kumar is the recipient of Gold Medal from former Hon'ble President of India for being University topper. Dr. Kumar has also received Junior and Senior Research Fellowship from University Grants, Commission. He has also received National Museum of Korea (NMK) Network Fellowship from goverment of South Korea.
Earlier, he worked as Consultant and Assistant Archaeologist in Archaeological Survey of India. He has also worked as Research Scholar in Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts (IGNCA) and Indian Archaeological Society. He has participated and supervised many archaeological excavations namely excavations at Lahuradeva, Bhirrana, Baror, Hansi etc.. He has undertaken many research projects and published many scholarly articles/papers in many renowned National and International journals, seminar proceedings etc.
He is a life member of many National and International committees/societies like Indian Archaeological Society, New Delhi, International Association for Asian Heritage (IAAH), Colombo, Society of South Asian Archaeology (SOSAA), Pune, Museums Association of India (MAI), Indian Art History Congress, Madhya Pradesh Itihas Parishad, Indian Society for Greek and Roman Studies (ISGARS) etc. He has I worked as the executive member of MAI also. Dr. Kumar is well versed in Persian, German, Sanskrit, Oriya, Bangla and Maithili languages.
Among the first Greeks to arrive in India was Alexander who descended on the flat plains of the Punjab in 326 BC He had come to assert his domination on the provinces which had formed part of the Achaemenid Empire. His victorious progress came to an abrupt end when his soldiers mutinied and his dream of developing the Indus region as a centre of Hellenistic culture departed with him. The brief expedition of Alexander led to some interesting consequences in every sphere. One of the spheres was the sphere of art and architecture. After Alexander the Great, the accord between the Seleucid and the Chandragupta Maurya paved the way for further interactions. Because of this cross-cultural interaction various art motifs were borrowed in Indian art but they underwent great formal changes on the soil of India as if it was deliberate, pre-planned and well thought of. These foreign motifs include the floral and faunal motifs (honeysuckle, Acanthus, lion motifs, winged animal motifs etc.), drapery and coiffeurs, geometric motifs, architectural motifs, etc. The process of transformation can be visualized in the various lion motifs of Afokan pillars. While all lions in West Asian Art are looking ferocious and monstrous, none of the Mauryan lions look like that. In the decorative arts the lions were used by ancient Greeks and Romans as a form of supports for the gateways of palaces or parapet walls of the fortification, but in Mauryan India they crowned the pillars of piety, dharmastambhar and roared the triumph of Dhamma i.e. 'Dhammaghosakas all over the Mauryan empire. This was the metamorphosis of a decorative element used by West Asian Kings in their court art and a rejection of the details which don't suit Indian taste by the Indian artists. The Mauryan lions are no carbon copy of any particular West Asian or Greek Model. It is a consciously adopted process by Kings and his artists.
The process of transformation to the extent of Indianization is well reflected in various terracotta forms of Mauryan art also. Indianization of Dedalic style of Greek art can be seen in Pataliputra terracotta or even in the Mauryan and Sungan heads of mother goddesses. The late Hellenistic style of Tanagra style of art (Le. East Mediterranean School) is well reflected in Amaravati, Nagarjunkonda art. In this style the figures generally of women are elongated with very great charm in the face and delicate rendering in the pose. The drapery clings to the body upto the legs in looped folds. The terracottas of Pataliputra, Bulandibagh, Sonepur and Buxar had the source of inspiration from Greek art.
Diplomatic relations between India and the Rome during the time of Kushans helped to create the ambience for intellectual and religious activities. The artistic impulses expressed themselves into two district schools of sculpture- Mathura and Gandhara.
The Mauryan freely borrowed the architecture of the Persian Palace complex and adopted the kingly rituals of the Persian Courts. The artisans, craftsmen and technicians that streamed into India from Greece in the wake of Alexander's invasion were commissioned to build monumental palaces of stone which reflected the strength of the empire. The pillars and capitals that Asoka, the Great king of Mauryan dynasty erected at various points in his empire were also of stone and their accomplished handling betokens the hand of a foreign craftsman. Since Achaemenid art borrowed few elements from Greece, Mauryan art too indebted to Greece. More direct parallels to Greek and Hellenistic art are evident in the motif of the horse on the abacus of Sarnath pillar capital and many of the ornamental motifs such as honeysuckle and acanthus. Besides that, perhaps more Greek in inspiration is the terracotta figurines found at Pataliputra and other sites. The Hellenistic influence reveals itself in the superb handling of the female figurines-the depiction of their drapery and physique- and recalls of Tanagra. The double mould technique employed in making the heads of these figurines again points towards Greek diffusion.
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