Some very early depictions of deities seem to appear in the art of the Indus Valley civilisation (3300 BCE - 1700 BCE), but the following millennium, coinciding with the Vedic period, is devoid of such remains. It has been suggested that

Terracotta arts executed during pre-Mauryan and Mauryan periods are further refined during Shunga periods and Chandraketugarh emerge as an important center for the terracotta arts of Shunga period. Mathura which has its basis in the pre-Mauryan period also

Stone sculpture was much later to arrive in South India than the north, and the earliest period is only represented by the lingam with a standing figure of Shiva in the village of Gudimallam, in the southern tip of Andhra Pradesh. The "mysteriousness" of this "lies in the total

The surviving art of the Mauryan Empire which ruled, at least in theory, over most of the Indian subcontinent between 322 and 185 BCE is mostly sculpture. There was an imperial court-sponsored art patronized by the emperors, especially Ashoka, and then a "popular" style produced

The Satavahana dynasty ruled much of the Deccan and sometimes other areas, including Maharashtra, between about the 2nd-century BCE and 2nd century CE. They were a Buddhist dynasty, and the most significant remains of their sculptural patronage are the

Kushan art is highlighted by the appearance of extensive Buddhist arts in the form of Mathuras, Gandharan and Amaravathi schools of art.
Mathura art

Gupta art is the style of art, surviving almost entirely as sculpture, developed under the Gupta Empire, which ruled most of northern India, with its