The author establishes that arts and crafts during the period under consideration were characterized by a great expansion of the activities in different fields such as metallurgy, pottery, weaponry, woodwork, bead-making, leather, textiles and stoneware. Their further development in successive periods reveals constant human endeavor to improve and produce more with newer techniques, tools and materials in keeping with the contemporary challenges and change.
While giving the narrative of the technological changes in arts and crafts, the study maintains that this development has been a continuous phenomenon. The work is mainly based on data collected from the materials brought to light by archaeological excavations and explorations. The literary sources of the period have also been used besides extensively studying the present day techniques of production. The work will be of immense value for scholars and researchers.
I cannot adequately express my gratitude to Sh. M.R. Verma, Department of Education, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, for constructive and learned discus-sions and for giving too much of his valuable time ungrudgingly throughout the progress of this work.
I am extremely grateful to Shri J.P. Joshi, Director, (Exploration), Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, who had been kind enough to allow me to study the pottery collection at Purana Quila, New Delhi; Shri M.C. Joshi, Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, who rendered constructive help in tracing and evaluating the literary sources for this study; Dr. Krishnamurthy, of the Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi for his enlightening discussion on pottery. My grateful thanks are due to all these learned scholars.
I must also thank the Librarians and their staff at Kurukshetra University Library, Kurukshetra, the Central Archaeological Library, New Delhi (especially Shri Bhagwat), the National Museum Library, New Delhi, Aligarh Muslim University Library, Aligarh and the Delhi University Library, Delhi, for providing necessary facilities.
Ancient literature is the other extensively used source of information about the arts and crafts in ancient India. Admittedly, this literature is mostly religious in character, but it is not altogether deficient in references to contemporary arts and crafts. From the numerous descriptions found in ancient literature, a good deal of information can be gleaned as to the state of arts and crafts of the times. A close scrutiny of such information can be of immense help in tracing out the development of arts and crafts during the successive phases of the period under study. As will be seen in the present study, ancient literature has proved to be of invaluable help as a complementary source of data for this study; literature has revealed and filled up the gaps which archaeology had left open.
Archaeology can do no more than furnish us with what earth has preserved in its crust. Objects made of perishable substance, such as wood-work, leather work, textiles, etc., can hardly be expected to survive for very long periods of time. Consequently, it is simply beyond the reach of archaeology to enlighten us as to the art and craft embodied in objects made of such perishable materials, thereby leaving a gap in terms of crucial evidence. In literature, we can expect to find direct descriptions of the techniques of production used and the aesthetic standards attained by the people of the contemporary periods, whereas archaeology can only provide us with objects and tools from which we have to infer the nature of techniques of production and aesthetic standards of the period to which they are related.
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