Early Buddhist Art in India

It gives me pleasure to introduce the present monograph Early Buddhist Art in India by Dr. G.C. Chauley to the academics and the layman interested in Indian art. Dr. Chauley has restricted his narrative to the time-frame, 300 B.C. - 300 A.D., covering art activities during the Maurya and Gupta periods as well as the ages of the political dominations of the Kusaoas and the Satavahanas. He has not lost sight of the ramifications of the major art trends which were in view during the Maurya and Gupta culture-epochs and has rightly stressed the importance of the folk idioms which were not only existing alongside these major styles, but also on occasions imperceptibly fused with them, thus resulting in the growth and development of what is known as Early Indian Art. Indeed, the interaction between the
hieratic and folk-tribal art-styles was and still is a striking phenomenon in the field of Indian art. And lienee Indian art has always been vibrant and dynamic.