Some date back to the pre-historic era some have evolved with the changing empires in India.
Indian sculptures offers a varied range starting from carving to sand sculptures; the range that the Indian sculpture offers is truly varied. Besides the ancient and medieval sculptures a number of modern sculptures have come into being.
While tracing the history of Indian sculpture one would find out that carving in India has done for centuries with using varied materials such as stone or rock, wood, bronze metal, bone, and marbles also. The purpose of creating sculpture has been to create a piece of art that should be permanent hence, durable and frequently expensive materials, like bronze and stone such as marble are used. But, the most preferred and less expensive materials that were used for producing sculpture on wider scale are stone, metal & wood including such as oak, box and terracotta. Materials for sculpture can be just stone, bronze, clay and durable wood in case of India. Most of these materials are long lasting materials.
Indian Wooden Sculptures
Every region of India had developed its own unique style of wooden structures, marked with a distinct type of carving, strongly influenced by local traditions and the materials that were locally available. From the southern parts of India, the wooden sculptures and toys are very much popular for their intricate carving works and meticulous finishing. In Indian wood sculpture, Idols of god, goddesses and demigods are the most preferred themes through this presentation.
Indian Bronze Sculptures
From the 17th century & onwards, south India has images that are made of various gods and goddesses, of saints and deified mortals from the Bronze metal. The sculpture of Bronzes immensely radiates a sense of immortality and powerfully reflects the fascination and mystery about the ancient cultures of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. These art works are a visual interpretations of celestial beings, illustrate about the human condition of transcendence through which he led to spiritual enlightenment.
Indian Sand Sculptures
Sand sculpture, like any other kind of sculptures can be of any shape, size or form. It can include the above things- a castle, or created in a human, animal, plant or a fantasy form. In India, sand sculptures originated in Orissa, but later on became familiar in all parts of country.
Indian Marble Sculptures
Marble sculptures are marked with a unique place in the world art, as the art of stone sculpting is very much common in every state of India. A large percentage of marble sculpture is employed for a sacred purpose in India, in preparing various statues, idols of Gods & Goddesses & carvings in architecture. The entire artwork of marble sculptures bears the excellent style and patterns of finest craftsmanship that are achieved with quality.
Indian Stone Sculptures
The temples and Madhis in the Himachal area are full of stone statues of deities. The tribal areas have their own kind of statues which reflect the religious beliefs of the tribals. The Shiva temple at Baijnath and the Krishna temples at Masroor are carved out of a single rock. The temples at Chamba, Mandi, Kulu and Bilaspur areas display feats of architectural skill by local artisans much before the advancement of science. The stone masons are known as `Batai Hadai.` Large buildings and small articles of daily use in the houses like pounding stones, moohras, pots and basins also display the skill of local masons amply. The pink sandstone sculptures of Mathura evolved during the Gupta Empire period. Gupta period art would later influence Chinese styles during the Sui dynasty and the artistic styles across the rest of East Asia.
