Short answers, pulled from the story.
The earliest known paintings in India were discovered at the Bhimbetka rock shelters and are approximately 10,000 years old. These prehistoric images utilize a distinctive red wash made from powdered iron oxide known as geru.
The bronze Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro is the most famous surviving piece from the Indus Valley Civilisation and displays remarkably advanced modeling of the human figure for the third millennium BCE. It stands alongside thousands of steatite seals that hint at a complex society despite the absence of public large-scale art.
Emperor Ashoka died in 232 BCE and his reign marked a turning point with the erection of the Pillars of Ashoka. The detached Lion Capital of Ashoka was later adopted as the official Emblem of India after independence.
The Kushan Empire introduced the first human depictions of the Buddha in the early centuries CE within the far north-west of India. The Gandhara school flourished under Kanishka the Great from 127 to 151 CE and established a visual language that defined Buddhist art for centuries.
The Gupta period spans from approximately 320 to 550 CE and is generally regarded as the golden age of classical Hindu art. This era saw the emergence of the iconic carved stone deity in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions and the development of the lost-wax bronze casting technique.
The Mughal Empire began its patronage of the fine arts in the mid-16th century and introduced a unique synthesis of Persian and Indian artistic traditions. Aurangzeb banned music and painting in 1680, causing a decline in imperial patronage.