This relief dates from the late 11th or 12th centuries. The four-armed male deity carved on the central projection of the relief holds a rosary and a lotus in his right hands, and a por

The exterior walls of north Indian temples dating to the 9th through 12th centuries are replete with sculptural images projecting from the surface and presenting the worshipper with a sense of a mountain populated by the gods and their attendants.

This is the left doorjamb (dvara-shakha) from a temple in central or western India (the present-day states of Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan).

This figure is an architectural support in the form of a winged strong man called an "atlant." The term atlant refers to any carved stone architectural support in the form of a muscular, robust male figure.

This gray schist relief from the Kushan period in Gandhara shows Budda Shakyamuni engaged in his daily activity of giving his teachings to disciples and ordinary people. He stands with his robe slightly gathered up, its corner held in his upraised left hand.

While the taste of the Mughal court generally dominated the arts of the Mughal period, Hindu art by no means disappeared. Art and architecture continued to be created in the context of Hinduism, particularly in areas not ruled by Muslims, and in communities that remained Hindu. In south India, the heritage of the Chola dynasty persisted and evolved in a profusion of religious sculpture and architecture.

In 319 Chandragupta II established the Gupta kingdom at Pataliputra (Patna) in Bihar, the site of Ashoka's capital some 500 years earlier. His rule led to a two hundred-year period marked by cultural richness that looked back to Mauryan times.

This impressive ritual vessel, used for the purification of sacred objects or as an offering, is from the region of Bengal in India. The area was a center of sea trade between India and the Mediterranean. During the Shunga dynasty (c.