Earthen plaster support for decorative art in India

The paintings of Buddhist cave monasteries of Western India (1st century to 5th century CE) convey about 700 years of life and beliefs of ancient Indians. This tangible heritage is an extensive technical culture composed by knowledge of material science that has shaped and stratified for many centuries in order to study, protect and conserve. This book deals about scientific investigation of mural arts of India reflecting two decades of research and literary references. The book documents a holistic approach combining mineralogical, geo-chemical and textural data to characterize the decorative earthen plaster of Ajanta, Ellora, Pithalkhora, Karle, Bhaja caves vis-a-vis evaluation of mud plaster technology in ancient India. The source of raw materials for the preparation of earthen plaster, addition of aggregates, proteinaceous additives and vegetal remains etc has been detailed in this book. The book also incorporate the data obtained through cross-sectional study of painted plaster, analytical data obtained through XRF, XRD, FTIR, Raman Spectroscopy, SEM, Thermal analysis etc for investigative studies.