Gupta and medieval stone sculpture
Whole chapter · 12–18 focused hours
Sculpture
A first-attempt learner with school-level reading and little retained ancient/medieval history or art history. Later chapters assume the earlier chronological context; History optional and practical arts training are outside scope.
Includes
- Selected explanatory readings, images/maps and source extracts
- Brief chronology or comparison notes
- Available mapped practice, mistake review and one initial recall review
Separate time needed
- Subsequent spaced revision and full mock examinations
- Reading every reference book and optional exercise in full
- Exclude a second reading of temple architecture or the historical period overview.
Editorial planning estimate; not measured learner time
- Sarnath school Buddha (Dharmachakrapravartana), Sultanganj bronze, Deogarh Sheshashayi Vishnu; Gupta as classical idiom
- Udayagiri caves near Vidisha (Bhilsa, Madhya Pradesh): Varaha rescuing Bhudevi (Gupta, c. 400 CE), not Mount Abu
- Arjuna's Penance or Descent of the Ganga on boulders at Mamallapuram; rathas; Mahishasuramardini mandapa
- Elephanta ellora reliefs
- Tribhanga (three bends) posture; Khajuraho and Konark figures; Chalukya, Hoysala and Pala styles
- Relative dating used by the exam: Dhauli elephant (Maurya) before Udayagiri Varaha (Gupta) before Mamallapuram (Pallava) before Lingaraja (Somavamshi)
Where to study this topic
- An Introduction to Indian Art Part I, Class XI, ch. 4 Post-Mauryan Trends in Indian Art and Architecture ↗
ch. 4 Post-Mauryan Trends in Indian Art and Architecture, pp. 1-34 (printed 27-60)
- An Introduction to Indian Art Part I, Class XI, ch. 6 Temple Architecture and Sculpture ↗
ch. 6 Temple Architecture and Sculpture, pp. 2-35 (printed 69-102)
- Nitin Singhania, Indian Art and Culture (publisher page with table of contents) ↗
ch. 3
- Our Pasts I, Class VI, ch. 11 Buildings, Paintings and Books ↗
ch. 11 Buildings, Paintings and Books, pp. 1-13 (printed 114-126)
Whole chapter reading
- An Introduction to Indian Art Part I, Class XI, ch. 2 Arts of the Indus Valley ↗
Indus sculptural objects and material/technique
- An Introduction to Indian Art Part I, Class XI, ch. 3 Arts of the Mauryan Period ↗
Mauryan stone figures and polish
- An Introduction to Indian Art Part I, Class XI, ch. 4 Post-Mauryan Trends in Indian Art and Architecture ↗
Buddhist narrative forms and regional sculpture comparisons
- An Introduction to Indian Art Part I, Class XI, ch. 6 Temple Architecture and Sculpture ↗
Selected temple sculpture and iconography
- An Introduction to Indian Art Part I, Class XI, ch. 7 Indian Bronze Sculpture ↗
Bronze casting and selected works
- An Introduction to Indian Art Part II: Modern Indian Art ↗
PDF pages 3 and 7: modern sculptural materials and expression; later painting discussion is assigned to Painting.
- Nitin Singhania, Indian Art and Culture (publisher page with table of contents) ↗
Chapter 3, selected sculpture and terracotta comparisons; use only sections filling gaps in the assigned school-text readings.
Book required