Every Indian is proud of India's art and culture. He shall wax eloquent on how it has assimilated the invader, and how they lost their own identities and became Indians. But if asked what exactly brought about this metamorphosis, he is bound to struggle for an answer; for the history he has read had enlightened him about the rise and fall of many dynasties both Indian and foreign - but kept him almost dark on their artistic and cultural achievements. Thus the catalytic agent responsible for this unusual phenomenon eluded his grasp. This book The Culture and Art of India by Radhakamal Mukerjee, answers the long felt need for a work on India's art and culture in a lucid style. It brings in perfect focus that, 'the state, politics and conquest are far less significant in India than metaphysics, religion, myth and art as factors in social integration and it is these that have welded middle, East and South-East Asia for several centuries into one spiritual community'.