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As it moves from Asia's snow-capped Himalayan mountains toward the equator, the Indian subcontinent creates an inverted triangle. The region, also referred to as South Asia, comprises the countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan. The Tibetan highlands are also included because of their artistic significance. The region, which spans approximately 1,800 miles from west to east and about 1,800 miles from north to south, is home to several unique and ancient cultures.
In all of South Asia, India is the largest country. Similar to the nations of Europe, its twenty-four present states display a wide range of cultural influences. Language, script, musical legacy, dancing styles, and aesthetic heritage are unique to the Tamil region of southern India compared to Punjab in the north. The complexity and rewards of following India's artistic traditions result from its diversity.
A steady stream of Indo-European peoples known as Aryans—the word Arya means "noble" in Sanskrit—entered the Indian subcontinent between 1800 and 1200 B.C. The Vedas ("knowledge"), a collection of religious songs written in the antiquated Sanskrit language, were taken with them. The Vedic hymns honour a wide variety of gods who received worship from the Aryans. Indra, the god of thunder and rain and the patron deity of war; Surya, the sun deity; and Agni, the god of fire, are just a few examples of the great natural forces they represent. These antiquated writings serve as the foundation for the religion known as Hinduism today. Hinduism lacks a single creator, spokesperson, or even a set of unchanging ideas.
Two other significant religions emerged in India in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. One was Buddhism, which Prince Siddhartha, also known as the Buddha (literally, "Enlightened One," attained enlightenment), advocated. All people could follow the Buddha's path of moderation to nirvana (Buddhist salvation). It rejected the Hindu caste system and promoted leading a righteous, moral life. Buddhism quickly gained traction in India before making an early foray into China, Korea, and Japan via the Silk Road, where it established itself as a dominant force. His mortal remains, later cremated into ashes, were once buried inside relic mounds called stupas.
Alongside the flourishing of the visual arts, Hinduism also saw the development of philosophy, literature, music, and dance. Originally written in Sanskrit and afterwards translated into various regional languages, from southern Tamil to northern Kashmiri, from western Gujarati to eastern Bengali, a vast body of secular literature, including poems and dramas, tales, and epics, has been preserved. Music and dance were significant components in both religious and secular life on the subcontinent. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, two of India's major epics, continue to play a significant theatrical role in Southeast Asia, where Hinduism, culture, and art have expanded.
Tradition holds that the founder of the other significant religion to emerge in the sixth century B.C. was Mahavira, an older Buddha-era contemporary. After being enlightened, he took the name Jina, or "Victor," and the religion he founded is Jainism. Although the path of the Buddha is similar in many aspects, Jainism emphasises asceticism and austerity, which are upheld as values.
Other religions are also practised in India, including the monotheistic religion of Islam. Early in the ninth century A.D., Muslim forces made their way into Northwestern India, though Islam did not take hold until the eleventh century. Sikhism, which aimed to narrow the gap between Hinduism and Islam in some ways, was the final major world religion to emerge on the subcontinent.
Most of the endured stone art was employed to adorn religious buildings. There were secular monuments, and kings and nobility constructed grand palaces and homes for themselves. However, these buildings were constructed using brittle materials like wood and brick and then ornamented with carvings made of terracotta and wood. These old monuments of the secular kind have vanished in the hot and muggy atmosphere of much of India. Only after Islam arrived in India did secular monuments start to be built from stone.