Seminar paper by art historian Ratan Parimoo looking at the formation of the discipline of Indian Art History as well as providing critical analysis on its transcendentalist interpretive premise. Parimoo points out in the text that 'the 'great' tradition has not appeared all of a sudden out of the blue, but is a cumulative accumulation of the 'little' traditions through the course of many centuries' and hence an outcome of elite-popular co-existence.

This paper was presented in a seminar titled ''Elite' and 'Popular' Interface: India’s Art History' organised by the Department of Art History and Aesthetics, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. Convened by Shivaji K. Panikkar, the seminar was held from 6 to 8 January 2005.

This document was sent to Parimoo by Shivaji K. Panikkar with additional notes from the seminar report and discussion as a ready reference for Parimoo to write a more elaborate paper.

The document is dated 5 October 2005.

Details of where this text was published are not ascertained.