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In July 2001, Jangarh Singh Shyam, the 39-year-old Pardhan-Gond artist from Patangarh village in Madhya Pradesh, took his own life inside a museum in Japan. This incident, far from being isolated, is in fact resonant of a whole century of art historical experiences of the Indian nation. This book explores the phenomenon of Jangarh and his art through a multi-sided art-historical investigation questioning the whole premise of art practice in India through the last two centuries and the making of its modern identity. As was said of Van Gogh by Antoine Artaud: ‘an artist suicide by society,’ the book probes the elements that could have possibly ‘suicided’ Jangarh, the artist. The clues are embedded in art history. Many details in the story of Jangarh, like his native village or workplace at Bhopal, lead towards strong and surprising links to some of the major figures and movements that shaped the modern Indian artistic and cultural milieu, forming an intricate web.