This exhaustive research is a long pending effort at documenting the fading imprints of the Bundela Kalam. Focusing mainly on the erstwhile Bundela centers of Orchha and Datia in Central India, the volume starts off with a thorough investigation of the historical and cultural background of Bundelkhand, trying to understand the many contributing factors. A comparative analysis of extant manuscripts belonging to the Bundela Kalam is then pursued vigorously before a scintillating galaxy of vibrant Bundela murals is unveiled. With this pioneering photographic documentation, making use of the latest medium format optical gadgetry, the author has successfully captured the true essence of Bundela Kalam even in its somewhat dilapidated state. Studded with specially commissioned imagery, the book opens up many new avenues hitherto unassociated with painting traditions of medieval Bundelkhand. “Ankita’s narrative is carefully woven with the temporal and spatial sequence of norm and form, and provides a broad view of the change, through 16th to 19th century A.D, from an energetic, fluent, vivid and volumetric style to a more sedate, heavy handed, pedestrian and linear style. She shows the juxtaposition and fusion of styles in the transitions from Mughal through Rajput to colonial themes, motifs and dresses, in a comparative overview of mahals and chattris at Orchha, Datia and Bundelkhand. Her photographs bring out the turbulent vigour, ebullience and folksy intimacy of the Bundela Kalam, and its polychromatic use of material, to emphasize the malleability of stone, as against the courtly, aristocratic, restrained Mughal and Central Asian mural tradition.” Excerpts from Foreword by Dr. Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty