Includes bibliographical references (p. [145]-146) and index.

This monograph, first of its kind, surveys the female sculptures created by Indian artists through centuries, from an ancient era of Indus Valley civilization to medieval times. Archaeological data is interpreted in the light of literary and cultural traditions of India. This work is not only a book about art, it is also an important document that has captured the significance of woman in traditional Indian society and richness of her life as she enacts her part in the drama of social life. Thus in addition to depicting women and the beauty of their form, this book provides the readers with glimpse in life and cosmology of ancient India. The reader is treated to range and variety of woman in all her manifest forms, from gentle to beautiful to wild and terrible. The author has stressed the image of Indian women as icons of fertility, bounty and fruition. Various images the sculptors conceived of her as Mother Goddess, Yakshi, Devangana and Surasundari, Lover par excellence, one as fond of wine, dance and music, shringara nayika, paragon of beauty and intellect and also embodiment of forces of death and destruction, and made into sculptures, are described here in very lucid language, to give the readers an insight into Indian art.