Ancient India became famous for its beautiful and artistic sculptures. Sculpture reached its highest growth during the Gupta period. The artists used stone, rock, bronze, copper, and gold to make statues.
These sculptures showed human emotions like peace, happiness, sadness, and devotion. Most statues were of Gautam Buddha, Mahavir, Hindu gods and goddesses, and animals.
There were three main styles of ancient Indian sculpture: Gandhara style, Mathura style, Amaravati style.
Among them, the Gandhara style became very popular, especially for making statues of Lord Buddha.
During the medieval period, sculpture declined because Islamic rulers did not support making statues of human figures. Instead, they encouraged architecture and painting.