Ancient Indian culture is ennobled by a rich and composite tradition. This has thus restored it to the arena of world cultural exuberance. The cultural elements comprise of musical melodies, paintings, recitations and art and crafts. Indian art and culture, which is now so much an integral part of Indian tradition, therefore has its root deep-seated in the Vedic era. In the ancient era, the practice of recitation was in vogue. The ancient literarature, Vedas, Shrutis (hearing), Smritis (memory works) are verbally communicated; writing practice came much later. The musicians sing melodious songs of devotion and philosophy, memorizing the whole tunes and notes.

Music in India was opulent; the musicians too follow the oral tradition. That music is held in high esteem is highlighted in the statute of Goddess Saraswati, carrying a vena in her hands. Musical meters and rhymes were integral to ancient classical music. In fact India was considered to be the birthplace of `Indian Musical Raga` and `Swaras`. The main Indian musical instruments of ancient India were the Sarod, the Veena, the Sarangi, the Tambora, the Harmonium, the Ghata, the Tabla, the Tanpura, the Satar, etc. Vocal music constitute of songs of the `gharanas` of `Hindustani` and `Carnatic`. The Archeologists have got the evidences that ancient Indian musicians used boulders to make musical sounds.

The treasure of visual art also was evidently found in cave and rock paintings of ancient India. Innumerable paintings were discovered in places of Central India. Experts told that they belonged to the era of 5500 BC, somewhat thousands of years ago. However, interpolations of paintings of artists of later periods too became apparent. Not only the paintings are exquisite, the techniques adapted by the artists too were unique. Wall paintings were vogue. After coloring the walls completely, brown or black line was repeated as finishing touch to the whole composition. A final burnishing with a flat stone added luster to the painting. The primary colors that were used are yellow, blue, and red. They were prepared locally with natural and water-soluble base.

Ancient Indian culture is a treasure house of classical forms of dance. Traditionally the temples patronized these dances to appease the gods and goddesses, mingling both dance form and worship. Bharatmuni`s Natyashastra is the primitive manuscript dealing with esthetics of different art forms had references of famous dance styles like Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Odissi, Mohiniattam, Kathakali, Manipuri, etc. Some of these dance styles have developed from folk dances and are closely associated with the narrative technique. In various Hindu temples like Konark, Rameshwaram , The God of Dance, `Nataraja` is revealed to be dancing in a figure called the Tandava.

Drama, another key element of Ancient Indian culture, perfectly enmeshed with dancing, singing , recital techniques. That it belonged to 4000 BC in the tribal society of Vedic Aryans was a general assumption, no written documents were found. It was again Natyashastra, which took the pioneering task of documentation about the origin and development of drama. It was stated in a striking mode that it was the lord of creation Brahma who also created the drama. In fact, Bharatmuni had thrown light on different aspects of drama in an elaborate fashion in his masterpiece. Indian Drama is defined as the simulation of men and their doings (loka-vritti). He told us not only what is to be depicted in a drama, and also how the enactment was to be done. Bharatamuni has also specified that every play should have a Sutradhara, which literally means `holder of a string`. Every play had to begin with an innovation of God. This invocation was called the poorvaranga. Natyashatra, in nutshell, set the trend, which had been carried forward by various dramatists of the later period. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata can be called the first recognized plays that originated in India. These epics also provided the inspiration to the ancient Indian dramatists. The legend of Ancient Indian culture Kalidasa, the court poet of Gupta period, is highly acclaimed everwhere for its dramatic exponents like AbhijananShakuntalam, Meghadutam.

Ancient Indian culture had a plethora of masterpieces in fields of art, music, and theatre and for that reason all lovers of art and culture all over the world emulated it.