It is evident that there has been a fair spurt in the prices of Indian contemporary art, for Jamini Roy does not rank among the over-priced contemporary artists. So the sales of his work may be considered a good average index of the price of contemporary Indian art in today's global market. Moreover, the price of the British pound was Rs 69.58 in 1998 and it was Rs66.85 at the time of Bonhams auction in 1999, so, if anything, the worth of the works is even more than what their price reflects over this period of time.

In 1998, the per square centimetre range of Jamini Roy was from Rs 147.51 to Rs 61.23, with an average of Rs 99.51 for all works sold. In 1999, the range was between Rs 215 and Rs 49.98 per sq cm, but the average price had come up to Rs 157.12 per sq cm, a rise of nearly 58 per cent in a year. This is not poor by any standards. In fact, a modest rise in price of 25 per cent would have been sufficient incentive; but the 58 per cent rise in price is obviously behind the sharp competition that had both Bonhams and Sotheby's auctioning contemporary Indian art within two days of each other in London. One could safely infer then that mainstream contemporary Indian art is worth investing in.

If, however, we book at the prices paid for Jamini Roy's work at Sotheby's in 1999, we find the range equally buoyant. Of the 12 works up for sale, four were ``boughtin'', but eight sold. The highest price paid was Rs 5,88,280, followed by two others at Rs 4,67,950 and Rs 3,00,825, respectively. Two more works crossed the Rs 1 lakh mark, and the remaining two sold at Rs 80,220 and Rs 66,850, respectively, reflecting the analysis we have made of the Bonhams sales even more forcefully.

This, of course, is not the story for all Indian art. For example, M V Dhurandhar, of the Maharashtrian academic school, fetched between Rs 2,50,715 and Rs 1,13,645 at the Sotheby's sale and only Rs 63,507.50 at Bonhams, while his range at Sotheby's in 1998 was between Rs 2,56,054 and Rs 64,013, approximately, showing very little change over this period.It is evident that not any art from the turn of the century on qualifies as contemporary.

It is specifically the art of competent artists who turned their backs on colonial academism and blended their technical expertise with the expression of the anti-colonial peasant masses, imbibing its radical expression and gifting it with theiroriginality, as Jamini Roy did, who were recognised as path-breakers for the art of the future. As such, their works command a price today.

Technical competence, a break with colonial aesthetics, an integration with the folk expression of the peasantry challenging colonial standards at every level, and a radical bent of mind seem to be the persevering trend in the history of our contemporary art. Being in the mainstream, this trend commands the highest price. Other works sell, even at six figure prices; but the rise in their prices is negligible in relation to what we call mainstream contemporary art. A lot of art is worth buying; but mainstream contemporary art alone is a paying investment.