Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Primeval movement. 3. Assimilation and re-expression. 4. Railing Pillar: Mathura. 5. Prolific effervescence: Gupta art. 6. Compressed narratives: Ajanta. 7. Stasis and dynamism: South India. 8. Exuberance: Central India. 9. Celebration: Orissa. 10. Choreography in stone: Western India. 11. Cascading scrolls: Halebid and Belur. 12. Dance eternal: Chidambaram.

"Movement is the beginning of life in the natural and human world. For millennia, since pre-historic times, man has endeavoured to capture this awareness of movement in line and colour, clay, stone and metal.

Over a period of many centuries in all parts of India, there has been an overwhelming preoccupation with arrested movement. The dancer tries to achieve a still sculptural pose, seemingly frozen while the sculptor arrests the dynamics of kinetics and yet the sculptural figure appears as if it will move any moment and fly out of the stone. With lucid style and stunning precision, this enticing monograph embodies the residual essence of fundamental research, couched in a flowing, communicative language for the lay reader. The monograph provides a glimpse into this vast canvas of the Indian sculptural and pictorial traditions." (jacket)