Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c9.s3.73

c9.s3.73

The stock of decorative motifs and thematic representations in early Indian art is so exceptionally rich, well defined and widely distributed that one is obliged to believe a preceding ancient tradition cultivated for many centuaries in wood, clay, ivory, semi-precious stones, glass, textiles and metal. We have already cited some literary references in proof of their existence in the long expanse of time covered by the civilisation of the Janapada age. What we come across in the Maurya, Śuṅga and Sātavāhana periods was a normal evolution of earlier art-forms and not an avalanche of borrowing that visited suddenly. It is therefore essential for understanding the inspiration and meaning of Indian art-forms to go deeper into their literary traditions from the Vedic to the Purāṇic period, and also to correlate them with continued survivals in folk-art and other formal arts up to our own times.