RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.- Joseph M. Dye III, curator of the collection of Indian art of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (the fourth largest in the US), has brought out with the assistance of others at the museum a comprehensive catalogue that serves also as a scholarly guide. By far the most spectacular chapter in the book covers Mughal painting, which triumphed from 1526 to 1605 and is often said to be India's equivalent to Renaissance art. The mughals came from Samarkhand, and many of the artists served them at this Persian court. Their brilliant work is not only at the Virginia but in many American museums, in private hands and at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. The museum's holdings, modeled in sandstone, schist, limestone or cast in copper alloy and portraying the figures of Buddha, the dancing Vishnu and the ever-present Devi, are astonishing in their variety and completeness. Most interesting also is the section on the decorative arts and textiles.