History of Indian Art (Ancient and Classical)
Scope
Ancient and Classical Indian art covers the Indus Valley, Mauryan, Shunga, Kushan, Gupta, Pallava and Chola periods, including architecture, sculpture and painting. The exam tests dynasty, material, site, iconography and stylistic change.
Core sequence
- Indus Valley: steatite seals, the bronze Dancing Girl, the sandstone Priest-King; controlled naturalism.
- Mauryan: monolithic polished sandstone pillars; the Sarnath Lion Capital with four lions and an abacus of wheel and animals; the Didarganj Yakshi in Chunar sandstone with flywhisk.
- Shunga: Bharhut and Sanchi railings, narrative reliefs, yakshas.
- Kushan: Mathura (spotted red sandstone, indigenous) and Gandhara (grey schist, Greco-Roman drapery, wavy hair).
- Gupta: Sarnath Buddha with transparent drapery and refined modelling; Ajanta paintings with Jataka narratives.
- Pallava: Mahabalipuram rock-cut rathas and the Descent of the Ganges.
- Chola: lost-wax bronze Nataraja, the cosmic dance within a flame aureole.
Worked example
Compare a Mathura Buddha with a Gandhara Buddha. Mathura: red sandstone, shaven head or snail-shell curls, right hand in abhaya, strong frontal body, indigenous yaksha ancestry. Gandhara: schist, wavy hair, halo, toga-like drapery, contrapposto, Hellenistic modelling. Reasoning: material and physiognomy reveal the two schools' different sources, yet both serve Buddhist iconography.
Traps
Ajanta is not Mauryan; the earliest caves are 2nd century BCE, while the finest paintings are Gupta-period and later. The Sarnath Lion Capital is Mauryan, not Gupta. Chola bronzes are metal, not stone. Do not attribute every Buddha to Gandhara.