From the very dawn of civilization the artistic urge in man has led him to produce works of abiding beauty and significance, often directly connected with his religious and spiritual strivings. Recent excavations have shown that even in pre-historic times cave dwellers used to embellish their primitive habitations with paintings which possess remarkable vigour and grace. It is clear that the artistic impulse is one of the most fundamental elements in human psyche, and through the medium of art. Indeed this essentially indefinable capacity to create and perceive beauty is one of the few distinguishing features between Man and the millions of others species who inhabit this planet.

The Indian artistic tradition is among the most ancient and richly varied in the history of mankind. A feature particularly important in Indian Art is that, unlike the great of creations of ancient Greece of Egypt, Babylon or Mexico, it represents a tradition that is still alive and vibrant in the life of millions of human beings. This is the special fascination of India, and the reason why Indian art is of much deeper than merely archival or historical interest. The present volume deald with a particularly attractive facet of the Indian artistic tradition. In the RAGAMALA PAINTINGS we have a confluence of two major artistic strands, miniature painting and classical music. In a way all forms of art can be considered inter-penetrative, because the joy of creation and contemplation which they provide ultimately reflects itself in the ineffable mystery of the awareness of beauty. Often two or more art forms are combined, and enrich each other. Thus Indian artists have chosen the RAGAS as the favourite subject. The RAGAS as a favourite subject. The RAGAs and their derivatives including the RAGINIS and RAGAPUTRAS (the consorts and offspring of the of the six male RAGAS, the predominant musical modes) occupy a central position in the two great classical systems of Indian music, the Hindustani and the Karnatka. As miniature paintings developed mainly in North India, the RAGAMALA PAINTINGS deal essentially with the Hindustani tradition and seek to present, through a wide spectrum of highly imaginative forms and colours, the varying moods and modes of classical music. Each RAGA and RAGINI are associated with a very special mood created by a combination of season, time of day or night, and the inner integrity of the RAGA, and these offer a wide field for creative interpretation by the miniature painter.

The tradition of miniature painting in India is one which spans many centuries, begining in the 11th and coming right up to the 19th, and covers large parts of north India from Gujarat and the deserts of Rajasthan upto the snowy mountains of Jammu and HImachal Pradesh. Some of the most exquisite of these paitings deal with the RAGAS, and the iconography of these paintings has attracted considerable scholarly attention and debate. In this impressive volume Klaus Ebeling has selected a large number of such paintings, many of which are reproduced in colour, and presented them with a wealth of scholarly and artistic detail. This is a book which will be a delight to all lovers of art and music, what ever their own tradition or habitation.

We live today in a world that is torn by conflict and confrontation. Despite impessive economic growht in many parts of the world. Mankind is still far from the harmonised and integrated unity of which idealists have dreamed since time immemorial. The typhooon of change that is sweeping across the face of the world today, destroying established traditions and making it difficult for new formulations to grow in their place, seems to have created a deeps schism within the heart of man. He appears often as a being divided against itself, torn by conflicting ideas and ideals, seeking but never finding the still point of this rapidly turning world. It is the great role of art and music to act as forces towards harmony and integration, both inner and outer, bringing the healing touch of sympathy and symmetry into the fractured and fragmented lives of men. Great art cuts across all barriers of language and race, religion and nationality, and can be a major force towards realizing the essential unity of the human race. It is in this broader context that I have pleasure in commending this beautiful volume to lovers of art and music throughout the world.