Sunga Art : Cultural Reflections

Contents: Foreword. Introduction. 1. Architecture. 2. Costume, textile and footwear. 3. Personal ornaments. 4. Head-dress and coiffure. 5. Vessels and household articles. 6. Furniture. 7. Arms, armour, agricultural implements, hunting equipments and other tools. 8. Conveyance and transport. 9. Musical instruments. 10. Royal insignia. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index. "Indian art has not only delighted the hearts of the art lovers, but it has also provided a hoard of information for the cultural historians right from the days of Anand Coomaraswamy. Art has served as one of the most valuable source material for the archaeologists who intend to reconstruct the material culture and day today life of the past. The present book dwells upon the stone sculptures and terracotta of the Sunga period for this purpose. Time and again our art historians have emphasized that, Sunga sculptures, among all the art schools of ancient India, are the most realistic representations of the contemporary life. This book unravels the details of the material culture of 2 and 1 century B.C. India in different headings like architecture, costume and textile, personal ornaments, coiffure and head gear, vessels and household materials, arms and armour, conveyance, musical instruments, etc. The represented shapes are co-related with the descriptions in the contemporary literature and corroborated with the excavated evidence, wherever it is found possible, to establish the authenticity of the pictorial representations. Attempts are also made in this study to 206 pp. …