Tracing a symbolic furrow at the end of the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony (Preah Nongkoal), Prince Norodom Yuvaneath (King Norodom Sihanouk's son), dressed in the traditional robes of the royal court, commemorated an auspicious beginning of the new rice planting season based on an ancient Brahman custom around a procession of three royal oxen, who walk around the ‘Royal Rice Fields’ three times.

Let us now go into an historical introspection of the Patuas and their creations. The oldest information regarding Patuas dates back to 200 B.C., when Patanjali had mentioned the Chitrakara tribe in his writing. We get more detailed information in the Jataka stories of the Buddhist religion and Kalpasutra, the holy book of the Jains.

Folk art is an indivisible part of folk culture. The study of folk culture in the subcontinents of India dates back to the 19th century. Some eminent personalities or connoisseurs began to study folk culture absolutely to quench their personal interest.

Srikshetra, or Jagannath Puri as it is commonly known, is a truthful replica of Indian culture. To understand this culture, one has to have some idea of the history of this land, which is different from that of other countries of the world. Indian history does not contain accounts of imperialistic aggressions or invasions into the territorial integrity of any nation.

In the 10th and 11th centuries, the south witnessed the construction of massive temples, great cathedrals in their own right. With the passage of time, the Chola dynasty came to dominate politics in south India. With their progression to power, the small scale of the Pallava masterpieces - the rathas and the Shore temple at Mahabalipuram - was not sufficient as a showpiece of Chola power. The craftsmen were soon to be put to a greater test.

He remembers the darkness of the pine forest, and the footprints, and his terror when the creature began to howl. He remembers the stories of his childhood, of a beast that stalked the upper reaches of the mountains, and how fear spread through the village every time it was spotted.

The Head of Glory or kirtimukha, Roaring Lion or jagrata, and the Flying vidyadhara are profusely carved on the temple walls of the upper Mahanadi valley from the 9th century onwards, but the earliest of these motifs are found amidst the temple ruins at Mohangiri in the Kalahandi and Banei in Sundergarh districts.

One of the earliest iconographic descriptions of Lord Brahma is found in Brhatsamhita, in which he has been described as a four-faced god holding a ritual water-vessel kamandalu in one of his hands (Brahma kamandalukaras'-caturmukhah).

Thousands of tourists visit the famed Sun temple at Konark in Orissa and go back impressed with the grandeur and craftsmanship of earlier days. But very few seem to know that another Sun temple exists at Buguda in Ganjam district of the State. This is made entirely of wood and the designs and imagery enthrall the viewer. This is referred to as the Wooden Konark.

Mathas in Puri are storehouses of archaeological remains. These representations can be broadly divided into two categories such as (i) images of enshrined deities and deified preceptors and (ii) decorative motifs on matha temples and residential structures. All these, of course, cannot be dated along with the inception or establishment of the monasteries as stone-works that have been added from time to time.

The patuas of Medinipur have for many generations painted scrolls designed to be unrolled while the story accompanying the pictures is sung. The patas are sheets of paper of equal or different sizes sewn together and painted.

The civilizational interface in this region marks its presence in concrete terms probably between 4th and 6th century A.D. as revealed by archaeological finds such as the Dah Parbatia edifice of Gupta style on the north bank of the middle Brahmaputra valley Some of the Assamese scholars are, however inclined to take back the period of Sanskritization to the pre-Christian era on the basis of finds at Surya Pahar in Goalpara district in the lower Brahmaputra valley.

Many wonderful stories exist about the origin of the Bhagavata Mela Natakam of Andhra Pradesh. In the 14th century, the southern parts of India were ruled by a succession of dynasties committed to the propagation of art and literature. The rulers not only gave land and money to gurus and performers, but also paid for the upkeep of several hundred temple dancers, the rajanartakis and devadasis.

Gita-govinda is a work of lyrical poetry written in Sanskrit. It has twelve chapters (sarga), which are further subdivided into twenty-four Prabandhas. Each Prabandha contains two further divisions, usually comprising eight couplets, called Ashtapadis - poems with eight stanzas. The Ashtapadis are preceded by verses composed in a different meter, which describe the backdrop of the subsequent Ashtapadi.

The Natyachudamani of Somanarya is an unpublished musicological work originally written in Sanskrit and accompanied by a Telugu commentary. The author of this work is Ashtavadana Somanarya (Ashtavadana means one who can concentrate on or give attention to eight things at a time), said to be a student of Sitarama. The author is also referred to as Somanatha in the work.

Inspired by the success of a tiny village in Orissa becoming a full-fledged model arts village, the Ministry of Tourism has selected five villages for reviving the gurukula tradition for teaching of arts. What started as promotion of pattachitra (painting on palm leaf) in Raghurajpur village in Puri district as part of rural tourism project five years ago culminated into transformation of the village into a vibrant centre of folk art.

The Ajanta caves, listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, is one of the most known and aesthetically acclaimed heritages of India, standing witness to the achievements of the ancient Indian artist, the silpin. This uniquely preserved evidence of what must have been a prevalent aesthetic tradition continent-wide brings forth the fact that sculpture, painting and architecture were not separate categories in ancient India.

A manuscript of Gita Govinda, scribed on ivory, has recently been declared as a National Heritage of India. Many, predictably, are curious to know the greatness of Gita Govinda that has elevated a copy of its manuscript to such high status. For a fair idea about the form and content of this literary creation, a brief account is presented here.

Over the last two years, the Sun has run numerous articles about the plight of the widows in Vrindavan Dhama. In August 2005, the issue gathered steam with the release of a film entitled Shwet - White Rainbow, which was nationally released in India. The movie exposed the horrible treatment dealt to widows in India.

Terracotta Art is the earliest form of art in which the Bengal artists excelled. The art products in terracotta or burnt clay satisfied the creative impulse of the artists and also met the domestic and ritual needs of ordinary man. Clay objects were either baked in the sun or burnt into terracotta for hardening and durability and were used by man in his daily life since pre-historic times.