Ancient Indian sculptures date back to the days of the Indus Valley Civilization. In fact any form of art in India, it may be architecture, sculpture or crafts have their origin in the history of the world`s ancient civilization. The ancient Indian sculpture proves that Indian temple sculpture once ranked as one of the highest in the entire world. A characteristic of Indian sculpture is that it is primarily realistic in nature and the human forms appear in it more closely related with the surrounding. Flora and fauna have also found its presence in sculptures of India along with the innumerable respected deities. Indian art and sculptures are marked with the differences that make it stand apart from the sculpture from the rest of the world.

There are numerous kingdoms from ancient India that have encouraged the development of architecture, sculpture and paintings. The Magadhan Empire, for instance Empire is marked for its great achievements in art, culture architecture and literature, since the period of King Ashoka led to the base of sculpturing art of India in later period. Some of Ashoka`s edicts carved on pillars and rocks made out of shafts of sandstone represent the earliest known stone sculptures in our country. The rule of the Mauryan Empire regarded for the period of promotion in the field of art and architecture.

After the Magadhan kingdom it was the turn of the Cheras, Cholas, Pallavas, Palas, Pratiharas, Chalukyas and several other dynasties which offered royal patronage to ancient Indian sculptures. Some of the outstanding examples of the ancient sculpture are the sculpture of Hampi and the Chola bronze sculptures. In this respect the Pala School of sculptural art is also of special importance.

The following form a significant part in the ancient Indian sculpture: