This is an explanation of the reasons behind the current artistic renaissance in India, a country steeped in traditionalism, and ruled by a foreign power for two centuries. It demonstrates that the coming of independence created an uninhibited context for Indian creative genius to flower again. In the 1950s artists embarked on a quest for identity that was new, and yet would reflect their country's heritage. Since then, Indian artists have quietly brought about what may be described as a charmed revolution in Indian art. The results of this "revolution", as yet little known in the West and seen in this text in colour reproductions, connect India's timeless tribal and folk art traditions with developments in 20th-century Western art, in ways which are as Indian in spirit as they are universal in appeal. Organized thematically, the work displays every aspect of the Indian art scene and places Indian art in its cultural, social, political and ideological context.