Ajanta Caves

Ajanta Caves

UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Ajanta Caves
Location	Aurangabad District, Maharashtra State, India
Criteria	Cultural: i, ii, iii, vi
Reference	242
Inscription	1983 (7th Session)
Area	8,242 ha
Buffer zone	78,676 ha
Coordinates	20°33′05″N 75°42′10″E
Location of Ajanta Caves in India Ajanta Caves (Maharashtra)

The Ajanta Caves are about 29 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state of India. The caves include paintings and rock cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive paintings that present emotion through gesture, pose and form.

According to UNESCO, these are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art that influenced Indian art that followed. The caves were built in two phases, the first group starting around the 2nd century BC, while the second group of caves built around 400–650 CE according to older accounts, or all in a brief period of 460 to 480 according to Walter M. Spink. The site is a protected monument in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, and since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Ajanta Caves constitute ancient monasteries and worship halls of different Buddhist traditions carved into a 250 feet wall of rock. The caves also present paintings depicting the past lives and rebirths of the Buddha, pictorial tales from Aryasura's Jatakamala, as well as rock-cut sculptures of Buddhist deities in vogue between the 2nd century BCE and 5th century CE. Textual records suggest that these caves served as a monsoon retreat for monks, as well as a resting site for merchants and pilgrims in ancient India. While vivid colours and mural wall painting were abundant in Indian history as evidenced by historical records, Caves 16, 17, 1 and 2 of Ajanta form the largest corpus of surviving ancient Indian wall-painting.

Panoramic view of Ajanta Caves from the nearby hill

The Ajanta Caves site are mentioned in the memoirs of several medieval era Chinese Buddhist travellers to India and by a Mughal era official of Akbar era in early 17th century. They were covered by jungle until accidentally "discovered" and brought to the Western attention in 1819 by a colonial British officer on a tiger hunting party. The Ajanta caves are located on the side of a rocky cliff that is on the north side of a U-shaped gorge on the small river Waghur, in the Deccan plateau. Further round the gorge are a number of waterfalls, which when the river is high are audible from outside the caves.

With the Ellora Caves, Ajanta is the major tourist attraction of Maharashtra. They are about 59 kilometres (37 miles) from the city of Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India, 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Pachora, 104 kilometres (65 miles) from the city of Aurangabad, and 350 kilometres (220 miles) east-northeast from Mumbai. They are 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Ellora Caves, which contain Hindu, Jain as well as Buddhist caves, the last dating from a period similar to Ajanta. The Ajanta style is also found in the Ellora Caves and other sites such as the Elephanta Caves and the cave temples of Karnataka.

History

Map of Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves are generally agreed to have been made in three distinct periods, the first belonging to the 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE, and second period that followed several centuries later.

The caves consist of 36 identifiable foundations, some of them discovered after the original numbering of the caves from 1 through 29. The later identified caves have been suffixed with the letters of the alphabet, such as 15A identified between originally numbered caves 15 and 16. The cave numbering is a convention of convenience, and has nothing to do with chronological order of their construction.

Caves of the first (Satavahana) period

Cave 9, a first period Hinayana style chaitya worship hall with stupa but no idols.

The earliest group constructed consists of caves 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15A. This grouping, and that they belong to the Hinayana (Theravada) tradition of Buddhism, is generally accepted by scholars, but there are differing opinions on which century the early caves were built. According to Walter Spink, they were made during the period 100 BCE to 100 CE, probably under the patronage of the Hindu Satavahana dynasty (230 BCE – c. 220 CE) who ruled the region. Other datings prefer the period of the Maurya Empire (300 BCE to 100 BCE). Of these, caves 9 and 10 are stupa containing worship halls of chaitya-griha form, and caves 12, 13, and 15A are vihāras (see the architecture section below for descriptions of these types).

According to Spink, once the Satavahana period caves were made, the site was not further developed for a considerable period until the mid-5th century. However, the early caves were in use during this dormant period, and Buddhist pilgrims visited the site according to the records left by Chinese pilgrim Faxian around 400 CE.

Caves of the later, or Vākāṭaka, period

The second phase of construction at the Ajanta Caves site began in the 5th century. For a long time it was thought that the later caves were made over an extended period from the 4th to the 7th centuries CE, but in recent decades a series of studies by the leading expert on the caves, Walter M. Spink, have argued that most of the work took place over the very brief period from 460 to 480 CE, during the reign of Hindu Emperor Harishena of the Vākāṭaka dynasty. This view has been criticised by some scholars, but is now broadly accepted by most authors of general books on Indian art, for example Huntington and Harle.

Cave 26, a second period Mahayana style worship hall with stupa and idols, circa 5th century CE.

The second phase is attributed to the theistic Mahāyāna, or Greater Vehicle tradition of Buddhism. Caves of the second period are 1–8, 11, 14–29, some possibly extensions of earlier caves. Caves 19, 26, and 29 are chaitya-grihas, the rest viharas. The most elaborate caves were produced in this period, which included some refurbishing and repainting of the early caves.

Spink states that it is possible to establish dating for this period with a very high level of precision; a fuller account of his chronology is given below. Although debate continues, Spink's ideas are increasingly widely accepted, at least in their broad conclusions. The Archaeological Survey of India website still presents the traditional dating: "The second phase of paintings started around 5th – 6th centuries A.D. and continued for the next two centuries".

According to Spink, the construction activity at the incomplete Ajanta Caves was abandoned by wealthy patrons in about 480 CE, a few years after the death of Harishena. However, states Spink, the caves appear to have been in use for a period of time as evidenced by the wear of the pivot holes of caves constructed close to 480 CE. According to Richard Cohen, 7th-century Chinese traveler Xuanzang's reports about the caves, and the scattered graffiti from the medieval centuries uncovered at the site suggests that the Ajanta Caves were known and probably in use, but without a stable or steady Buddhist community presence at the site. The Ajanta caves are mentioned in the 17th-century text Ain-i-Akbari by Abu al-Fazl, as twenty four rock-cut cave temples each with remarkable idols.

Discovery by the Western world

On 28 April 1819, a British officer named John K Smith, of the 28th Cavalry, while hunting tiger, "discovered" the entrance to Cave No. 10 when a local shepherd boy guided him to the location and the door. The caves were well known by locals already. Captain Smith went to a nearby village and asked the villagers to come to the site with axes, spears, torches and drums, to cut down the tangled jungle growth that made entering the cave difficult. He then vandalised the wall by scratching his name and the date over the painting of a bodhisattva. Since he stood on a five-foot high pile of rubble collected over the years, the inscription is well above the eye-level gaze of an adult today. A paper on the caves by William Erskine was read to the Bombay Literary Society in 1822.

Name and date inscribed by John Smith after he found Cave 10 in 1819.

Within a few decades, the caves became famous for their "exotic" setting, impressive architecture, and above all their exceptional and unique paintings. A number of large projects to copy the paintings were made in the century after rediscovery. In 1848, the Royal Asiatic Society established the "Bombay Cave Temple Commission" to clear, tidy and record the most important rock-cut sites in the Bombay Presidency, with John Wilson as president. In 1861 this became the nucleus of the new Archaeological Survey of India.

During the colonial era, the Ajanta site was in the territory of the princely state of the Hyderabad and not British India. In early 1920s, the Nizam of Hyderabad appointed people to restore the artwork, converted the site into a museum and built a road to bring tourists to the site for a fee. These efforts resulted in early mismanagement, states Richard Cohen, and hastened the deterioration of the site. Post-independence, the state government of Maharashtra built arrival, transport, facilities and better site management. The modern Visitor Center has good parking facilities and public conveniences and ASI operated buses run at regular intervals from Visitor Center to the caves.

The Ajanta Caves, along with the Ellora Caves, have become the most popular tourist destination in Maharashtra, and are often crowded at holiday times, increasing the threat to the caves, especially the paintings. In 2012, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation announced plans to add to the ASI visitor centre at the entrance complete replicas of caves 1, 2, 16 & 17 to reduce crowding in the originals, and enable visitors to receive a better visual idea of the paintings, which are dimly-lit and hard to read in the caves.

Architecture and sculpture

Site

Ajanta Caves have been carved into a massive rock of the Deccan plateau. Cave 24.

The caves are carved out of flood basalt rock of a cliff, part of the Deccan Traps formed by successive volcanic eruptions at the end of the Cretaceous geological period. The rock is layered horizontally, and somewhat variable in quality. This variation within the rock layers required the artists to amend their carving methods and plans in places. The inhomogeneity in the rock have also led to cracks and collapses in the centuries that followed, as with the lost portico to cave 1. Excavation began by cutting a narrow tunnel at roof level, which was expanded downwards and outwards; as evidenced by some of the incomplete caves such as the partially-built vihara caves 21 through 24 and the abandoned incomplete cave 28.

The sculpture artists likely worked at both excavating the rocks and making the intricate carvings of pillars, roof and idols; further, the sculpture and painting work inside a cave were an integrated parallel tasks. A grand gateway to the site was carved, at the apex of the gorge's horseshoe between caves 15 and 16, as approached from the river, and it is decorated with elephants on either side and a nāga, or protective Naga (snake) deity. Similar methods and application of artist talent is observed in other cave temples of India, although many with very different themes such as those from Hinduism and Jainism. These include the Ellora caves, Ghototkacha caves, Elephanta Caves, Bagh Caves, Badami Caves and Aurangabad Caves.

The caves from the first period seem to have been paid for by a number of different patrons to gain merit, with several inscriptions recording the donation of particular portions of a single cave. The later caves were each commissioned as a complete unit by a single patron from the local rulers or their court elites, again for merit in Buddhist afterlife beliefs as evidenced by inscriptions such as those in Cave 17. After the death of Harisena, smaller donors motivated by getting merit added small "shrinelets" between the caves or add statues to existing caves, and some two hundred of these "intrusive" additions were made in sculpture, with a further number of intrusive paintings, up to three hundred in cave 10 alone.

Monasteries

A monastary, or vihara, with its square hall surrounded by monks' cells. Cave 4.

The majority of the caves are vihara halls with symmetrical square plans. To each vihara hall are attached smaller square dormitory cells cut into the walls. A vast majority of the caves were carved in the second period, wherein a shrine or sanctuary is appended at the rear of the cave, centred on a large statue of the Buddha, along with exuberantly detailed reliefs and deities near him as well as on the pillars and walls, all carved out of the natural rock. This change reflects the shift from Hinayana to Mahāyāna Buddhism. These caves are often called monasteries.

The central square space of the interior of the viharas is defined by square columns forming a more or less square open area. Outside this are long rectangular aisles on each side, forming a kind of cloister. Along the side and rear walls are a number of small cells entered by a narrow doorway; these are roughly square, and have small niches on their back walls. Originally they had wooden doors. The centre of the rear wall has a larger shrine-room behind, containing a large Buddha statue. The viharas of the earlier period are much simpler, and lack shrines. Spink places the change to a design with a shrine to the middle of the second period, with many caves being adapted to add a shrine in mid-excavation, or after the original phase.

The plan of Cave 1 (right) shows one of the largest viharas, but is fairly typical of the later group. Many others, such as Cave 16, lack the vestibule to the shrine, which leads straight off the main hall. Cave 6 is two viharas, one above the other, connected by internal stairs, with sanctuaries on both levels.

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  Cave 1 plan, a monastery known for its paintings.
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  Cave 4 plan, the largest monastery in Ajanta.
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  Cave 6 plan, a two storey monastery with "Miracle of Sravasti" and "Temptation of Mara" painted.
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  Cave 16 plan, a monastery featuring two side aisles.

Worship halls

Top: Interior of Ajanta chaitya hall, Cave 26, photo by Robert Gill (c. 1868); Bottom: James Fergusson painting of Cave 19 worship hall.

The other type of main hall architecture is the narrower rectangular plan with high arched ceiling type chaitya-griha – literally, "the house of stupa". This hall is longitudinally divided into a nave and two narrower side aisles separated by a symmetrical row of pillars, with a stupa in the apse. The stupa is surrounded by pillars and a concentric walking space for circumambulation. Some of the caves have elaborate carved entrances, some with large windows over the door to admit light. There is often a colonnaded porch or verandah, with another space inside the doors running the width of the cave. The oldest worship halls at Ajanta were built in the 2nd to 1st century BCE, the newest ones in late 5th century CE, and the architecture of both resembles the architecture of a Christian church, but without the crossing or chapel chevette. The Ajanta Caves follow the Cathedral-style architecture found in still older rock-cut cave carvings of ancient India, such as the Lomas Rishi Cave of the Ajivikas near Gaya in Bihar dated to the 3rd century BCE. These chaitya-griha are called worship or prayer halls.

The four completed chaitya halls are caves 9 and 10 from the early period, and caves 19 and 26 from the later period of construction. All follow the typical form found elsewhere, with high ceilings and a central "nave" leading to the stupa, which is near the back, but allows walking behind it, as walking around stupas was (and remains) a common element of Buddhist worship (pradakshina). The later two have high ribbed roofs carved into the rock, which reflect timber forms, and the earlier two are thought to have used actual timber ribs and are now smooth, the original wood presumed to have perished. The two later halls have a rather unusual arrangement (also found in Cave 10 at Ellora) where the stupa is fronted by a large relief sculpture of the Buddha, standing in Cave 19 and seated in Cave 26. Cave 29 is a late and very incomplete chaitya hall.

The form of columns in the work of the first period is very plain and un-embellished, with both chaitya halls using simple octagonal columns, which were later painted with images of the Buddha, people and monks in robes. In the second period columns were far more varied and inventive, often changing profile over their height, and with elaborate carved capitals, often spreading wide. Many columns are carved over all their surface with floral motifs and Mahayana deities, some fluted and others carved with decoration all over, as in cave 1.

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  Cave 10 plan, a worship hall with Jataka tales-related art, (1st century BCE).
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  Cave 9 plan, a worship hall with early paintings and animal freezes (1st century CE).
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  Cave 19 plan, known for its figures of the Buddha, Kubera and other arts (5th century CE)
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  Cave 19 plan another view (5th century CE).

Paintings

Apsara, Cave 17.

Amorous palace scene (Palatial life of Nanda before conversion), veranda of Cave 17.

The paintings in the Ajanta caves predominantly narrate the Jataka tales. These are Buddhist legends describing the previous births of the Buddha. These fables embed ancient morals and cultural lores that are also found in the fables and legends of Hindu and Jain texts. The Jataka tales are exemplified through the life example and sacrifices that the Buddha made in hundreds of his past incarnations, where he is depicted as having been reborn as an animal or human.

Mural paintings survive from both the earlier and later groups of caves. Several fragments of murals preserved from the earlier caves (Caves 9 and 11) are effectively unique survivals of ancient painting in India from this period, and "show that by Sātavāhana times, if not earlier, the Indian painters had mastered an easy and fluent naturalistic style, dealing with large groups of people in a manner comparable to the reliefs of the Sāñcī toraņa crossbars".

Four of the later caves have large and relatively well-preserved mural paintings which, states James Harle, "have come to represent Indian mural painting to the non-specialist", and represent "the great glories not only of Gupta but of all Indian art". They fall into two stylistic groups, with the most famous in Caves 16 and 17, and apparently later paintings in Caves 1 and 2. The latter group were thought to be a century or more later than the others, but the revised chronology proposed by Spink would place them in the 5th century as well, perhaps contemporary with it in a more progressive style, or one reflecting a team from a different region. The Ajanta frescos are classical paintings and the work of confident artists, without cliches, rich and full. They are luxurious, sensuous and celebrate physical beauty, aspects that early Western observers felt were shockingly out of place in these caves presumed to be meant for religious worship and ascetic monastic life.

The paintings are in "dry fresco", painted on top of a dry plaster surface rather than into wet plaster. All the paintings appear to be the work of painters supported by discriminating connoisseurship and sophisticated patrons from an urban atmosphere. We know from literary sources that painting was widely practised and appreciated in the Gupta period. Unlike much Indian mural painting, compositions are not laid out in horizontal bands like a frieze, but show large scenes spreading in all directions from a single figure or group at the centre. The ceilings are also painted with sophisticated and elaborate decorative motifs, many derived from sculpture. The paintings in cave 1, which according to Spink was commissioned by Harisena himself, concentrate on those Jataka tales which show previous lives of the Buddha as a king, rather than as deer or elephant or another Jataka animal. The scenes depict the Buddha as about to renounce the royal life.

In general the later caves seem to have been painted on finished areas as excavating work continued elsewhere in the cave, as shown in caves 2 and 16 in particular. According to Spink's account of the chronology of the caves, the abandonment of work in 478 after a brief busy period accounts for the absence of painting in places including cave 4 and the shrine of cave 17, the later being plastered in preparation for paintings that were never done.

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  Cave 2, showing the extensive paint loss of many areas. It was never finished by its artists, and shows Vidhura Jataka.
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  Cave 17 verandah doorway, eight Buddhas above eight amorous couples.
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  Section of the mural in Cave 17, the 'coming of Sinhala'. The prince (Prince Vijaya) is seen in both groups of elephants and riders.
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  Hamsa jâtaka, cave 17: the Buddha as the golden goose in his previous life.

Spink's chronology and cave history

Walter M. Spink has over recent decades developed a very precise and circumstantial chronology for the second period of work on the site, which unlike earlier scholars, he places entirely in the 5th century. This is based on evidence such as the inscriptions and artistic style, dating of nearby cave temple sites, comparative chronology of the dynasties, combined with the many uncompleted elements of the caves. He believes the earlier group of caves, which like other scholars he dates only approximately, to the period "between 100 BCE – 100 CE", were at some later point completely abandoned and remained so "for over three centuries". This changed during the Hindu emperor Harishena of the Vakataka Dynasty, who reigned from 460 to his death in 477, who sponsored numerous new caves during his reign. Harisena's rule extended the Central Indian Vakataka Empire to include a stretch of the east coast of India; the Gupta Empire ruled northern India at the same period, and the Pallava dynasty much of the south.

Buddhist monks praying in front of the Dagoba of Chaitya Cave 26.

According to Spink, Harisena encouraged a group of associates, including his prime minister Varahadeva and Upendragupta, the sub-king in whose territory Ajanta was, to dig out new caves, which were individually commissioned, some containing inscriptions recording the donation. This activity began in many caves simultaneously about 462. This activity was mostly suspended in 468 because of threats from the neighbouring Asmaka kings. Thereafter work continued on only Caves 1, Harisena's own commission, and 17–20, commissioned by Upendragupta. In 472 the situation was such that work was suspended completely, in a period that Spink calls "the Hiatus", which lasted until about 475, by which time the Asmakas had replaced Upendragupta as the local rulers.

Work was then resumed, but again disrupted by Harisena's death in 477, soon after which major excavation ceased, except at cave 26, which the Asmakas were sponsoring themselves. The Asmakas launched a revolt against Harisena's son, which brought about the end of the Vakataka Dynasty. In the years 478–480 CE major excavation by important patrons was replaced by a rash of "intrusions" – statues added to existing caves, and small shrines dotted about where there was space between them. These were commissioned by less powerful individuals, some monks, who had not previously been able to make additions to the large excavations of the rulers and courtiers. They were added to the facades, the return sides of the entrances, and to walls inside the caves. According to Spink, "After 480, not a single image was ever made again at the site".

Spink does not use "circa" in his dates, but says that "one should allow a margin of error of one year or perhaps even two in all cases".

Hindu and Buddhist builders

The Ajanta Caves were built in a period when both the Buddha and the Hindu gods were simultaneously revered in Indian culture. According to Spink and other scholars, not only the Ajanta Caves but other nearby cave temples were sponsored and built by Hindus. This is evidenced by inscriptions wherein the role as well as the Hindu heritage of the donor is proudly proclaimed. According to Spink,

That one could worship both the Buddha and the Hindu gods may well account for Varahadeva's participation here, just as it can explain why the emperor Harisena himself could sponsor the remarkable Cave 1, even though most scholars agree that he was certainly a Hindu, like earlier Vakataka kings.

— Walter Spink, Ajanta: History and Development, Cave by Cave,

The role of Hindu artisans is confirmed by archaeological excavations across the river from the Ajanta caves. The caves must have employed a large workforce of artisans who likely lived for extended period of time nearby, across from the river near the site. Excavations have uncovered extensive brick structures for workers and visiting elite sponsors, along with Shaiva and Shakta Hindu deities such as a red sandstone image of Durga Mahishasuramardini. According to Yuko Yokoschi and Walter Spink, these excavated artifacts of the 5th century near the site suggest that the Ajanta caves deployed a huge number of builders.

Cave-by-cave

Ajanta caves panorama with cave numbers. The caves are numbered from right to left, except for the later discovered cave 29, located high above Cave 21. Chatya halls are boxed (9,10, 19, 26), and minor caves are indicated by a smaller type.

Cave 1

Front of Cave 1.

Cave 1 was built on the eastern end of the horse-shoe shaped scarp and is now the first cave the visitor encounters. This cave, when first made, would have been a less prominent position, right at the end of the row. According to Spink, it is one of the last caves to have been excavated, when the best sites had been taken and was never fully inaugurated for worship by the dedication of the Buddha image in the central shrine. This is shown by the absence of sooty deposits from butter lamps on the base of the shrine image, and the lack of damage to the paintings that would have happened if the garland-hooks around the shrine had been in use for any period of time. Spink states that the Vākāţaka Emperor Harishena was the benefactor of the work, and this is reflected in the emphasis on imagery of royalty in the cave, with those Jataka tales being selected that tell of those previous lives of the Buddha in which he was royal.

The cliff has a more steep slope here than at other caves, so to achieve a tall grand facade it was necessary to cut far back into the slope, giving a large courtyard in front of the facade. There was originally a columned portico in front of the present facade, which can be seen "half-intact in the 1880s" in pictures of the site, but this fell down completely and the remains, despite containing fine carvings, were carelessly thrown down the slope into the river, from where they have been lost.

The frieze over Cave 1 front shows elephants, horses, bulls, lions, apsaras and meditating monks.

This cave (35.7 m x 27.6 m) has one of the most elaborate carved façades, with relief sculptures on entablature and ridges, and most surfaces embellished with decorative carving. There are scenes carved from the life of the Buddha as well as a number of decorative motifs. A two pillared portico, visible in the 19th-century photographs, has since perished. The cave has a front-court with cells fronted by pillared vestibules on either side. These have a high plinth level. The cave has a porch with simple cells on both ends. The absence of pillared vestibules on the ends suggests that the porch was not excavated in the latest phase of Ajanta when pillared vestibules had become a norm. Most areas of the porch were once covered with murals, of which many fragments remain, especially on the ceiling. There are three doorways: a central doorway and two side doorways. Two square windows were carved between the doorways to brighten the interiors.

Each wall of the hall inside is nearly 40 feet (12 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) high. Twelve pillars make a square colonnade inside supporting the ceiling, and creating spacious aisles along the walls. There is a shrine carved on the rear wall to house an impressive seated image of the Buddha, his hands being in the dharmachakrapravartana mudra. There are four cells on each of the left, rear, and the right walls, though due to rock fault there are none at the ends of the rear aisle.

The paintings of Cave 1 cover the walls and the ceilings. They are in a fair state of preservation, though the full scheme was never completed. The scenes depicted are mostly didactic, devotional, and ornamental, with scenes from the Jataka stories of the Buddha's former lives as a bodhisattva), the life of the Gautama Buddha, and those of his veneration. The two most famous individual painted images at Ajanta are the two over-life-size figures of the protective bodhisattvas Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the entrance to the Buddha shrine on the wall of the rear aisle (see illustrations above). Other significant frescoes in Cave 1 include the Sibi, Sankhapala, Mahajanaka, Mahaummagga, Champeyya Jataka tales. The cave paintings also show the Temptation of Mara, miracle of Sravasti where the Buddha simultaneously manifests in many forms, the story of Nanda, and the story of Siddhartha and Yasodhara.

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  One of four frescoes for the Mahajanaka Jataka tale. The king announces he abdicates to become an ascetic.
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  Sibi Jataka: king undergoes the traditional rituals for renouncers. He receives a ceremonial bath.
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  The Bodhisattva of compassion Padmapani with lotus.
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  The Vajrapani.

Cave 2

Cave 2, adjacent to Cave 1, is known for the paintings that have been preserved on its walls, ceilings, and pillars. It looks similar to Cave 1 and is in a better state of preservation. This cave is best known for its feminine focus, intricate rock carvings and paint artwork yet it is incomplete and lacks consistency. One of the 5th-century frescoes in this cave also shows children at a school, with those in the front rows paying attention to the teacher, while those in the back row are shown distracted and acting.

Cave 2 (35.7 m x 21.6 m) was started in the 460s, but mostly carved between 475 and 477 CE, probably sponsored and influenced by a woman closely related to emperor Harisena. It has a porch quite different from Cave 1. Even the façade carvings seem to be different. The cave is supported by robust pillars, ornamented with designs. The front porch consists of cells supported by pillared vestibules on both ends.

Colonnades with high-reliefs in the veranda.

The hall has four colonnades which are supporting the ceiling and surrounding a square in the center of the hall. Each arm or colonnade of the square is parallel to the respective walls of the hall, making an aisle in between. The colonnades have rock-beams above and below them. The capitals are carved and painted with various decorative themes that include ornamental, human, animal, vegetative, and semi-divine motifs. Major carvings include that of goddess Hariti. She is a Buddhist deity who originally was the demoness of smallpox and a child eater, who the Buddha converted into a guardian goddess of fertility, easy child birth and one who protects babies.

The paintings on the ceilings and walls of Cave 2 have been widely published. They depict the Hamsa, Vidhurapandita, Ruru, Kshanti Jataka tales and the Purna Avadhana. Other frescoes show the miracle of Sravasti, Ashtabhaya Avalokitesvara and the dream of Maya. Just as the stories illustrated in cave 1 emphasise kingship, those in cave 2 show many noble and powerful women in prominent roles, leading to suggestions that the patron was an unknown woman. The porch's rear wall has a doorway in the center, which allows entrance to the hall. On either side of the door is a square-shaped window to brighten the interior.

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  Cave 2 fresco above the right door shows Buddha in Tushita heaven.
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  A scene from Vidurapandita Jataka: the birth of the Buddha.
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  The artworks of Cave 2 are known for their feminine focus, such as two females..
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  The Miracle of Sravasti.

Cave 3

Cave 3 is merely a start of an excavation; according to Spink it was begun right at the end of the final period of work and soon abandoned.

Cave 4, the largest cave of Ajanta

Cave 4, a vihara, was sponsored by Mathura, likely not a noble or courtly official, rather a wealthy devotee. This is the largest vihara in the inaugural group, which suggests he had immense wealth and influence without being a state official. It is placed at a significantly higher level, possibly because the artists realized that the rock quality at the lower and same level of other caves was poor and they had a better chance of a major vihara at an upper location. Another likely possibility is that the planners wanted to carve into the rock another large cistern to the left court side for more residents, mirroring the right, a plan implied by the height of the forward cells on the left side.

The Archaeological Survey of India dates it to 6th century CE. Spink, in contrast, dates this cave's inauguration a century earlier, to about 463 CE, based on construction style and other inscriptions. Cave 4 shows evidence of a dramatic collapse of its ceiling in the central hall, likely in the 6th century, something caused by the vastness of the cave and geological flaws in the rock. Later, the artists attempted to overcome this geological flaw by raising the height of the ceiling through deeper excavation of the embedded basalt lava.

The Buddha in a preaching pose flanked by bodhisattvas, Cave 4

The cave has a squarish plan, houses a colossal image of the Buddha in preaching pose flanked by bodhisattvas and celestial nymphs hovering above. It consists, of a verandah, a hypostylar hall, sanctum with an antechamber and a series of unfinished cells. This monastery is the largest among the Ajanta caves and it measures nearly 970 square metres (10,400 sq ft) (35m x 28m). The door frame is exquisitely sculpted flanking to the right is carved Bodhisattva as reliever of Eight Great Perils. The rear wall of the verandah contains the panel of litany of Avalokiteśvara. The cave's ceiling collapse likely affected its overall plan, caused it being left incomplete. Only the Buddha's statue and the major sculptures were completed, and except for what the sponsor considered most important elements all other elements inside the cave were never painted.

Cave 5

Cave 5, an unfinished excavation was planned as a monastery (10.32 X 16.8 m). Cave 5 is devoid of sculpture and architectural elements except the door frame. The ornate carvings on the frame has female figures with mythical makara creatures found in ancient and medieval era Indian arts. The cave's construction was likely initiated about 465 CE but abandoned because the rock has geological flaws. The construction was resumed in 475 CE after Asmakas restarted work at the Ajanta caves, but abandoned again as the artists and sponsor redesigned and focussed on an expanded Cave 6 that abuts Cave 5.

Cave 6

Cave 6 is two storey monastery (16.85 X 18.07 m). It consists of a sanctum, a hall on both levels. The lower level is pillared and has attached cells. The upper hall also has subsidiary cells. The sanctums on both level feature a Buddha in the teaching posture. Elsewhere, the Buddha is shown in different mudras. The lower level walls depict the Miracle of Sravasti and the Temptation of Mara legends. Only the lower floor of cave 6 was finished. The unfinished upper floor of cave 6 has many private votive sculptures, and a shrine Buddha.

Cave 6, lower level

The lower level of the Cave 6 likely was the earliest excavation in the second stage of construction. This stage marked the Mahayana theme and Vakataka renaissance period of Ajanta reconstruction that started about four centuries after the earlier Hinayana theme construction. The upper storey was not envisioned in the beginning, it was added as an after thought, likely around the time when the architects and artists abandoned further work on the geologically-flawed rock of Cave 5 immediately next to it. Both lower and upper Cave 6 show crude experimentation and construction errors. The cave work was most likely in progress between 460 and 470 CE, and it is the first that shows attendant Bodhisattvas. The upper cave construction probably began in 465, progressed swiftly, and much deeper into the rock than the lower level.

The walls and sanctum's door frame of the both levels are intricately carved. These show themes such as makaras and other mythical creatures, apsaras, elephants in different stages of activity, females in waving or welcoming gesture.

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  Shrine of the lower level.
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  Artwork of sanctum's door frame.
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  The most intact painting in Cave 6: Buddha seated in dharma-chakra-mudra.
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  Buddhas in niches.

Cave 6, upper level

The upper level of Cave 6 is significant in that it shows a devotee in a kneeling posture at the Buddha's feet, an indication of devotional worship practices by the 5th century. The walls and sanctum's door frame are intricately carved.

The colossal Buddha of the shrine has an elaborate throne back, but was hastily finished, perhaps owing to political troubles. The shrine antechamber of the cave features an unfinished sculptural group of the Six Buddhas of the Past, of which only five statues were carved.

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  Colossal Buddha in the sanctum, Cave 6 upper level.
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  Standing Buddha statue.
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  High reliefs of standing and sitting Buddha.
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  Painting showing the Mahayana devotional worship to the Buddha.

Cave 7

The Cave 7 is also a monastery (15.55 X 31.25 m) but a single storey. It consists of a sanctum, a hall with octagonal pillars, and eight small rooms for monks. The sanctum Buddha is shown in preaching posture. There are many art panels narrating Buddhist themes, including those of the Buddha with Nagamuchalinda and Miracle of Sravasti.

Cave 7 has a grand facade with two porticos. The veranda has eight pillars of two types. One has an octagonal base with amalaka and lotus capital. The other lacks a distinctly shaped base, features an octagonal shaft instead with a plain capital. The veranda opens into an antechamber. On the left side in this antechamber are seated or standing sculptures such as those of 25 carved seated Buddhas in various postures and facial expressions, while on the right side are 58 seated Buddha reliefs in different postures, all placed on lotus. These Buddhas and others on the inner walls of the antechamber are a sculptural depiction of the Miracle of Sravasti in Buddhist theology. The bottom row show two Nagas (serpents with hoods) holding the blooming lotus stalk. The antechamber leads to the sanctum through a door frame. On this frame are carved two females standing on makaras (mythical sea creatures). Inside the sanctum is the Buddha sitting on a lion throne in cross legged posture, surrounded by other Bodhisattva figures, two attendants with chauris and flying apsaras above.

Perhaps because of faults in the rock, Cave 7 was never taken very deep into the cliff. It consists only of the two porticos and a shrine room with antechamber, with no central hall. Some cells were fitted in. The cave artwork likely underwent revisions and refurbishments over time. The first version was complete by about 469 CE, the myriad Buddhas added and painted a few years later between 476 and 478 CE.

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  Cave 7 plan (Robert Gill sketch, 1850).
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  Buddhas on the antechamber left wall. Cave 7 (James Burgess sketch, 1880).
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  Buddhas on the antechamber's right wall.
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  The shallow corridor before the shrine.

Cave 8

Cave 8 is another unfinished monastery (15.24 X 24.64 m). For many decades in the 20th-century, this cave was used as a storage and generator room. It is at the river level with easy access, relatively lower than other caves, and according to Archaeological Survey of India it is possibly one of earliest monasteries. Much of its front is damaged, likely from a landslide. The cave excavation proved difficult and probably abandoned after a geological fault consisting of a mineral layer proved disruptive to stable carvings.

Spink, in contrast, states that Cave 8 is perhaps the earliest cave from the second period, its shrine an "afterthought". It may well be the oldest Mahayana monastery excavated in India, according to Spink. The statue may have been loose rather than carved from the living rock, as it has now vanished. The cave was painted, but only traces remain.

Cave 9 (1st century CE)

Caves 9 and 10 are the two chaitya or worship halls from the 2nd to 1st century BCE – the first period of construction, though both were reworked upon the end of the second period of construction in the 5th century CE.

Cave 9 (18.24 m x 8.04 m) is smaller than Cave 10 (30.5 m x 12.2 m), but more complex. This has led Spink to the view that Cave 10 was perhaps originally of the 1st century BCE, and cave 9 about a hundred years later. The small "shrinelets" called caves 9A to 9D and 10A also date from the second period. These were commissioned by individuals. Cave 9 arch has remnant profile that suggests that it likely had wooden fittings.

The cave has a distinct apsidal shape, nave, aisle and an apse with an icon, an architecture and plan that reminds one of cathedrals built in Europe many centuries later. The aisle has a row of 23 pillars. The ceiling is vaulted. The stupa is at the center of the apse, with a circumambulation path around it. The stupa sits on a high cylindrical base. On the left wall of the cave are votaries approaching the stupa, which suggests a devotional tradition.

According to Spink, the paintings in this cave, including the intrusive standing Buddhas on the pillars, were added in the 5th century. Above the pillars and also behind the stupa are colorful paintings of the Buddha with Padmapani and Vajrapani next to him, they wear jewels and necklaces, while yogis, citizens and Buddhist bhikshu are shown approaching the Buddha with garlands and offerings, with men wearing dhoti and turbans wrapped around their heads. On the walls are friezes of Jataka tales, but likely from the Hinayana phase of early construction. Some of the panels and reliefs inside as well as outside Cave 10 do not make narrative sense, but are related to Buddhist legends. This lack of narrative flow may be because these were added by different monks and official donors in the 5th century wherever empty space was available. This devotionalism and the worship hall character of this cave is the likely reason why four additional shrinelets 9A, 9B, 9C and 9D were added between Cave 9 and 10.

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  The apsidal hall with plain hemispherical stupa at apse's center.
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  Pillar paintings
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  Frescoe with Buddhas in orange robes and protected by chatra umbrellas, Cave 9.

Cave 10, the earliest cave of Ajanta (1st century BCE)

Cave 10, a vast prayer hall or Chaitya, is dated to about the 1st century BCE, together with the nearby vihara cave No 12. These two caves are thus among the earliest of the Ajanta complex. It has a large central apsidal hall with a row of 39 octagonal pillars, a nave separating its aisle and stupa at the end for worship. The stupa has a pradakshina patha (circumambulatory path).

This cave is significant because its scale confirms the influence of Buddhism in South Asia by 1st century BCE and its continued though declining influence in India through the 5th century CE. Further, the cave includes a number of inscriptions where parts of the cave are "gifts of prasada" by different individuals, which in turn suggests that the cave was sponsored as a community effort rather than a single king or one elite official. Cave 10 is also historically important because in April 1819, a British Army officer John Smith saw its arch and introduced his discovery to the attention to the Western audience.

Paintings of the early period, similar to those of Sanchi.

Chronology

Several others caves were also built in Western India around the same period under royal sponsorship. It is thought that the chronology of these early Chaitya Caves is as follows: first Cave 9 at Kondivite Caves and then Cave 12 at the Bhaja Caves, which both predate Cave 10 of Ajanta. Then, after Cave 10 of Ajanta, in chronological order: Cave 3 at Pitalkhora, Cave 1 at Kondana Caves, Cave 9 at Ajanta, which, with its more ornate designs, may have been built about a century later, Cave 18 at Nasik Caves, and Cave 7 at Bedse Caves, to finally culminate with the "final perfection" of the Great Chaitya at Karla Caves.

Inscription

The Sanskrit inscription of Cave 10 (2nd to 1st century BCE).

Cave 10 features a Sanskrit inscription in Brahmi script that is archaeologically important. The inscription is the oldest of the Ajanta site and reads:

" The gift of a cave-façade by Vasisthiputra Katahadi."

— Inscription of Cave No.10.

Paintings

The paintings in cave 10 include some surviving from the early period, many from an incomplete programme of modernisation in the second period, and a very large number of smaller late intrusive images for votive purposes, around the 479–480 CE, nearly all Buddhas and many with donor inscriptions from individuals. These mostly avoided over-painting the "official" programme and after the best positions were used up are tucked away in less prominent positions not yet painted; the total of these (including those now lost) was probably over 300, and the hands of many different artists are visible. The paintings are numerous and from two periods, many narrating the Jataka tales in a clockwise sequence. Both Hinayana and Mahayana stage paintings are discernable, though the former are more faded and begrimed with early centuries of Hinayana worship. Of interest here is the Saddanta Jataka tale – the fable about six tusked elephant, and the Shyama Jataka – the story about the man who dedicates his life serving his blind parents. According to Stella Kramrisch, the oldest layer of the Cave 10 paintings date from about 100 BCE, and the principles behind their composition are analogous to those from the same era at Sanchi and Amaravati.

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  Cave 10, condition in 1839.
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  The Buddha in long, heavy robe.
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  Later painting with devotional figures, on pillars and ceiling.
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  Paintings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the arches.

Caves 11, 12 and 13

The Cave 11 is a monastery (19.87 X 17.35 m) from the later 5th century. The cave veranda has pillars with octagonal shafts and square bases. The ceiling of the veranda shows evidence of floral designs and eroded reliefs. Only the center panel is discernible wherein the Buddha is seen with votaries lining up to pray before him. Inside, the cave consists of a hall with a long rock bench opening into six rooms. Similar stone benches are found in Nasik. Another pillared verandah ends in a sanctum with seated Buddha against an incomplete stupa, and has four cells. The cave has a few paintings showing Bodhisattvas and the Buddha. Of these, the Padmapani, a couple gathered to pray, a pair of peafowl, and a female figure painting have survived in the best condition. The sanctum of this cave may be the among the last structures built at Ajanta because it features a circumambulation path around the seated Buddha.

According to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Cave 12 is an early stage Hinayana (Theravada) monastery (14.9 X 17.82 m) from the 2nd to 1st century BCE. The cave is damaged with its front wall completely collapsed. Its three sides inside have twelve cells, each with two stone beds. Cave 13 is another small monastery from the early period, consisting of a hall with seven cells, each also with two stone beds, all carved out of the rock. Each cell has rock-cut beds for the monks. In contrast to ASI's estimate, Gupte and Mahajan date both these caves about two to three centuries later, between 1st and 2nd century CE.

Cave 14, 15, 15A

Cave 14 is another unfinished monastery (13.43 X 19.28 m) but carved above Cave 13. The entrance door frame shows sala bhanjikas. Cave 15 is a more complete monastery (19.62 X 15.98 m) with evidence that it had paintings. The cave consists of an eight celled hall ending in a sanctum, an antechamber and a verandah with pillars. The reliefs show the Buddha, while the sanctum Buddha is shown seated in the Simhasana posture. Cave 15 door frame has carvings of pigeons eating corn.

Cave 15A is the smallest cave with a hall and one cell on each side. It has an inscription in an unknown script.

Cave 16

Cave 16 occupies a prime position near the middle of site, and was sponsored by Varahadeva, minister of Vakataka king Harishena (r. c. 475 – c. 500 CE). He devoted it to the community of monks, with an inscription that expresses his wish, may "the entire world (...) enter that peaceful and noble state free from sorrow and disease". He was, states Spink, someone who revered both the Buddha and the Hindu gods. The 7th-century Chinese traveler Xuan Zang described the cave as the entrance to the site.

Cave 16 (19.5 m x 22.25 m x 4.6 m) influenced the architecture of the entire site. Spink and other scholars call it the "crucial cave" that helps trace the chronology of the second and closing stages of the entire cave complex's construction. Cave 16 is a Mahayana monastery and has the standard arrangement of a main doorway, two windows, and two aisle doorways. The veranda of this monastery is 19.5 m x 3 m, while the main hall is almost a perfect square with 19.5 m side.

The paintings in Cave 16 are numerous. Narratives include various Jataka tales such as Hasti, Mahaummagga and the Sutasoma fables. Other frescoes depict the conversion of Nanda, miracle of Sravasti, Sujata's offering, Asita's visit, the dream of Maya, the Trapusha and Bhallika story, and the ploughing festival. The Hasti Jataka frescoes tell the story of a Bodhisattva elephant who learns of a large group of people starving, then tells them to go below a cliff where they could find food. The elephant proceeds to sacrifice himself by jumping off that cliff thereby becoming food so that the people can survive. These frescoes are found immediately to the left of entrance, in the front corridor and the narrative follows a clockwise direction.

The Mahaummagga Jataka frescoes are found on the left wall of the corridor, which narrates the story of a child Bodhisattva. Thereafter, in the left corridor is the legend surrounding the conversion of Nanda – the half brother of the Buddha. The story depicted is one of the two major versions of the Nanda legend in the Buddhist tradition, one where Nanda wants to lead a sensuous life with the girl he had just wed and the Buddha takes him to heaven and later hell to show the spiritual dangers of a sensual life. After the Nanda-related frescoes, the cave presents Manushi Buddhas, followed by flying votaries with offerings to worship the Buddha and the Buddha seated in teaching asana and dharma chakra mudra.

The right wall of the corridor show the scenes from the life of the Buddha. These include Sujata offering food to the Buddha with a begging bowl in white dress, Tapussa and Bhalluka next to the Buddha after they offering wheat and honey to the Buddha as monk, the future Buddha sitting alone under a tree, and the Buddha at a ploughing festival. One mural shows Buddha's parents trying to dissuade him from becoming a monk. Another shows the Buddha at the palace surrounded by men in dhoti and women in sari as his behavior presents the four signs that he is likely to renounce. On this side of the corridor are also paintings that show the future Buddha as a baby with sage Asita with rishi-like looks. According to Spink, some of the Cave 16 paintings were left incomplete.

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  The conversion of sensuality-driven Nanda to Buddhism, left corridor.
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  Palace scene fresco, right corridor of Cave 16.
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  The Buddha in asceticism stage, getting sweet milk-rice from Sujata.
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  Manushi Buddhas painting in Cave 16.

Cave 17

A Brahmi inscription in Cave 17.

Cave 17 (34.5 m x 25.63 m) along with Cave 16 with two great stone elephants at the entrance and Cave 26 with sleeping Buddha, were some of the many caves sponsored by the Hindu Vakataka prime minister Varahadeva. Cave 17 had additional donors such as the local king Upendragupta, as evidenced by the inscription therein.

The cave features a large and most sophisticated vihara design, along with some of the best-preserved and well known paintings of all the caves. While Cave 16 is known for depicting the life stories of the Buddha, the Cave 17 paintings has attracted much attention for extolling human virtues by narrating the Jataka tales. The narration includes an attention to details and a realism which Stella Kramrisch calls "lavish elegance" accomplished by efficient craftsmen. The ancient artists, states Kramrisch, tried to show wind passing over a crop by showing it bending in waves, and a similar profusion of rhythmic sequences that unroll story after story, visually presenting the metaphysical.

The Cave 17 monastery includes a colonnaded porch, a number of pillars each with a distinct style, a peristyle design for the interior hall, a shrine antechamber located deep in the cave, larger windows and doors for more light, along with extensive integrated carvings of Indian gods and goddesses. The hall of this monastery is a 380.53 square metres (4,096.0 sq ft) square, with 20 pillars. The grand scale of the carving also introduced errors of taking out too much rock to shape the walls, states Spink, which led to the cave being splayed out toward the rear.

Cave 17 has thirty major murals. The paintings of Cave 17 depict Buddha in various forms and postures – Vipasyi, Sikhi, Visvbhu, Krakuchchanda, Kanakamuni, Kashyapa and Sakyamuni. Also depicted are Avalokitesvara, the story of Udayin and Gupta, the story of Nalagiri, the Wheel of life, a panel celebrating various ancient Indian musicians and a panel that tells of Prince Simhala’s expedition to Sri Lanka. The narrative frescoes depict the various Jataka tales such as the Shaddanta, Hasti, Hamsa, Vessantara, Sutasoma, Mahakapi (in two versions), Sarabhamiga, Machchha, Matiposaka, Shyama, Mahisha, Valahassa, Sibi, Ruru and Nigrodamiga Jatakas. The depictions weave in the norms of the early 1st millennium culture and the society. They show themes as diverse as a shipwreck, a princess applying makeup, lovers in scenes of dalliance, and a wine drinking scene of a couple with the woman and man amorously seated. Some frescoes attempt to show the key characters from various parts of a Jataka tale by co-depicting animals and attendants in the same scene.

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  Vessantara Jataka: the story of the generous king Vessantara.
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  Shaddanta Jataka: six tusked elephant giving away his tusks.
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  Painting of the black princess.
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  The Buddha in Cave 17 sanctum.

Cave 18

Cave 18 is a small rectangular space (3.38 X 11.66 m) with two octagonal pillars and it joins into another cell. Its role is unclear.

Cave 19 (5th century CE)

Cave 19 is a worship hall (chaitya griha, 16.05 X 7.09 m) with exceptional sculpture such as its Yaksha images on the side of its vatayana (arches). It is datable to the fifth century CE. The hall shows painted Buddha, depicted in different postures.

It is thought that Cave 19 was modeled after the Karla caves Great Chaitya, built in the 2nd century CE.

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  Cave 19 is known for the grandeur of its façade sponsored by king Upendragupta, the standing Buddhas likely intrusively added in 479 CE by others.
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  Nagaraja and his wife.
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  Capital detail.
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  Buddha paintings.

Cave 20

Cave 20 is dated to late 5th century and is a monastery hall (16.2 X 17.91 m). The vihara consists of a sanctum, cells for monks, a pillared verandah. The sanctum Buddha is in preaching posture. The cave has a Brahmi inscription in its verandah, and it is known for the sculpture showing seven Buddhas with attendants.

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  The Buddha on Lion throne.
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  Amorous couple.
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  High-relief sculpture of a Naga Raja.
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  Mortal Buddhas with attendants.

Caves 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25

Cave 21, 22, 23 and 24 are all monasteries. Cave 21 is a hall (28.56 X 28.03 m) with twelve rock cut rooms for monks, a sanctum, pillared verandah with Buddha shown in preaching posture.

Cave 22 is a small vihara (12.72 X 11.58 m) with a narrow veranda and four unfinished cells. It is excavated at a higher level and has to be reached by a flight of steps. Inside, the Buddha is seated in pralamba-padasana. The painted figures in Cave 22 show Manushi-Buddhas with Maitreya.

The Cave 23 is also unfinished, consisting of a hall (28.32 X 22.52 m) but a design similar to Cave 21. The cave differs in its pillar decorations and the naga doorkeepers.

Cave 24 is like Cave 21 but much larger. It features the second largest monastery hall (29.3 X 29.3 m) after Cave 4. Its sanctum has a seated Buddha in pralamba-padasana.

Cave 25 is a monastery. Its hall (11.37 X 12.24 m) is similar to other monasteries, but has no sanctum, includes an enclosed courtyard and is excavated at an upper level.

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  The Buddha of Cave 21.
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  Inside hall, Cave 22.
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  Entrance, Cave 23.
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  Inside hall of Cave 23.

Cave 26 (5th century CE)

Cave 26 is a worship hall (chaityagriha, 25.34 X 11.52 m) similar in plan to Cave 19, but larger.

The sculptures in Cave 26 are elaborate and more intricate. It is among the last caves excavated, and an inscription suggests late 5th or early 6th century according to ASI. The inscription states that a monk Buddhabhadra and his friend minister serving king of Asmaka gifted it. The cave consists of an apsidal hall with side aisles for circumambulation (pradikshana). At the end is a rock-cut stupa. The stupa has an image of the Buddha on its front. The walls, pillars, brackets and the triforium are extensively carved with Buddhist themes. The Mahaparinirvana of Buddha is depicted on the wall, as well the narration of the legend about the assault of Mara while an ascetic Buddha performs his penance.

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  The dagoba.
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  Seating Buddha.
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  Temptation of the Buddha (the attack of Mara).
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  Reclining Buddha.

Caves 27, 28 and 29

Cave 27 is a monastery and it may have been planned as an attachment to Cave 26. It is damaged two storeys, with the upper level partially collapsed. Its plan is similar to other monasteries. Cave 28 and 29 are unfinished monasteries, partially excavated. Cave 29 is at the highest level, physically located between Caves 20 and 21.

Copies of the paintings

a detail: original left, copy by Lady Herringham (1915) right

The paintings have deteriorated significantly since they were rediscovered, and a number of 19th-century copies and drawings are important for a complete understanding of the works. A number of attempts to copy the Ajanta paintings began in the 19th-century for European and Japanese museums. Some of these works have later been lost in natural and fire disasters. In 1846 for example, Major Robert Gill, an Army officer from Madras Presidency and a painter, was appointed by the Royal Asiatic Society to make copies of the frescoes on the cave walls. Gill worked on his painting at the site from 1844 to 1863. He made 27 copies of large sections of murals, but all but four were destroyed in a fire at the Crystal Palace in London in 1866, where they were on display. Gill returned to the site, and recommenced his labours, replicating the murals until his death in 1875.

Dancing girl in Ajanta fresco, a 2012 photograph (left) and Robert Gill's copy in 19th-century.

Another attempt was made in 1872 when the Bombay Presidency commissioned John Griffiths to work with his students to make copies of Ajanta paintings, again for shipping to England. They worked on this for thirteen years and some 300 canvases were produced, many of which were displayed at the Imperial Institute on Exhibition Road in London, one of the forerunners of the Victoria and Albert Museum. But in 1885 another fire destroyed over a hundred of the paintings in storage in a wing of the museum. The V&A still has 166 paintings surviving from both sets, though none have been on permanent display since 1955. The largest are some 3 × 6 metres. A conservation project was undertaken on about half of them in 2006, also involving the University of Northumbria. Griffith and his students had unfortunately painted many of the paintings with "cheap varnish" in order to make them easier to see, which has added to the deterioration of the originals, as has, according to Spink and others, recent cleaning by the ASI.

Copy of an Ajanta painting, in Musée Guimet, Paris. Part of a mural probably relating the conversion of Nanda, Cave 1.

A further set of copies were made between 1909 and 1911 by Christiana Herringham (Lady Herringham) and a group of students from the Calcutta School of Art that included the future Indian Modernist painter Nandalal Bose. The copies were published in full colour as the first publication of London's fledgling India Society. More than the earlier copies, these aimed to fill in holes and damage to recreate the original condition rather than record the state of the paintings as she was seeing them. According to one writer, unlike the paintings created by her predecessors Griffiths and Gill, whose copies were influenced by British Victorian styles of painting, those of the Herringham expedition preferred an 'Indian Renascence' aesthetic of the type pioneered by Abanindranath Tagore.

Early photographic surveys were made by Robert Gill, who learnt to use a camera from about 1856, and whose photos, including some using stereoscopy, were used in books by him and Fergusson (many are available online from the British Library), then Victor Goloubew in 1911 and E.L. Vassey, who took the photos in the four volume study of the caves by Ghulam Yazdani (published 1930–1955).

Another attempt to make copies of the murals was made by the Japanese artist Arai Kampō (荒井寛方:1878–1945) after being invited by Rabindranath Tagore to India to teach Japanese painting techniques. He worked on making copies with tracings on Japanese paper from 1916 to 1918 and his work was conserved at Tokyo Imperial University until the materials perished during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.

Significance

Foreigners in the paintings of Ajanta

A foreigner in Sasanian dress drinking wine, on the ceiling of the central hall of Cave 1, likely a generic scene from an object imported from Central Asia (460-480 CE).

The Ajanta Caves painting are a significant source of socio-economic information in ancient India. The Cave 1, for example, shows a fresco with characters with foreign looking faces and dresses. According to Spink, James Fergusson, a 19th-century architectural historian, had decided that this scene corresponded to the Persian ambassador in 625 CE to the court of the Hindu Chalukya king Pulakeshin II. An alternate theory has been that the fresco represents a Hindu ambassador visiting the Persian king Khusrau II in 625 CE, a theory that Fergusson disagreed with. These assumptions by colonial British era art historians, state Spink and other scholars, has been responsible for wrongly dating this painting to the 7th century, when in fact this reflects an incomplete Harisena-era painting of a Jataka tale with the representation of trade between India and distant lands such as Sassanian near East that was common by the 5th century.

Numerous Central Asian or Middle-Eastern devotees attending the Buddha, Cave 17. For an actual photograph, here, or full view.

Foreigner scenes in Ajanta are numerous and varied, suggesting that foreigners were a vibrant presence in Indian society at the time. In Cave 17, a painting of the Buddha descending from the Trayastrimsa Heaven shows numerous foreign attendants, distinguishable by their round caps and kaftans, the details of which can refer them to Sogdia, Central, the Middle East and possibly East Africa. In the Visvantara Jataka of Cave 17, a servant from Central Asia can be seen holding a foreign metal ewer, while a dark-complexioned servant also holds a cup to the couple. The scenes are painted in great detail, and suggest foreign vessels from Sogdia or Persia were used to consume imported wines. In the scene of the conversion of Nanda, a man seemingly from East Africa appears as a servant.

Often, foreigners appear in close connection with wine-drinking scenes. A copper plate in the Kanheri caves near Mumbay indicates that foreigners were active in trade in the city of Kalyan in the 5th century CE. The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea also relates the importation of foreign drinking vessels and wine by Indian kings "For the king there was imported in those times precious silverware... and fine wine". It is also known that foreigners had long being involved in the building of Buddhist caves in western India, as many Yavanas appear as donors of architectural elements of these early (1st-2nd century CE) caves, such as Karla Caves, Pandavleni Caves or Manmodi caves.

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  Foreigners sharing a drink of wine, ceiling of Cave 2.
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  A foreigner in red costume drinking wine, Cave 1.
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  Another Persian-style foreign group, on the ceiling of Cave 1.
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  Black-complexioned servant holding a vessel left), and foreign servant holding a metal ewer (right). Cave 17.

Preservation

Paintings and the cave artwork has become eroded due to decay and human interference. Therefore, many areas of the painted walls, ceilings, and pillars are fragmentary. The painted narratives of the Jataka tales are depicted only on the walls, which demanded the special attention of the devotee. They are didactic in nature, meant to inform the community about the Buddha's teachings and life through successive rebirths. Their placement on the walls required the devotee to walk through the aisles and 'read' the narratives depicted in various episodes. The narrative episodes are depicted one after another although not in a linear order. Their identification has been a core area of research since the site's discovery in 1819.

Impact on modern paintings

The Ajanta paintings, or more likely the general style they come from, influenced painting in Tibet and Sri Lanka.

The rediscovery of ancient Indian paintings at Ajanta provided Indian artists examples from ancient India to follow. Nandalal Bose experimented with techniques to follow the ancient style which allowed him to develop his unique style. Abanindranath Tagore and Syed Thajudeen also used the Ajanta paintings for inspiration.

See also

• Dharashiv Caves
• Barabar Caves
• Shivleni Caves, Ambajogai
• Dambulla cave temple

References

Bibliography

• "ASI": Archaeological Survey of India website, with a concise entry on the Caves, accessed 20 October 2012
• Cohen, Richard S. Beyond Enlightenment: Buddhism, Religion, Modernity. (Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2006)
• Gordon, Sophie (2011), Monumental visions: architectural photography in India, 1840–1901, PhD thesis, SOAS, University of London, PDF available
• Gupte, Ramesh Shankar; Mahajan, B. D. (1962). Ajanta, Ellora and Aurangabad Caves. D. B. Taraporevala. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Harle, James C. (1994), The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent (2nd ed.), Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-06217-5
• Michell, George (2009), The Penguin Guide to the Monuments of India, Volume 1: Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-14-008144-2
• Nagaraju, S. Buddhist Architecture of Western India (Delhi: 1981)
• Singh, Rajesh K. An Introduction to the Ajanta Caves (Baroda: Hari Sena Press, 2012). ISBN 978-81-925107-0-5
• Spink, Walter M. (2005). Ajanta: The arrival of the uninvited. BRILL. ISBN 90-04-14833-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Spink, Walter M. (2006). Ajanta: History and Development Volume 5: Cave by Cave. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-15644-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Spink, Walter M. (2008), Ajanta Lecture, Korea May 2008 (revised September 2008)
• Spink, Walter M. (2009). Ajanta: History and Development Volume 4: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Year by Year. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-14983-X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Upadhya, Om Datt (1994). The Art of Ajanta and Sopoćani: A Comparative Study : an Enquiry in Prāṇa Aesthetics. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0990-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Burgess, James and Fergusson J. Cave Temples of India. (London: W.H. Allen & Co., 1880. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt Ltd., Delhi, 2005). ISBN 81-215-0251-9
• Burgess, James, and Indraji, Bhagwanlal. Inscriptions from the Cave Temples of Western India, Archaeological Survey of Western India, Memoirs, 10 (Bombay: Government Central Press, 1881).
• Burgess, James. Buddhist Cave Temples and Their Inscriptions, Archaeological Survey of Western India, 4 (London: Trubner & Co., 1883; Varanasi: Indological Book House, 1964).
• Burgess, James. “Notes on the Bauddha Rock Temples of Ajanta, Their Paintings and Sculptures,” Archaeological Survey of Western India, 9 (Bombay: Government Central Press, 1879).
• Behl, Benoy K. The Ajanta Caves (London: Thames & Hudson, 1998. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998).
• Cohen, Richard S. “Ajanta’s Inscriptions.” In Walter M. Spink, Ajanta: History And Development, volume 2: Arguments About Ajanta (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2006), pp. 273–339.
• Cohen, Richard S. “Nāga, Yaksinī, Buddha: Local Deities and Local Buddhism at Ajanta,” History of Religions. 37/4 (May 1998): 360–400.
• Cohen, Richard S. “Problems in the Writing of Ajanta’s History: The Epigraphic Evidence,” Indo-Iranian Journal. 40/2 (April 1997): 125–48.
• Cohen, Richard Scott. Setting the Three Jewels: The Complex Culture of Buddhism at the Ajanta Caves. A Ph.D. dissertation (Asian Languages and Cultures: Buddhist Studies, University of Michigan, 1995).
• Cowell, E.B. The Jataka, I-VI (Cambridge: Cambridge, 1895; reprint, 1907).
• Dhavalikar, M.K. Late Hinayana Caves of Western India (Pune: 1984).
• Griffiths, J. Paintings in the Buddhist Cave Temples of Ajanta, 2 vols. (London: 1896–1897).
• Halder, Asit Kumar. "AJANTA" Edited and annotated by Prasenjit Dasgupta and Soumen Paul, with a Foreword by Gautam Halder LALMATI. Kolkata. 2009
• Kramrisch, Stella. A Survey of Painting in the Deccan (Calcutta and London: The India Society in co-operation with the Dept. of Archaeology, 1937). Reproduced: “Ajanta,” Exploring India’s Sacred Art: Selected Writings of Stella Kramrisch, ed. Miller, Barbara Stoler (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press: 1983), pp. 273–307; reprint (New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 1994), pp. 273–307.
• Majumdar, R.C. and A.S. Altekar, eds. The Vakataka-Gupta Age. New History of Indian People Series, VI (Benares: Motilal Banarasidass, 1946; reprint, Delhi: 1960).
• Mirashi, V.V. “Historical Evidence in Dandin’s Dasakumaracharita,” Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 24 (1945), 20ff. Reproduced: Studies in Indology, 1 (Nagpur: Vidarbha Samshodhan Mandal, 1960), pp. 164–77.
• Mirashi, V.V. Inscription of the Vakatakas. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Series, 5 (Ootacamund: Government Epigraphist for India, 1963).
• Mirashi, V.V. The Ghatotkacha Cave Inscriptions with a Note on Ghatotkacha Cave Temples by Srinivasachar, P. (Hyderabad: Archaeological Department, 1952).
• Mirashi, V.V. Vakataka inscription in Cave XVI at Ajanta. Hyderabad Archaeological Series, 14 (Calcutta: Baptist mission Press for the Archaeological Department of His Highness the Nizam’s Dominions, 1941).
• Mitra, Debala. Ajanta, 8th ed. (Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India, 1980).
• Parimoo, Ratan; et al. The Art of Ajanta: New Perspectives, 2 vols (New Delhi: Books & Books, 1991).
• Schlingloff, Dieter. Guide to the Ajanta Paintings, vol. 1; Narrative Wall Paintings (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1999)
• Schlingloff, Dieter. Studies in the Ajanta Paintings: Identifications and Interpretations (New Delhi: 1987).
• Shastri, Ajay Mitra, ed. The Age of the Vakatakas (New Delhi: Harman, 1992).
• Singh, Rajesh Kumar. ‘The Early Development of the Cave 26-Complex at Ajanta,’ South Asian Studies (London: March 2012), vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 37–68.
• Singh, Rajesh Kumar. ‘Buddhabhadra’s Dedicatory Inscription at Ajanta: A Review,’ in Pratnakirti: Recent Studies in Indian Epigraphy, History, Archaeology, and Art, 2 vols, Professor Shrinivas S. Ritti Felicitation volume, ed. by Shriniwas V. Padigar and Shivanand V (Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 2012), vol. 1, pp. 34–46.
• Singh, Rajesh Kumar, et al. Ajanta: Digital Encyclopaedia [CD-Rom] (New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, 2005).
• Singh, Rajesh Kumar. “Enumerating the Sailagrhas of Ajanta,” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai 82, 2009: 122–26.
• Singh, Rajesh Kumar. “Ajanta: Cave 8 Revisited,” Jnana-Pravah Research Journal 12, 2009: 68–80.
• Singh, Rajesh Kumar. “Some Problems in Fixing the Date of Ajanta Caves,” Kala, the Journal of Indian Art History Congress 17, 2008: 69–85.
• Spink, Walter M. “A Reconstruction of Events related to the development of Vakataka caves,” C.S. Sivaramamurti felicitation volume, ed. M.S. Nagaraja Rao (New Delhi: 1987).
• Spink, Walter M. “Ajanta’s Chronology: Cave 1’s Patronage,” Chhavi 2, ed. Krishna, Anand (Benares: Bharat Kala Bhawan, 1981), pp. 144–57.
• Spink, Walter M. “Ajanta’s Chronology: Cave 7’s Twice-born Buddha,” Studies in Buddhist Art of South Asia, ed. Narain, A.K. (New Delhi: 1985), pp. 103–16.
• Spink, Walter M. “Ajanta’s Chronology: Politics and Patronage,” Kaladarsana, ed. Williams, Joanna (New Delhi: 1981), pp. 109–26.
• Spink, Walter M. “Ajanta’s Chronology: The Crucial Cave,” Ars Orientalis, 10 (1975), pp. 143–169.
• Spink, Walter M. “Ajanta’s Chronology: The Problem of Cave 11,” Ars Orientalis, 7 (1968), pp. 155–168.
• Spink, Walter M. “Ajanta’s Paintings: A Checklist for their Dating,” Dimensions of Indian Art, Pupul Jayakar Felicitation Volume, ed. Chandra, Lokesh; and Jain, Jyotindra (Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 1987), p. 457.
• Spink, Walter M. “Notes on Buddha Images,” The Art of Ajanta: New Perspectives, vol. 2, ed. Parimoo, Ratan, et al. (New Delhi: Books & Books, 1991), pp. 213–41.
• Spink, Walter M. “The Achievement of Ajanta,” The Age of the Vakatakas, ed. Shastri, Ajaya Mitra (New Delhi: Harman Publishing House, 1992), pp. 177–202.
• Spink, Walter M. “The Vakataka’s Flowering and Fall,” The Art of Ajanta: New Perspectives, vol. 2, ed. Parimoo, Ratan, et al. (New Delhi: Books & Books, 1991), pp. 71–99.
• Spink, Walter M. “The Archaeology of Ajanta,” Ars Orientalis, 21, pp. 67–94.
• Weiner, Sheila L. Ajanta: It’s Place in Buddhist Art (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977).
• Yazdani, Gulam. Ajanta: the Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography, 4 vols. (London: Oxford University Press, 1930 [31?], 1955).
• Yazdani, Gulam. The Early History of the Deccan, Parts 7–9 (Oxford: 1960).
• Zin, Monika. Guide to the Ajanta Paintings, vol. 2; Devotional and Ornamental Paintings (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2003)

External links

• Ajanta Caves Bibliography, Akira Shimada (2014), Oxford University Press
• The Early Development of the Cave 26-Complex at Ajanta
• National Geographic feature 'Faces of the Divine'
• The Greatest Ancient Picture Gallery. William Dalrymple, New York Review of Books (23 Oct 2014)
• Ajanta Caves in UNESCO List
• "Ajanta", Jacques-Edouard Berger Foundation, World Art Treasures (choose French or English)
• Research resources and photographs of each Ajanta cave, Rajendra Singh
• Video Travelogue on Ajanta Cave Temples
• Ajanta: Written in the Stone. Documentary by Laurence Castle based on Walter Spink's finding.
• Ajanta: Some Kind of Miracle. Documentary by Laurence Castle, the history of Ajanta.
• Video of the caves MTDC site
• Google Streetview Tour of Ajanta
• Google Streetview Tours of each Cave of Ajanta
• Understanding Ajanta paintings