This catalogue is intended as a preliminary step towards an eventually more complete account of Indian art in private collections in South Africa. It represents a sampling from a concentrated area stretching from Reservoir Hills to Durban Central; within these limits exists an intense awareness of traditional cultural values, to the continuing strength of which the works in this volume bear witness. A number of the most notable works have been included, but there are important collections not yet touched upon or dealt with only cursorily. The arts of the vase and the loom have been excluded from the study as have, with the exception of two examples in the Mayat collection, the arts of fabric design. The bias toward works of Hindu provenance is due partly to their accessibility to the researchers, and partly to the primary and ubiquitous role which the religious image plays in Hindu devotional practice......