Arts and architecture in India have had their course shaped by a synthesis of indigenous and foreign influences that have consequently shaped the course of the arts of the rest of Asia, since ancient times. Arts refer to paintings, architecture, literature, music, dance, languages and cinema. In early India, most of the arts were derived Vedic influences. After the birth of contemporary Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism arts flourished under the patronage of kings and emperors. The coming of Islam spawned a whole new era of Indian architecture and art. Finally the British brought their own Gothic and Roman influences and fused it with the Indian style. They have a culture infusion in their art. Architecture The earliest production in the Indus Valley civilization was characterised by cities and houses where religion did not seem to play an active role. The Buddhist period is primarily represented by three important building types- the Chaitya Hall (place of worship), the Vihara (monastery) and the Stupa (hemispherical mound for worship/ memory) - exemplified by the caves of Ajanta and Ellora and the monumental Sanchi Stupa. The Jaina temples are characterised by high levels of detail that can be seen in the Dilwara Temples in Mt. Abu. Early beginnings of Hindu temple architecture have been traced to the remains at Aihole and Pattadakal in present-day Karnataka, and have Vedic altars and late Vedic temples as described by Pāṇini as models. Later, as more differentiation took place, the Dravidian/ Southern style and or the Indo-Aryan/ Northern/ Nagara style of temple architecture emerged as dominant modes, epitomized in productions such as the Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur, and the Sun Temple, Konark. With the arrival of Islam, a new style of architecture known as Indo-Islamic architecture emerged combining traditional Indian and Islamic elements. The earliest examples include the Qutb complex, a series of monuments built by successive sultans of the Delhi Sultanate. The architecture of the Mughal Empire includes the Red Fort, Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Humayun's tomb, Jama Masjid and Fatehpur Sikri. With colonization, a new chapter began. Though the Dutch, Portuguese and the French were influencers, it was the English who had a lasting impact. The architecture of the colonial period varied from the beginning attempts at creating authority through classical prototypes to the later approach of producing a supposedly more responsive image through what is now termed Indo-Saracenic architecture- a mixture of Hindu, Islamic and