The Cleveland Museum of Art's Indian and Southeast Asian collection is rated as one of the leading collections in this area, both nationally and internationally.

The collection comprises three broad areas: India proper, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia. The collection covers the period of the entire artistic activity on the Indian subcontinent from the earliest (Neolithic) period until the 19th century. It consists primarily of sculpture (in stone, metal, wood, clay, and ivory) and paintings (book illustrations as well as painted banners as seen in the Himalayan thankas), but it also includes some decorative arts such as jewels and armor. It is a well-balanced collection, both in its scope and breadth; the focus, however, is on the earlier periods, which are aesthetically more accomplished. The strength of the collection lies not in its quantity but in its quality.