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AJANTA MURALS
 ?TITHT

‘As Sumeru is the chief of the mountains, as Garuda

is the chief of those born out of eggs, as the king is
the chief of men, even so in this world is the
practice of painting the chief of all arts.’

— Vishnudharmottara, third khanda, xliii, 39

AJANTA MURALS
An album of eighty-five reproductions in colour

ILLUSTRATED TEXT BY

INGRID AALL A. GHOSH

M. N. DESHPANDE Dr. B. B. LAL

photographs by

S. d. TIWARI

EDITED BY

A. GHOSH
Director General of Archaeology in India

PUBLISHED BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA
NEW DELHI
1996
 First Print 1967
Reprint 1987
Reprint 1996

©
1996
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Price : Rs. 1200.00

Printed at Bengal Offset Works, 335, Khajoor Raod, New Delhi - 110005
 PREFACE

T he present album is not intended to present a complete series of reproduc¬

tions of the mural paintings of Ajanta. For that one has still to turn to the excellent
four-volume portfolio brought out by the Hyderabad Government between the years 1930
and 1955. The aim here has been to present some outstanding and representative paintings
of Ajanta in a convenient form so as to promote their appreciation. In such cases the
selection can never suit everyone’s taste, but we have done our best.

Nor is the text to be regarded as a complete treatise on Ajanta. The topics dealt with therein
are designed only to be indicative of the vastness of the subjects.

The chapters in the text have been written by different hands. While Shri M. N. Deshpande,
Director, School of Archaeology, Archaeological Survey of India, who has a wide knowledge of
the west-Indian caves, has contributed the bulk (three chapters), two chapters have been
contributed each by Dr. B. B. Lal, Archaeological Chemist in India of the same Survey, who
has been dealing with the chemical treatment and pteservation of mural paintings and allied
matters all over India for a long time, and by Miss Ingrid Aall, art-historian from Oslo, who
was working in India on Indian art a few years back. I am responsible for only one chapter.
Introduction, and the Bibliography.

All the photographs reproduced in the Album were taken by- Shri S. G. Tiwari, Senior
Photographer, Archaeological Survey of India, assisted by Shri Suresh Jadhav, formerly
Photographer in the South-western Circle of the Survey. Shri S. P. Baukhandi, Artist in the
same Circle, made himself useful in many ways in the production of the work: he prepared
the line-drawings, checked, together with Miss Aall and also independently, the fidelity
of the colour on the proofs of the blocks and advised the printers about its rectification.

My sincere thanks are due to Shri Sailendranath Guha Ray, Director-in-charge,

Shri J. P. Guha, Sales Manager, and Shri S. K. Mitra Rai, Account Executive,
Sree Saraswaty Press Ltd., where all the processing and printing have been done, for their
intimate and personal interest in producing the best results. In fact, Shri Guha visited
Ajanta (at no cost to us) for the purpose of comparing the colour on the proofs of blocks
with that of the murals and substantially corrected them so as to ensure the nearest possible
approach to the originals.

Finally, I have to thank Shri M. N. Deshpande, Shri H. Sarkar, at present Assistant

Editor in the Secretariate of the Twenty-sixth International Congress of Orientalists,
Shri M. G. Joshi, Assistant Superintendent, Archaeological Survey of India, and Shri S. R.
Varma of the Headquarters office of the Survey, for their help in seeing the work through
the press. In addition, Shri Joshi has also prepared the Index.

The 20th August, 1966 A. GHOSH

111
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 CONTENTS

TEXT

PAGE

Introduction
by A. Ghosh .. .. ., . . . , . , l

Ajanta : an artistic appreciation

by Ingrid Aall . . . . . . . . . . , , 8

The caves : their historical perspective

by M. jV. Deshpande . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The caves : their sculpture

by M. jV. Deshpande .. . . .. . . . . . . 22

The murals ; their theme and content

by M. JV. Deshpande . . . . . . . . . , . . 35

The murals : their art

by Ingrid Aall . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

The murals : their composition and technique

by Dr. B. B. Lai . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

The murals : their preservation

by Dr. B. B. Lai .. . . . . . . . . . . 56

Bibliography . . . . . . . . .. . . 60
Index .. .. .. .. .. .. 63

ILLUSTRATIONS

Frontispiece
Black-and-white plates, A to R following page . . 30

Plates in colour, I to LXXXV following page . . 72

Line-drawings, figs. 1 to 20 following plate LXXXV

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 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

BLACK-AND-WHITE PLATES

PLATE

A Cave 19 : sculptured facade

B Cave 19 : sculptures to the right of the entrance
C Cave 19 : sculptures to the left of the entrance
D Cave 19 : Nagaraja and his consort on a rocky seat, on the wall to the
right of the entrance
E Cave 19 : Buddha in a niche to the left of the entrance
F Cave 19 : yaksha to the right of the window over the entrance
G Cave 19 : interior
H Cave 16 : celestial couple on the ceiling

J Cave 1 ; Preaching Buddha in the shrine

K Cave 1 ; sculptures over the cell to the right of the entrance
L Cave 26 attempt of Mara’s daughters to tempt Buddha
M Cave 4 : sculptural ornamentation on the right upper part of the
door-frame of the shrine
N Cave 20 aquatic deity to the right of the shrine-cntrance
P Cave 21 sculptured architrave in the hall

a Cave 2 Hariti and Pafichika in a shrine

R Cave 7 manifold representations of Buddha

PLATES IN COLOUR

PLATE

Frontispiece panoramic view of the hill with caves

1 Cave 10 : part of a scene of the worship of the Bodhi-tree
11 Cave 6 ; part of a scene of the worship of Buddha
III Cave 16 : part of the story of the Conversion of Nanda
IV Cave 16 : part of a panel representing the Preaching Buddha
V Cave 16 : part of ceiling-decoration
VI Cave 1 : part of a scene probably representing the story of the Con¬
version of Nanda
VII Cave 1 : part of a scene probably representing the story of the Con¬
version of Nanda
VIII Cave 1 : part of ceiling-decoration
IX Cave 1 : part of the story of the ^ahkhapdla-Jdtaka
X Cave 1 ; part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka

vii
 AJANTA MURALS

PLATE

XI Cave 1 part of the story of the Mahajanaka-Jdtaka

XII Cave 1 part of the story of the Mahajanaka-Jdtaka
XIII Cave I part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka
XIV Cave 1 part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka
XV Cave 1 part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jataka
X^T Cave 1 part of ceiling-decoration
XVII Cave 1 probably part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka
XVIII Cave 1 probably part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka
XIX Cave 1 probably part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka
XX Cave 1 probably part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka
XXI Cave 1 probably part of the story of the Ummagga-Jdtaka
XXII Cave 1 part of the panel of Bodhisattva Padmapani
XXIII Cave I part of the panel of Bodhisattva Padmapani
XXIV Cave 1 part of the panel of Bodhisattva Padmapani
XXV Cave I part of ceiling-decoration
XXVI Cave 1 part of the panel depicting the Assault and Temptation by
Mara
XXVI1 Cave 1 part of the panel depicting the Assault and Temptation by
Mara
XXVIII Cave 1 part of ceiling-decoration
XXIX Cave 1 part of ceihng-decoration
XXX Cave 1 part of ceiling-decoration
XXXI Cave 1 part of the panel of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
XXXIl Cave I part of the panel of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
XXXIII Cave 1 part of the panel of Bodhisattva AvalokiteSvara
xxxn^ Cave 1 part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka
xxx\^ Cave 1 part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka
XXXVI Cave 1 part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka
XXXVII Cave I part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka
XXXVIII Cave 1 part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka
XXXIX Cave 1 part of ceiling-decoration
XL Cave 1 part of an unidentified story
XLI Cave 1 part of ceiling-decoration
XLII Cave 2 part of a scene of the worship of the Bodhisattva
XLIII Cave 2 part of ceiling-decoration
XLIV Cave 2 part of scenes relating to the birth of Buddha
XLV Cave 2 part of ceiling-decoration
XLVI Cave 2 part of a scene of votaries bringing offerings
XLVII Ca\'e 2 part of ceiling-decoration

viii
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE

XLVIII Cave 2 part of ceiling-decoration

XLIX Cave 2 part of scenes of the life of Buddha
L Cave 2 part of ceiling-decoration
LI Cave 2 part of a scene of votaries bringing offerings
LII Cave 2 part of ceiling-decoration
LIII Cave 2 part of the story of the Vidhurapandita-Jataka
LIV Cave 2 part of the story of the Vidhurapandita-Jataka
LV Cave 2 part of the story of an unidentified Jdtaka
Lvr Cave 2 part of ceiling-decoration
LVII Cave 17 part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka
LVIII Cave 17 part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka
LIX Cave 17 part of the scene of the worship of Buddha
LX Cave 17 part of the scene of the worship of Buddha
LXI Cave 17 part of ceiling-decoration
LXII Cave 17 entrance to the monastery
LXIII Cave 17 part of paintings on the door-lintel
LXIV Cave 17 part of a scene of the worship of Buddha
LXV Cave 17 part of a scene of the worship of Buddha
LXVI Cave 17 part of the scene of the subjugation of the rogue elephant
LXVII Cave 17 part of ceiling-decoration
LXVIII Cave 17 part of the story of the Harhsa-Jdtaka
LXIX Cave 17 part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka
LXX Cave 17 part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka
LXXI Cave 17 part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka
LXXII Cave 17 part of an unidentified story
LXXIII Cave 17 part of ceiling-decoration

LXXIV Cave 17 part of the seene of the preaching of Buddha

LXXV Cave 17 part of the scene of the preaching of Buddha
LXXVI Cave 17 Buddha in Kapilavastu

LXXVII Cave 17 part of ceiling-decoration

LXXVIII Cave 17 part of the story of the Sirhhaldvaddna

LXXIX Cave 17 part of the story of the Sirhhaldvaddna

LXXX Cave 17 part of the story of the Sirhhaldvaddna

LXXXI Cave 17 an independent scene

LXXXII Cave 17 part of the story of the Sibi-Jdtaka

LXXXIII Cave 17 part of ceiling-decoration

LXXXIV Cave 1 part of an unidentified. scene

LXXXV Cave 10 conventional representations of Buddha

IX
 AJANTA MURALS

LINE-DRAWINGS

FIGURE

1 Gave 10 part of a scene of the worship of the Bodhi-tree

2 Cave 1 part of a scene probably representing the story of the
Conversion of Nanda
3 Cave 1 part of the story of the ^afikhapdla-Jdtaka
4 Cave 1 part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka
5 Cave 1 part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka
6 Cave 1 probably part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka (upper
portion) and of the Ummagga-Jdtaka (lower portion)
7 Cave 1 part of the
8 Gave 1 part of the
9 Cave 1 part of the
10 Cave 1 part of the
11 Cave 1 part of an
12 Cave 2 part of the
13 Cave 2 part of the
14 Cave 2 part of the
15 Cave 17 part of the
16 Cave 17 part of the
17 Cave 17 part of the
18 Cave 17 part of the
19 Cave 17 part of the
20 Cave 17 part of the
 AJANTA MURALS
INTRODUCTION
T he word AJANTA conjures up before one’s vision a dream of beauty—of caves hidden
in the midst of a lonely glen with a streamlet flowing down below, caves that were scooped
out into the heart of the rock so that the pious Buddhist monks wanting a retreat from the busy
world could live and pray there, caves that they embellished with architectural details with a
mastery over the chisel, with sculpture of no mean order and, above all, with paintings of
infinite charm. Rolling hills of the Maharashtra plateau encompass them and the streamlet
Waghora, after a precipitous fall, cuts a gorge in front, later to emerge into an open valley.
Looking down from the top of the opposite hill, from a spot called the View-point, one sees the
hill with the caves spread out in a curve and the
caves themselves like dark recesses punctured
into the rock.^

The only reference to the caves in ancient litera¬

ture is that by Hiuen Tsang, the celebrated
Chinese pilgrim who stayed in India for fifteen
years in the first half of the seventh century,
when Ajanta was approaching its decline.
Though he did not visit Ajanta, his description is
interesting: Tn the east of this country (Mo-ha-
la-ch‘a=Maharashtra) was a mountain range,
ridges one above another in succession, tiers of
peaks and sheer summits. Here was a monastery
the base of which was in a dark defile, and its
lofty halls and deep chambers were quarried in
the cliff and rested on the peak, its tiers of halls
and storeyed terraces had the cliff on their back
and faced the ravine. This monastery had been
built by A-che-lo of West India.. .Within
the establishment was a large temple above
100 feet high in which was a stone image of
the Buddha above seventy feet high; the image
was surmounted by a tier of seven canopies

1 The caves of Ajanta, pronounced Ajanta, Ajintd or Ajinthd (latitude 20°30' North; longitude 75°40' East),
are situated on the northern fringe of the Maharashtra plateau, in District Aurangabad of present-day Maha¬
rashtra State (see map). The height of the caves is roughly 430 metres above mean sea-level. They are approached
by road cither from Aurangabad (106 kilometres) or from Jalgaon (61 kilometres). For further topographical
observations see below, page 14.

1
 AJANTA MURALS

unattached and unsupported, each canopy separated from the one above it by the space of
three feet. The walls of this temple had depicted on them the incidents of Buddha’s
career as Bodhisattva, including the circumstances of his attaining bodhi and the omens
attending his final passing away, all great and small were here delineated. Outside the gate
of the monastery, on either side north and south was a'stone elephant.’^

*****

After centuries of oblivion and neglect, the caves were discovered in the first quarter of
the last century, the earliest recorded visitors being some officers of the Madras Army, who
saw them in 1819 and named them after the village Ajanta lying at a straight distance of
5 kilometres. The name ‘Ajanta’ for the caves as well has gained acceptance since then.
During the next two decades, other persons, some of them again Army officers, also visited
the caves.^

The first scholarly report on the caves was by James Fergusson, who, in a paper read at the
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1843, described the rock-cut ‘temples’
of western India, including those of Ajanta. He placed the Ajanta caves in their architectural
and chronological perspective and rightly observed that by virtue of the prolonged time-
range of their excavations, they formed ‘a sort of a chronometric scale’ extremely useful in
ascertaining the age of the other cave-shries, none of which was as complete as the Ajanta one.
He concluded: ‘The only series, therefore, that demands immediate attention is that of
Ajanta.’^

At the instance of the Royal Asiatic Society, moved by Fergusson’s report, the Court of Direc¬
tors of the East India Company recommended to the Government of India the employment of
some talented officers or of other means for getting copies of the paintings not only in the Ajanta
but in other caves and preserving the caves from dilapidation.^ Even after much deliberation,
nothing was done towards the latter end, but for the copying of the paintings R. Gill of the
Madras Army was appointed, with adequate assistance. Between the years 1849 and 1955 Gill

^ T. Watters, On Tuan Chwang's Travels in India (London, 1905), II, pages 239-40. Like Hiuen Tsang’s
descriptions of other Buddhist monuments, this has an element of wonder and the supernatural and exaggera¬
tion of dimensions. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that an inscription in Cave 26 of Ajanta says that a
monk Achala (A-che-lo of Hiuen Tsang ?) had a ‘rock-dwelling’ (cave) made at Ajanta, perhaps Cave 26 itself.
The elephants flanking the gates seem to refer to rock-cut elephants which might have flanked the entrance
to Cave 26, like that to Cave 16, where two elephants are still extant.
^ The ancient name of Ajanta is not known, but for a suggestion see below, page 15, note 3. For the
writings of some of the early visitors see Bibliography, below, page 60. Professor Walter M. Spink, who has been
working on Ajanta for some time, tells the present writer that he has noticed the name of a British officer, with
the date 1819, engraved in Cave 10. Evidently the officer was in the party of the first recorded visitors to the
caves. Here is indeed ‘archaeological evidence’ corroborating ‘literary sources’. The inscription appears above
man-height, indicating that the floor of the cave had been covered with debris at the time of the visit. It seems
that all was not well with these 4arly visits. Dry grass was perhaps burnt inside the caves to illuminate the paint¬
ings; this must have added to the soot already deposited on the paintings by the fires lit by stray residents in the
caves in the past. Dr. Bird, who visited the caves in 1828 under authority and later on made himself useful by
copying inscriptions in the west-Indian caves, is said to have peeled off four faces from the‘zodiac’painting (wheel
of life, Cave 17, below, page 38). J. Prinsep, ‘Facsimiles of Indian inscriptions’. Journal of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal, V (1836), pages 554-61, wliere an animated description of the caves by Ralph and Gresley, visitors to the
caves in 1828, is quoted.
3 J. Fergusson, ‘On the rock-cut temples of India’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and
Ireland, VHI (1846), pages 30-92, particularly 55-60 and 90.
^ Ancient India, number 9 (1953), pages 9-10.

2
 INTRODUCTION

prepared copies in oil of about thirty paintings.^ Most of them were destroyed by fire in 1866
in the Indian Court of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham where they had been displayed. Five
of Gill’s copies which had not been displayed and therefore escaped destruction were sent to
the Indian Museum, South Kensington.

*****

Following the suggestion of James Fergusson, the Government of Bombay asked John
Griffiths, Superintendent (later on Principal), Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai School of Art, Bombay,
to report on the paintings. Griffiths strongly urged the preparation of records of what
remained of the paintings, as a result of which a large number of students of the School were
engaged to prepare coloured copies of the paintings under the direction of Griffiths.
Griffiths took to his task with great zeal and understanding and made some discern¬
ing observations on the paintings, such as can be made only by an artist-copyist who
comes to know every part of the copied painting and is, at the same time, emotionally
equipped to appreciate it. He also foresaw the impact of Ajanta on the future art in
India.2

The work of copying continued from 1872 to 1885, with a break of three years, and was
completed at a cost of fifty thousand rupees. Griffiths assures us that not a single copy left
the caves ‘without my having examined it and carefully compared and corrected it with
the original’. But misfortune once more overtook Ajanta copies—in 1885, when many of
Griffiths’ works were destroyed or damaged by fire in the Indian Museum, South Kensington.
Some of the surviving copies were pubUshed in two sumptuous volumes in 1896;^ more than
any other previous publication, they drew the attention of the art-historian to the special
position of the Ajanta paintings in world-art.

*****
In the meantime the caves were being subjected to a more systematic study than what
had been attempted before.^ In 1871 Fergusson, once again taking the lead, offered to edit
the available material on the Ajanta and other caves. He and James Burgess of the Archaeo¬
logical Survey of India set about the task, the latter undertaking fresh surveys as well. Thus,
the architectural details of the caves were scrutinized, their inscriptions were deciphered,
providing material for their dating and sometimes their political affiliations, and the subjects

^ Gill published his stereoscopic photographs in Rock-temples of Ajanta and Ellora {\2,&2) and One Hundred
Stereoscopic Illustrations of Architecture and Natural History (1864). Mrs. Speir reproduced some ten line-drawings
from Gill’s copies in Life in Ancient India (Cornhill, 1856). Some of them were repeated by the same author, later
on named Mrs. Manning, in Ancient and Mediaeval India (London, 1869).
'^Indian Antiquary, II (1873), pages 152-53; III (1874), pages 25-28; IV (1875), page 253.
® J.Griffiths, The Paintings in the Buddhist Cave-temples of Ajanta, Khandesh, India, two volumes (London, 1896),
with introductory text and with one hundred and fifty-nine plates (nine of them in colour and the rest mono¬
chrome) and eighty-eight text-illustrations. It is felt that the colour in the reproductions is somewhat accentuated;
restoration of some damaged parts is also not unlikely. Gf. H. Goetz in Mdrg, 2, number 4, page 36: ‘Unfortu¬
nately the very damaged condition of many Ajanta paintings often made copying rather a task of reconstruction
which could not avoid introducing an element of subjective interpretation, and the first set of copies executed
under the superintendence of J. Griffiths had not been free from a certain prettiness then cultivated by the
Bombay School of Arts.’ It also seems that Griffiths and his party applied varnish over the paintings, below,
page 56, note 1.
^ For the works published during the period see Bibliography, below, page 60.

3
 AJANTA MURALS

of most of the sculptures but only some of the paintings were identified;^ it was easier to
identify Buddha and his life-scenes both in sculpture and in painting than Jataka-stories.

In 1895 S. F. Oldenburg creditably identified eight Jatakas in the paintings, solely on the
basis of unillustrated descriptions of Burgess (1879).^ In 1902 H. Luders, with the help of
painted records, identified two scenes, including one already proposed by Oldenburg, with
Jataka-stories as given in the Jdtaka-mald of Aryasura,^ thus establishing that some texts
other than the traditional Pali Jatakas had been utilized in the rendering of stories at Ajanta.

In the winter seasons of 1909-10 and 1910-11 Lady Herringham copied some paintings with
the assistance of Indian students—Syed Ahmad and Muhammad Fazlud-Din of Hyderabad
and Nandalal Bose, Asit Kumar Haidar and Samarendranath Gupta of the Calcutta School
of Art—all of whom were to acquire renown as distinguished artists in their later days, and
of Dorothy M. Larcher of England. In 1915 the India Society published fifty-five of them.^

Probably for the first time, in 1911, Victor Goloubew took photographs of the paintings.
The details of his work are not available, but he published his photographs of paintings of
Cave 1 in 1927.5

Before 1919, when Alfred Foucher renewed his studies on the Ajanta paintings, about a
dozen Jataka-stories had already been noticed iif them, thanks to the efforts of Bhau Daji,
Burgess, Oldenburg and Luders.® Foucher’s researches succeeded in recognizing a much
larger number—not only of the sculptured figures but of painted scenes—so that he could
justifiedly claim that ‘the bulk of the work of interpreting the wall-paintings is two-thirds
finished’.'^ After him there have been some stray endeavours for fresh identifications.®

* * * * *

All persons who had visited Ajanta more than once remarked on the progressive deteriora¬
tion and even destruction of paintings. It was therefore felt necessary to prepare faithful
copies of the paintings once more, and with this end in view the Archaeological Department

1 In addition, Fergusson identified a painting in Cave 1 with the faneiful event of an ambassador of the
Tersian king Khusrau II presenting himself to the court of the Deccan ruler Pulakesin II of the Chalukya dynasty
(a. d. 610-11 to 642), ‘On the identification of Chrosroes II among the paintings of Ajanta’, Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, New Series, XI (1879), pages 155-70. The identificadon was shown to be
wrong long ago, but, so catching it is that it has been repeated even in some recent works. Rajendralala .Mitra
wrote, also ineffectively, on this and other scenes with foreigners, ‘On representation of foreigners in the
Ajanta frescoes’. Journal oj' the Asiatic Society of Bengal, XLVII (1878), part I, pages 62-72.
2 S. F. Oldenburg (translated) m Journal of the American Oriental Society, XVIII (1897), pages 195-96.
® H. Luders (translated) in Indian Antiquary, XXXII (1903), pages 326-29.
^ Ajanta Frescoes (Oxford, 1915). The text consists of introductory essays by some members of the India
Society. The portfolio contains seventeen reproductions in colour and the rest, forty, in monochrome, made
into forty-two plates. It was admittedly thought ‘advisable, for the sake of the beauty of the composition and of
intelligibihty, to fill up the small holes’ in the paintings. The present writer is inclined to the view that the
reproductions are insipid and mostly lack the feel of the Ajanta style.
^ Victor Goloubew, ‘Documents pour servir a I’etude d’Ajanta, les peintures de la premiere grotto’, Ars
Asiatica, X (Paris and Brussels, 1927), with seventy-one monochrome plates and an explanatory text.
® See Bibliography, below, page 60.
’ A. Foucher, ‘Preliminary report on the interpretation of the paintings and sculptures of Ajanta’
(translated). Journal of the HyderLbad Archaeological Society for 1919-20 (1921), pages 50-111.
® For example, G. Yazdani in Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology, VII (Leyden, 1932), pages 31-32;
M. G. Dikshit in Transactions of the Indian History Congress, Fifth {Hyderabad). Session, 1941, pages 567-68; D. Mitra,
Ajanta, third edition (New Delhi, 1964), pages 18, 26, 27 and 53. M. N. Deshpande has proposed a new identifica¬
tion for a Buddha-scene in sculptme, below, page 29.

4
 INTRODUCTION

of Hyderabad State appointed, in 1915, Syed Ahmad, an associate of Lady Herringham

(above, pagle 4) to copy the paintings with ‘greater fidelity to the originals’. Syed Ahmad
engaged himself in the work with assiduity for many years.^ Almost simultaneously the same
Department also considered a proposal of reproducing the paintings by the process of colour-
photography. However, as a prerequisite to that, it was considered necessary to remove the
crust over the paintings formed by dust, dirt and coats of varnish indiscriminately applied
in earlier days. To do this two Italian restaurateurs were invited and they worked on the
paintings during two seasons (1920-21 and 1921-22).^

Thereafter, E. L. Vassey, at the invitation of the Hyderabad Government, spent five months
at Ajanta, photographing nearly all the paintings in the caves. Vassey’s negatives form the
basis of excellent portfolios produced by Yazdani,^ which remain the standard work on the
subject.

In 1949 the Hyderabad Government appointed a committee to go into the question of the
preservation and maintenance of the Ajanta and Ellora caves, with Dr. Ghulam Yazdani
as the president. The committee examined the problem in some detail and made a few valu¬
able recommendations on the structural preservation of the caves.

*****

In 1951 Parliament of India declared the caves of Ajanta, along with a large number of other
monuments in the former Princely States, as monuments of national importance, and two
years later the Archaeological Survey of India took direct charge of the caves. Since then
the Survey has been tending them with care and diligence. While the recommendations of
the Yazdani Committee have been found to be of some use, a major innovation has been the
introduction of mass-concrete, with reinforcement where necessary, for the replacement of
worn-out portions of the rock and pillars of ashlar-masonry erected in the past to support
overhanging rocks and for similar purposes. The advantage of mass-concrete over masonry
in rock-architecture is obvious: while masonry is inconsistent with the rock-mass and produces
a jarring effect, suitably-tinted concrete simulates the rock and merges with it. Side by side,
extensive chemical treatment and preservation of the paintings have been taken in hand;
these measures have been detailed below (pages 57 to 59).

Mindful of its responsibilities towards the paintings and of their supreme value, the Archaeo¬
logical Survey of India also initiated, in 1956-57, a scheme of preparing their faithful copies—

^ Many of the copies prepared by Syed Ahmad were for a fairly long time displayed in the Ajanta Pavilion,
Public Gardens, Hyderabad. But the latest (July 1966) information is that along with all other paintings
exhibited in the Pavilion they have been now dismantled.
^ Their task and methods and tlie effects of their work have been detailed below, page 56.
^ G. Yazdani, Ajanta, four parts (Oxford, 1930, 1933, 1946 and 1955), each part having a text-volume
and a portfolio. There are seventy-seven plates in colour, fifty-hve plates with outlines in red and two hundred
and seventy-three monochrome ones. In some cases, where photographs were unsatisfactory, Syed Ahmad’s
copies were utilized for reproduction. Most of the colour-plates have an overtone of yellow, the effect of the
coat of varnish and shellac—a shortcoming which is bound to be repeated in all photographic reproductions
(including those in the present Album). There are also some obvious variations in colour. For example, the
colour of the begging-bowl of Buddha in the famous ‘mother-and-child’ scene, IV, text, page 70, and plate XLI,
is described and shown as bright jade-green, whereas the real colour on the wall is dull yellowish-green, as can
be seen in this Album, plate LXXVI, and in Syed Alimad’s copy in the Ajanta Pavilion.

5
 AJANTA MURALS

a project all the more imperative as the copies of Gill and the party of Griffiths had been
largely destroyed, as those of Lady Herringham (to judge from their reproductions) had left
something to be desired and as the Hyderabad artists had confined their activities mostly to
the copying of only parts of scenes or individual figures that appealed to them. The idea of
the project has been to copy complete scenes in their entirety, with all their artistry and
blemishes caused by damage: there should be no subjective discrimination among the
good, indifferent and bad. The work is in progress, and sixteen completed copies have been
made over to the National Museum, New Delhi, for display.

In 1954 an album of reproductions of the paintings, presumably based on photographs taken

by himself, was produced by Madanjeet Singh.^ Under an agreement between the Govern¬
ment of India and UNESCO, David L. De Harport came to India early in 1955 to photo¬
graph the paintings and during his six-month stay prepared, with the assistance of two
photographers of the Archaeological Survey of India, two sets of transparencies, each of five
hundred and eighty items. In accordance with the terms of the agreement one set was
deposited with the Archaeological Survey and the other with UNESCO, some items of whose
set have been utilized in a small UNESCO publication.^ In addition, Harport prepared
six hundred and seventeen black-and-white negatives, now with the Archaeological Survey,
augmenting the collection built up by the Survey itself. Twenty out of Harport’s transparencies
available in India were utilized in 1956 in an album brought out jointly by the Survey and
the Lalit Kala Akademi (Indian Academy of Fine Arts)".^ The latest publication on
Ajanta and its paintings, except the present Album, is a second work by Madanjeet
Singh, with an extensive text.^

*****
All the photographs reproduced here belong to and have been produced by the Archaeo¬
logical Survey of India. They were taken directly from the originals except one (plate I,
Gave 10), which is too indistinct on the wall and had to be photographed from a copy: the
Album would have remained incomplete without this earliest painting of Ajanta.

For the reproduction of the eighty-five plates in colour, colour-negatives were prepared,
and prints in colour were taken out of them and utilized in block-making. The fidelity of
the colour on the proofs of the blocks was checked more than once, and no pains have been
spared to bring out the true colour, within unavoidable limitations.

Circumstances at Ajanta do not make it possible to take photographs of large scenes. In the
first place, the space available between the painted wall-surface and the camera is too narrow
to cover large areas, particularly in colour. Secondly, the colour on the surface, shiny with
shellac under artificial light, reacts differently from place to place according to its distance

^ India—Paintings from Ajanta Caves (New York Graphic Society, by arrangement with UNESCO, 1954),
with a short introduction by Madanjeet Singh, with one monochrome and thirty-two colour-plates.
^ The Ajanta Caves (Mentor-UNESCO Art Book, New York, 1963), with introduction by Benjamin
Rowland and with twenty-eight reproductions in colour.
^ Ajanta Paintings (New Delhi, 1956), with twenty plates in colour.
^ Madanjeet Singh, The Cave Paintings of Ajanta (London, 1965), with text, eighty-two plates, mostly in
colour, and twenty-two hne-drawings.

6
 INTRODUCTION
from the camera and the light-source, to the intensity of the light and to the period of the
exposure. We had therefore mostly to be contented with individual figures or groups of them,
adding at the end of the Album twenty line-drawings, figs. 1 to 20, reproduced in offset, to
give an idea of the composition of the paintings and their stories, with the areas illustrated
on the respective plates marked in outlines. The line-drawings themselves were prepared by the
drawing of lines in India ink on the outlines of figures and other details of the paintings on
enlarged black-and-white photographic prints of the paintings and thereafter by the washing
off of all emulsion from the prints; thus only the inked outlines remained. The surviving
lines were not checked with the paintings, so that minor variations, which must be negligible,
are not ruled out. In spite of variations, if any, they will definitely serve their purpose. The
twenty black-and-white plates, A to R, are intended to illustrate the sculpture of Ajanta.

The plates in colour, I to LXXXV, are generally arranged according to the caves, the order
being: Caves 10 (plates I and LXXXV), 6 (plate II), 16 (plate III), 1 (plates IV to XLI
and LXXXIV), 2 (XLII to LVI) and 17 (LVII to LXXXIII). Within a particular cave
the sequence broadly follows the place in the cave where the painting occurs.

*****

Time was when the Ajanta paintings were frequently compared with other paintings—■
Chinese, Early Renaissance and so on, according to individual training and inclination—to
establish their superiority or indicate their deficiency and were even dismissed as hardly to
be classed among the fine arts, because they were more decorative than pictorial.^ No less
speculative were the theories about the origin of the art.^ It is now realized that the Ajanta
art, born and nurtured on the indigenous soil and inspired by an indigenous religion, has
a claim to be judged in its own right and its appreciation need not rise and fall by external
comparisons. Such an appreciation is sure to be promoted by publications on the murals
such as are already available and the present Album.

^ George Watt, Indian Art in Delhi, 1903 (Calcutta, 1904), page 454.
^ Thus, on the basis of the fanciful identification of the ‘Persian’ scene (above, page 4, note 1), Vincent
A. Smith observed; it ‘also suggests the possibility that the Ajanta school of pictorial art may have been derived
from Persia and ultimately from Greece,’ Early History of India, fourth edition (1924), page 442.

7
 AJANTA : AN ARTISTIC APPRECIATION
T he local people call them rahgit lent, caves coloured; to us they are the rock-hewn
caves of Ajanta. Caves are to be found all over India, many of them scattered about
in the mountains at a near distance from Ajanta itself Those caves may have beautiful sculp¬
ture, but we only see a few traces of the paintings with which they were once covered. One
marvels ,at Ajanta how the ageless artist of yore knew to wring colour out of the very ground
upon which he walked—colour for the purpose of embellishing the barren skin of the stone.
Ajanta! the name itself is pregnant:
Spectrum in the lap of darkness.

Ajanta is one of the oldest monasteries of India and of the world. This magnificent carving,
the Buddhist place of meditation and worship, lies all alone in the midst of nature representing
man’s victory. Needing to project faith into lasting material, he chose the solid rock. The
moulding of stones under his fingers to become children of his dreams and caves—the space
within whose bounds to concentrate and realize Truth—affirms a most powerful vision of all
mankind:
The portrait of faith.

Standing on the top of the mountain opposite the caves, all one sees is mountain-ranges—one
behind the other, lying like waves in the open sea. One has to go down the ravine where
the little river flows, then face the rock. Lifting one’s eyes one sees the soft curve drawing the
line between the end of the mountain and the beginning of the sky, stitched together by
small bushes piercing into the blue air. Unmoved by day or by night or influences
extraneuos, the two elements are locked with each other as in an eternal divine embrace:
Conception of the caves.

The caves themselves are the result. The divine play took its form in art, guiding man to
follow the beat, giving him the strength to do and an insight that he might know how to do.
Today the echo of that music is still heard mingled with vibrations from all that exists therein,
from sculptured stones and painted walls, from the broadest to the minutest details. Also
unheard voices—whispers of patches eaten up by time—paints worn off, little by little, year
after year:
Meditating patches.

Urge for self-realization made man go in search for a retreat from the world. He found the
mountain responsive and hammered on its stone to create for himself an entrance into the
immobile rock. Here, being in seclusion, he absorbed the philosophy of Buddhism and saw
it as if it were alive. He learnt to love truth—and this love grew upon his soul. To this
surrendering worship he invited all mankind. Believing in his faith he sat meditating, then
began painting, recreating the world he had left behind, fused with the vision he aspired after
—the Middle Path:
Humanism in abstraction.

8
 AJANTA : AN ARTISTIC APPRECIATION
The caves lie like a string of pearls round the waist of the mountain. To those who have seen
with their own eyes and fought their way—eyes wide open—away from the heat and the sun
and bright light to the cool calmness of the caves,—to those the mountain has given more
than they expected, and so much more than what could be taken. It helps little then to
analyse, better to rest the mind in childlike wonder. Wonder, an expression by which the
divine play of creation reveals itself and echoes in the vast realms of our little-known selves :
Mystery, the greatest inspirer.

Here man need not kneel in vain. Almost all the caves are loaded with the same multiple
call—architecture, sculpture, painting—slowly making their appearances through the faint
light of a lamp or the still fainter light of a far-away day. Things fall into .shape as the eye
advances, repetitions of the same presented in different manifestations, reminding us again
of the appraisal of life. It lies embedded in those who bow to the Master of life, Buddha.
Even space and the stone itself, the forms, the lines and the colour which created his image
are the same as created the people, the flowers and the animals. We are finding it omnipresent:
The mirage of Kindly Light.

Peace exists in the caves—a prevailing peace of harmony in composition and colour. Still
in a clasp it holds the proud contradictions, all artistic expressions co-exist, each in its strongest
potentialities and none at the cost of the other. Each little section holds in its design and
colour an equal amount of stillness and movement. Within the composition continues the
dialogue, thriving while in tension—life in suspension giving vibration to the surface. The
outcome has been Secretly imprisoned in the walls, yet liberated:
Catharsis for the restless soul.

Being the most exquisite of murals to be seen in India they were once garlanding even the
sun-baked facades of the caves, now peeled off. Hidden inside are the paintings, clinging to
the walls as does man to life, and the people of the scenes destined to be there—a meaningful
crowd, each telling the story of man’s cravings, each alone represenUng life. They are masters
of their kinds, yet devotees to one beyond them all, Buddha:
The Enlightened One.

The characters in the murals, with eye-brows arched and eyes half-open, half-closed, minds
sweeping through their eyes as birds in flight—some sideways, some straight, others inward —
yet communicating with space, catch our sight, taking us to a destiny unknown, to the home¬
land of our dreams. Facing the unyielding walls we are invited to look on but are frowned
upon if we want to look through. A reflection of the beauty that is far away:
The broken mirror alive.

Forms and colours find an excuse for their existence by becoming figures and things from the
worlds we know, configuring themselves into scenes running across the wall, to the next and
the next, to the pillars and posts, finally spreading over the ceiling. One’s thoughts are halted
before they are born, while the feeling eye is projected into a new world. Our own spare-time
concept surrenders, again to be thrown into a limitless expanse:
Extension of self.

9
 AJANTA MURALS
This is a very special way of seeing—fulfilment of a vision. Then comes the weariness of
seeing followed by acceptance. The scenes without a beginning and an end to that beginning,
once seen ever engraved, are painful because of their perfection, and all the more rewarding,
having been so longed for during our lives. This unexpected confrontation leaves us
nakedly unreserved, taking us in amazement and yet leaving us struck at the insight:
A step towards self-realization.

Religion is alive in the caves, making man remember things he thought he did not know—
men and women living in harmony, keeping to their places, moral values set in pictorial
relief. Buddhist philosophy in the beginning said ‘no’ to metaphysical speculations, said
‘yes’to all that has a germ of life and later grew into another variation, Mahayanism, giving
unending scope to man’s fertile inventiveness by allowing inbreeding of imagery. The artist
meditated over the blankness of the walls and then put life into his creation—people to become
heroes and heroines of his life-intoxicated soulscape:
Memory idealized.

The woman of Ajanta—among men she is always the queen, herself at her best, helped by the
lines. The lines search for volumes to embrace, caress her contours, underline her grace.
Appearing again and again, whether walking or standing, sitting or reclining, hers is the image
of beauty in repose—arrested activity, floating lines at ease knitting her into the texture of
nature in growth. She becomes the metaphor of life, intertwined with flowers and creepers,
parts of the sam.e image:
Messengers of restless peace.

Over seven hundred years of innumerable hours heard the striking of chisels, the murmur of
prayers, and saw the pilgrimage of the brushes on the walls before the caves came to be what
they are. Sculpture and painting grew simultaneously closer, lending their essentials to each
other. This sameness of expression was the outcome of paint being used on the finished sculp¬
tures and the murals taking up lines of the kind which possesses forms within their enclosures.
Today only parts of the paintings of the walls remain—the colour on the sculptures has
almost vanished. How did they look in their original newness?
Painted sculptures and sculptured paintings.

The painter is as if praying with his brush on the walls. Each line and each colour become a
stroke of faith. Faith is the source of all his consciousness, not alone in salutation to the past,
but from consciousness born without the past or the future—child of the vast emptiness itself,
the nirvana ! The artist infuses his love for life on the walls; with the Buddhist scripture in his
mind and faith in his heart he goes far beyond the letter of the word, his becomes a complete
surrender. Depicting beautified people who are in the world—yet not of the world—he
paints with equal ease the symbol of renunciation of life. Standing at the gate of nirvana itself
he paints the climax—the Bodhisattva, the being who does not live for self but for
the enlightenment of others and his own:
Nirvana still unattained.

* * -k * *

10
 AJANTA : AN ARTISTIC APPRECIATION
Impossible : it is beyond man’s power to take in all at once even when witnessing the scene.
It took the artist centuries to create, it takes time to be absorbed. Climbing the stony stairs,
step by step, one is farther removed from the green valley. As one draws nearer the abode
one’s anticipation heightens, the glen lying still—but far below. Strewn ahead are some thirty
caves, each set apart, dependent on a will outside the grip of man. The trap-rock itself is
moody material—at places hard as flint, at places soft and weak—resulting in some caves to
remain unfinished or the finished ones to be half-ruined by the wear of ages:
Monuments dilapidated.

The Ajanta style of painting is unique, a poetic dynamism set in motion. Behind all lay not
alone the impassioned zeal of the artist but also the unbounded enthusiasm of pious kings.
Kings and kingdoms with their failings and achievements have walked into history, but we
know little of the artist—from where he came, if he did come, and then went away, or if he
lived and died on the spot. The paintings are his only signature, beyond that he is silent.
Were there at a time many painters or a few, had each cave its master-artist, what company
of artisans had he with him ? We do not know. The master’s touch is there, in the tender
drawing and paint of the eyes, mouths and fingers. He created a style, with his few lines and
brush-strokes made a person speak his entire character. Mannerism had to follow when his
helpers repeated the particularities of the master:
Ajantaism became unavoidable.

To this place of worship came many pilgrims during the years. Among them were also
artists who carried their impressions back to their own lands. The impact Ajanta had on
them can be seen in caves, monasteries and paintings spread all over Ceylon, Nepal, Tibet,
Mongolia, China and even distant Japan. The Ajanta style of painting gave birth to new
openings in the hands of foreigners who came to share the same faith. As a prelude to mural
paintings in the whole of south-east and east Asia it remained the parent both in technique
and content. With inspiration from Ajanta, painting became the visual vehicle, sometimes
carrying mainly itself as also Buddhism—but more often carrying both to far-away places:
Great art is contagious.

In the present Album we see the paintings of Ajanta torn from their context. Our loss is not
only in the mood-shaping environment of nature, the feel of the foot as it touches the stone,
the song of the birds and the smell of the sun-baked greenery around, but also in the unfolding
of the caves themselves. Here in the plates we cannot see the engaging play of light descending
on the paintings at different hours of the day. We can therefore never comprehend what
unspeakable beauty a stroke of sun-ray brings to a meditating Buddha, or with what mild
tenderness a face is bathed in the tired light of a.dying day. Nor can we perceive the correla¬
tion between the spacing in the caves, the placing of sculptures together with the display of
the giant paintings on the walls. We must altogether miss the grandeur of the scale wherein
a tiny human being is placed next to an enormous Buddha. Here the relationship of propor¬
tions is relative, not based on empiric knowledge but dependent on emotional importance,
spiritual reality—each different situation demanding a new evaluation. Reproductions may
often be faithful, but they will always fail to render the spontaneous freshness of colours and
the mellowed texture of age. , How can that particular aroma of the walls, the experiences

11
 AJANTA MURALS

the caves have gone through, ever be transmitted on paper? As long as the Ajanta paintings
remain they will be alive, but while it was the order of the cultures of the past to create, today
we only attempt at reproduction:
Reproduction a democratic compromise.

Surgery on the Ajanta walls has given them a second nature. While taking sectional details
we are now compelled to see the paintings in bits, plate by plate, instead of in their sequential
composition. Interrupting the fluency of lines and colours into arbitrarily-chosen frames
of pages, we have severed their meaningful linkage, their subtle spatial reference not only
with the complete panels but also with the panoramic view of the entire caves. One of
the mysteries about the paintings was their power to captivate the eye and hold it on to the
wall, yet not allowing it to rest still at a spot but multiplying the focal points along with the
continuous moving lines. The rhythm of composition was carried alternatively by lines
and colours, the two playing a repetitive game of vanishing away only to re-appear in a
different context. While one stands in front of the wall one experiences an exhausting
simultaneity of seeing, shifting eyes from smaller details to complex and larger expanse—
back again to everything at once and in flashes. Like collective living, these are collective
paintings where no area has been left alone, each depending on the other and partaking of
the whole. Not one painting stands isolated. The wonder is, each plate we look at, though
the detail of a larger composition, becomes a perfect painting in its own right. The secret of
composition in the Ajanta paintings is the principle of breeding proportion within proportions:
The basic construction reconstructing itself.

The paintings once covered the whole surface of the walls—from the edge of the ceiling
down to the floor—while now often only the middle portion remains. At times the com¬
position was drawn horizontally up in three parallel running panels, or occasionally vertically,
taking the whole space but never allowing blankness to creep in. Was it a horror vacui which
led them to overcome that horror, thus consciously projecting in reverses, or was it a reflection
of their natural ecstasies ? The panels are ever giving way to more people, people entering
from space behind the walls, clustering together, even then seemingly not intruding upon
each other’s movements. They are drawn with broad generalizations, at the same time
with surprising details. Jewelry has been applied in excess serving a double purpose: to
acknowledge the status of a person, as much as to apportion space in form:
Studied hierarchy all over.

With only six pigments in his hand, the Ajanta artist created the vocabulary of the entire
colour-range, each speaking its own language and giving meaning to others. Far from
dramatizing by climaxing colour-contrasts he took recourse to the more refined expression of
tonalities. While the prostrating line often drawn in Indian red would heighten the spirit
of the pigments in the divided areas, each colour becomes a symbol, a note in itself, in
combination creative of melody existing independently of the story-telling theme. The
walls are drenched in colour, brimming in a way so as to give the impression of being the
natural sweatings of the stone—so intimately do the paints belong to the murals and the
murals to the walls, as if they were wedded together from the very beginning of their
beings. Illustrating the Jataka-stories and other Buddhist themes, they have escaped the

12
 AJANTA : AN ARTISTIC APPRECIATION

dangerous fallacy of becoming mere painted drawings. They are songs of history, only their
poetry is of pure painting—intangible and self-contained like religion, defying to be rendered
into another medium:
Words their worst enemy.

This Album contains only a selection of the best-preserved panels. There are others in
the caves, thousands of them, making it apparent that the paintings have not remained
unmoved by the changing times. They have developed on their own, as if they were living
organisms. Exposed to the wear of ages, they in turn responded with an animated sensitivity.
The gradual peeling off of the paint has uncovered the textures and colours below—that of
the plaster, mud and rock. The unfolding puzzle of the mastery of their technique together
with others less distinguishable, now combined with a totality of effects, may, to an onlooker,
appear like the archetypes of modern abstract painting. The breaking up of the surface
into disjointed forms and the assembly of different textures make a matrix which brings them
nearer to the contemporary temper. The Ajanta paintings of the Golden Age have them¬
selves not escaped the Wheel of the Law, their last incarnation shows us specimens of abstract
classicism:
Civilization confirms its cycle.

We humbly recognize what enormous power of pursuit these ancient people possessed, who
had the courage to assault the very body of the rock—to overcome the resistance of the stone—
and then, with infinite patience, go through the preparatory stages before the alien material
was ready to accept their offerings. They illuminated the dark enclaves with their idea
and imagination—using the whole world as a memorized model. As if this was not enough,
they transferred their substance with the spectacular symbology of Buddhist concepts. The
atmosphere inside the caves was charged with spiritual resonance. The constant use of the
chanting of prayers by thousands of people, through hundreds of years, and the awe-inspiring
unity of all the existing artistic expressions have given them their sanctity. Only a grain
of these has survived the present mechanized process of colour-reproduction; but even
that one grain is enough to show that Ajanta belongs to the wonders of the world:
Art a symphony to the unattainable.

13
 THE CAVES : THEIR HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

T he situation of the monastic establishment of Ajanta is significant in more than one

way. It is about 130 kilometres north of Paithan (ancient Pratishthana), the capital of the
early Satavahanas, and lies off one of the ancient arterial trade-routes connecting north India,
through Ujjain and Mahishmati, with Pratishthana in Dakshinapatha and farther with ports
on the south-eastern coast, through Ter (ancient Tagara), Kondapur, Amaravati (ancient
Dhanyakataka), Guntapalli, etc. The identification of Bhogavardhana mentioned in Sanchi
inscriptions^ with Bhokardan, District Aurangabad, halfway between Ajanta and Pratishthana,
and the existence of an ancient habitation-mound there^ convincingly indicate the alignment
of the route. Ajanta also lies near another trade-route connecting Broach (ancient Bharu-
kachchha, Barygaza of the Periplus^ and Po-lu-ka-che-p‘o of Hiuen Tsang^) with Pratishthana,
through ancient townships like Prakash, District Dhulia, and Bahai, District Jalgaon, recently
brought to light by excavations. The Satmala range separating the plains of Khandesh, formed
by the Tapti and its tributaries, from the tableland of Maharashtra is pierced by a pass not far
from Ajanta. The serene grandeur of nature is at once in evidence at Ajanta, and the words of
the Upanishadic seer® that an ideal place for the contemplation of the Divine is a hidden
cave protected from wind, situated in surroundings made favourable to the mind by the
sound of water and other features and not offensive to the eye are borne out by the selection
of this site. The stream Waghora rushing down from the highlands takes seven leaps at the head
of the semicircular end of the gorge: the resultant waterfalls and pools of water (Sat-kund)
as also the melody of running water add to the charm of the place. In an inscription in Cave
26 the valley is described as resonant with the chirping of birds and chattering of monkeys and
the monastery as inhabited by greatjo^t’rex.® In another inscription, in Cave 16, is described the
majesty of this ‘best of mountains on which hang multitudes of water-laden clouds’ during the
rainy season,'^ when the monks occupied the monastery.

The habitation that came into existence with the commencement of the excavation of the
caves lies less than a kilometre upstream and is known even now as Lenapur (‘cave-town’).
The very significant name of the place, the find of Satavahana pottery there and the
existence of a rock-cut path from the caves to the place suggest its contemporaneity with the
early caves at Ajanta. It may further be pointed out that Basim (ancient Vatsagulma), District
Akola, only 130 kilometres to the north-east of Ajanta, was the capital of a branch of Vakataka
rulers, a minister and a subordinate vassal of whom were responsible for the excavation of

^ H. Liiders, ‘A list of Brahmi inscriptions’, Epigraphia Indica, X (1912), numbers 266, 295 and 296.
'^Ancient India, number 15 (1959), page 69.
® The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, edited by W. H. Schoff (New York, 1912), pages 39 etc.
* Thomas Watters, On Yuan Chivang’s Travels in India (London, 1905), II, page 241.
^ Svetdsvatara Upanishad, II, 10, sabda-jal-asray-adibhih mano’nu-kule na tu chakshu-pidane guhd-nivdt-dsrayane
prayojayet. The Principal Upanishads, edited by S. Radhakrishnan (London, 1953), page 721.
® Yazdani, Ajanta, IV (Oxford, 1955), text, pages 116 and 118.
^ V. V. Mirashi, Inscriptions of the Vdkdtakas, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, V (Ootacamund, 1963).
pages 109 and 111. Elsewhere in the same inscription, the mountain is described as‘clothed in the brilliance of
Indra’s crown’ and the crowding clouds are likened to the muldtude of the hoods of serpents.

14
 THE CAVES : THEIR HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Caves 16 and 17 (below, page 16 ) and, for that matter, for the revival of artistic activity at
Ajanta.

*****
We have necessarily to take a wide perspective to appreciate the development of cave-
architecture at Ajanta and to understand the circumstances which led to the emergence of
this new form of artistic endeavour in the two centuries before the Christian era. The spread
of Buddhism in western India was due to Asoka (273-36 b.c.), who sent a religious emissary,
by name (Yavana) Dharmarakshita, to Aparanta, the northern part of the western coast.
He started his activities from iSurparaka (Sopara, District Thana), a flourishing port-town
and the find-spot of the edicts of Asoka. Perhaps taking a cue from what Asoka and his grandson
had attempted in the quartzose gneissic roek of the Barabar and Nagarjuni hills in south
Bihar, the Buddhist monks might have felt that west India was ideally suited for a similar
purpose. The perpendicular cliffs of the amagdaloidal trap-formation of the Sahyadri’^ with
horizontal beddings provided a hospitable place and a convenient medium for the excavation
of monasteries and prayer-halls, and out of a desire to create something more enduring and
monumental than ordinary buildings they zestfully exploited this medium. ^ Out of some twelve
hundred rock-cut excavations in India, about eight hundred are situated in west India.

The earliest caves in the Deccan belong to the Hinayana faith and were excavated in the wake
of the spread of Buddhism in the two centuries before and after the Christian era. Their
beginning coincides with the rise of the Satavahanas who had their capital at Pratishthana.
Though these rulers professed Brahmanism, they were tolerant towards Buddhism. But their
greatest contribution lay in bringing political stability to the Deccan and in the promotion of
trade and commerce within the land and with the Mediterranean world, which brought in
enormous riches.

*****
The earliest inscriptions of Ajanta^ do not furnish any information save that the facade of
the oldest chaitya-grihaA Cave 10, was the gift of one Katahadi, son of a Vasithi, and that the
1 An inscription in Cave 17 says that a monolithic {ek-asmakd) mandapa containing the image of Buddha was
excavated on the spur of the Sahya (Western Ghats), V. V. Mirashi, Vdkdtaka Inscriptions, page 129. Mirashi thinks
that Sahya-pada refers to the Ajanta hill.
2 An inscription in Cave 26 aptly tells us that one should set up monuments on mountains that will endure
as long as the moon and the sun continue, for a man would exist to enjoy paradise as long as his memory is green
on earth, G. Yazdani, Ajanta, IV, text, pages 115 and 117-18. The same inscription calls the C3.ve a. saila-griha
(‘rock-dwelling’), corresponding to sela-ghara of a Karla cave-inscription, Liiders, ‘A list of Brahml inscriptions’,
number 1087.
3 No inscription or any other source reveals the ancient name of Ajanta, but it may be hazarded that it
was Ajitahjaya, a place mentioned in the Nlahdmdyuri, with Xhs,yaksha Kuta-daihshtra ( one with peak-like teeth )
as its patron. The localities mentioned in the text before and after Ajitahjaya may indicate that it has to be looked
for in north India, but it must be remembered that the text does not always follow a geographical order. As
already stated (above, page 2), the caves have obtained theh present name of Ajanta from that of a neighbouring
village, the usual local pronunciation of which is Ajinthd. This brings the words Ajitanjaya and Aja?ita nearer
each other. One wonders if the full ancient name was Ajitahjaya-sthana, from which the word Ajintha is a,n
easy derivative. Ajita is the lay name of Maitreya or the Future Iluddha, G. P. Malalasekera, Dictionary of Pali
Proper Names, I (London, 1937), page 37. For the text of the Mahdmdyuri, see V. S. Agrawala in. Journal of the
United Provinces Historical Society, XV, part ii (1942), pages 27 and 35.
* In the terminology of Buddhist cave-architecture, and elsewhere too, a chailya-griha, sometimes called
simply chaitya, is a prayer-hall, apsidal on plan, with a nave and side-aisles marked out from each other by a row

15
 AJAMTA MURALS

vihdra, Cave 12-—a thdnaka (shrine) with uvarakas (cells) and an updsaya—was the gift of a mer¬
chant Ghanamadada. The latter is one of earliest inscriptions in western India recording the
patronage of Buddhism by a merchant.

Ajanta began to hum with renewed activity after an interval of six hundred years or so, when
ambitious excavations were planned to encompass the entire crescentic valley in order to meet
the changing and growing needs of the faith: the construction of a temple of Buddha was then
regarded as a means of attaining salvation.^ Accordingly, two magnificent chaitya-grihas, Caves
19 and 26 (the third one. Cave 29, was left unfinished), and commodious vihdras, Caves 1, 2,
4, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16, 17 and 20 to 24, each almost invariably with a shrine for Buddha, and some
with cells iov yakshas and niches for Buddha and the Bodhisattvas, came to be excavated.
Almost all the excavations of this period were completed in the fifth and sixth centuries under
the patronage of the Vakataka rulers, who, like the Satavahanas, were themselves Brahmanists
but actively allowed Buddhism to flourish in their territory. The Ajanta and Ghatotkacha cave-
inscriptions attest to the liberality of the ministers of a branch of the Vakataka rulers settled at
Vatsagulma.^ An inscription in Cave 16 at Ajanta records the dedication of a dwelling
‘which was fully adorned with windows, doors, beautiful picture-galleries, ledges, statues of
the nymphs of Indra and the like and was ornamented with beautiful pillars and stairs and had
a temple of Buddha inside’ by one Varahadeva, the minister of the last of the Vakataka rulers
Harishena of about 475-500.^ Another inscription, in Cave 17, tells us of a chief of a family
subordinate to Harishena and describes how under his patronage was excavated a gem-like
monolithic mandapa. Cave 17 itself, with a shrine for Buddha and an adjacent water-reservoir
and a gandha-kuti to the west.^ Incidentally, the chief is credited with having liberally contri¬
buted towards the construction of stupas and vihdras in the land.

The interesting observations on Ajanta by Hiuen Tsang have already been quoted (above,
page 1 ), They show that even though the prolific activity at this monastic centre had come
to a close by the end of the sixth century, the caves continued to be popular in the Buddhist
world even later on. The last old record at Ajanta is an inscription on the back wall of the
shrine between Caves 26 and 27; it belongs to the period of the Rashtrakutas of the eighth or
ninth century. As its Buddhist character is doubtful, it may indicate that by then the Ajanta
caves had been deserted by the Buddhists.

of pillars, and a stupa (often called chaitya, which is a comprehensive name for any sacred object) at the remote
end of the nave. A sanghdrama, often called vihdra, is a monastic abode and has as its nucleus a central hall with
flanking residential cells, but the latter term generally refers to a complete monastic establishment. At Ajanta, the
distribution is as follows. Early (Hinayana-Satavahana) phase (second and first centuries b.c.) : Caves 9 and 10—
chaitya-grihas;Ca.ves 8, 12, 13 and 15 A—vihdras (sanghdrdmas). Late (Mahayana-Vakataka) phase (fifth and sixth
centuries A.D.),: Caves 19, 26 a.nd 29—chaitya-grihas; Caves 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16, 17 and 20 to 2‘i—vihdras. The
rest are incomplete or nondescript or are ancillary to the adjacent larger caves. In addition, there are shallow
caves like niches to contain images of individual deities. Many of the caves were approached from the streamside
by individual flights of rock-cut steps. The present pathway running in front of the caves has no relevance to the
ancient arrangement.
^ G. Yazdani, Ajanta, IV, pages 116 and 118.
* V. V. Mirashi, Inscriptions of the Vdkdtakas, pages 103-29.
® V. y. Mirashi, Inscriptions of the Vdkdtakas, pages 109 and 111. The cave is also said to have con¬
tained a shrine of ndga-rdja {ndg-endra-vesma), evidently referring to the porch-shrine with a sculpture of
naga-rdja.
^ Y\57. Mirashi, Inscriptions of the Vdkdtakas, pages 127 and 129. The reservoir is believed to be the
one adjoining Cave 17 and the gandha-kuti, ‘perfumed chamber’, the residence of Buddha, to be the chaitya.
Cave 19.

16
 THE CAVES : THEIR HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Why Ajanta declined and was abandoned we do not know. Perhaps the trade-route on which
lay Ajanta and Bhogavardhana was deserted. This surmise gains support when we notice
that there was an alternative route, not far away, from north India to Pratishthana, which
in all probability passed along Patna^ near Chalisgaon through an old pass known later on
as Gavatal-ghat or Amba^ and, bypassing Pitalkhora, proceeded towards Ellora (ancient
Elapura) and thence to Pratishthana, thereafter following the usual route to the southern
trading-centres. Ellora, as we know, was at the height of its glory from the seventh to
the tenth centuries, when the Ramesvara (Gave 21), the great Kailasa (Cave 16) and
other Brahmanical caves were being excavated and Buddhism was being ousted by
Brahmanism.

But before this repository of the magnificent achievement of the Indian people in the cognate
arts of rock-architecture, sculpture and painting fell into oblivion, it had done its part in
spreading its message of art far beyond its confines. If Buddhism could be credited with
having imparted rehgious education to large parts of Asia, Ajanta must be regarded as the
fountain-head of inspiration in so far as the art of mural painting is concerned. The influence
of Ajanta is patent on the paintings of Ceylon:® the celestial damsels at Sigiria are almost
duplicates of those at Ajanta in the matter of technique, colour and subjects. The cave-
paintings at Bamiyan in Afghanistan and those in the Central Asian monasteries along the
ancient silk-route through Khotan, Miran including Tun-huang and Turfen—all bear
testimony to the effect of the Ajanta tradition in one way or the other.^ The very idea of
excavating a cave in rock travelled to Afghanistan and China from India, and it is no wonder
that the paintings on the walls of the Central Asian monasteries were executed in the tempera
technique like those at Ajanta. ‘Ajantaism’ assumed new forms in different spheres and in
remote climes. Says the Sanskrit poet: kshane kshaneyun navatdm upaiti tad eva ruparh ramaniya-
tdydh, ‘the nature of beauty is such as assumes new forms every moment’.® So does the art of
Ajanta.

*****

The earliest monastic centres in western India were excavated to serve Hinayana Buddhism,
the other school—Mahayana—being at that time non-existent. That rock-cut architecture
was an imitation of buildings constructed in timber is nowhere so patent as at Bhaja, situated
at the southern end of the Bhor-ghat, an ancient pass in the formidable Sahyadri range, where
there is a chaitya-griha and a few vihdras. The vaulted ceiling of the chaitya-griha still retains the
original attached wooden ribs, on which contemporary inscriptions have survived, to show

^ Patna contains a Brahmanical and two Jaina caves, J. Fergusson and J. Burgess, The Cave Temples of
India (London, 1880), pages 428 and 492.
^ Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, XII, Khandesh (Bombay, 1880), page 210.
3 Ceylon has even earlier paintings, the earliest of them, believed to date from the second centuiy b.c.,
being at Karambagola (Kurandaka-Lena) in the southern Province of Ceylon. Cf. Buddhist Paintings from Shrines
and Temples in Ceylon, Mentor-TJNESCO Art Book (New York, 1964), page 10.
^ Cf. Basil Gray, Buddhist Cave Paintings at Tun-huang (Chicago, 1959), page 22: ‘In Turfan the earliest
wall-paintings are those of Toyug, Chiqgan Kol and Bazalik no. 8, which date from the seventh century...
It is agreed that it was by this route that Indian influence reached T'ang China, and there is an undoubted plastic
quality in the figure drawing beyond anything found in China, produced by the extensive use of shaded modelling.
But Indian influence is to be seen earlier in the Tun-huang style of the Wei period, in which musculature
prominently if conventionally depicted.’
® Magha’s Sisupdlavadha, iv, 17.

17
 AJANTA MURALS

how the entire work was the result of donation of pious persons.^ Once the practice started^
the lay-community throughout the length and breadth of western India was actuated by a
desire to have similar monastic establishments, and we find brisk activity going on in different
centres. The excavation of the caves at Pitalkhora was patronized by rich merchants (per¬
fumers) and the court-physician of Pratishthana, those at Nasik by the royalty and lay-
followers of Govardhana (near Nasik), the Kanheri (Krishnagiri) ones among others by
the craftsmen of Sopara, Kalyan (Kaliyana), and so on.^ Within seven centuries there sprang
up cave-groups at places easily accessible from important towns^ or situated off thoroughfares
connecting different parts of the country—all beneficiaries of rulers, noblemen, merchants
and others even residing in distant towns.

The chronological order of the early chaitya-grihas^ can be determined with a fair amount of
certainty on the basis of architectural criteria corroborated by palaeographical and sculptural
evidence, the principal architectural norm being: how far the features tend to copy wooden
prototypes, the ones closely following them being older than those progressively deviating
from them. Besides, the earlier chaitya-grihas had an open front, the portion below the chaitya-
window being covered with elaborate timberwork forming a pillared portico. In course of time,
the timber facade was replaced by stone screens divided horizontally into two storeys, the
lower one pierced by doors and windows and the upper one with a central chaitya-Windo'w.
This fa9ade was further elaborated with chaitya-window ornamentation and railing-patterns
in relief. The chaitya-\i2A\. at Karla, the most magnificent product of the early phase, has the
side-screens divided into several horizontal rows, one above the other, and the entire- storeyed
arrangement is carried over the back of majestic elephant-figures.

*****

At Ajanta, we have two chaitya-grihas, Caves 9 and 10, of the early period, the latter being
earlier of the two and belonging to the middle of the second century b.c., a little later than the
chaitya-cdcve at Bhaja. Cave 10 is spacious and imposing and is, like the Bhaja one, apsidal on
plan. As usual, its central nave is separated from the side-aisle by a row of octagonal pillars,
here thirty-nine in number; the aisle is continued round the apse and thus provides for the
circumambulation of the stupa placed within the latter. The inner vault, originally fitted with
a network of curvilinear wooden beams and rafters and supported on pillars with a promi¬
nent inward rake, gives a feehng of wooden structure. The open front allows light in the interior

^ M. Ni Deshpande, ‘Important epigraphical records from the chaitya cave, Bhaja’, Lalit Kata, number
6 (1959), pages 30-32.
® H. Liiders, ‘A list of Brahmi inscriptions’, Pitalkhora: numbers 1187 and 1190-93; Nasik: numbers
1123, 1124, 1126, 1127 and 1129-34; Kanheri: numbers 988, 998, 1001, 1014, etc.
® The names of ancient places with cave-groups near them are given below. In Gujarat: Junagarh (ancient
Girinagara)—Bava-Pyara and Uparkot caves. In Maharashtra: Bhokardan (Bhogavardhana), District Auranga¬
bad—Ajanta and Janjala (Ghatotkacha) caves; Nasik (Nasikya)—Pandu-lena caves; Sopara (Surparaka),
District Thana—Kanheri and Kondivte caves; Kalyan (Kaliyana), District Thana—Kanheri and Kondivte caves
in the north and Kondane cave in the south; Junnar (Jirnanagara), District Poona—Manmodi, Ganesa-lena
and Tulja-lena groups of caves; Karad (Karahata), District Satara—Jakhinwadi (Yaksha-vatika ?) caves;
Kolhapur (with a mound known as Brahmapuri)—Povala caves; and Mahad (Mahahata ?), District
Kolaba—Kol, Pala and Khed caves.
^ The order of some of the principal chaitya-grihas can be worked as follows: (1) Bhaja, (2) Ajanta, Cave
10, (3) Pitalklrora, Cave 3, (4) Kondane, (5) Ajanta, Cave 9, (6) Nasik, (7) Bedsa, (8) Karla and (9) Kanheri,
Cave 3.

18
 THE CAVES : THEIR HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

and helps in no small measure to enhance the grandeur of this edifice. The next chaitya. Cave 9,
excavated a century later, is, unlike Cave 10, rectangular on plan and has a covered frontage,
suggesting a departure from the earlier tradition. A conspicuously-ribbed chaitya-Wmdovj,
originally with wooden latticework, is set on its fagade above the central entrance-doorway.
This cave is anterior to the chaitya-griha at Nasik, where the upper portion of the fagade is further
ornamented with chaitya-window?, in relief and has contemporary sculptures of a yaksha and
ndgas in animal-form. The Buddha-sculptures on the fagade and sides of Cave 9 of Ajanta
were added at a much later date under Mahayana influence.

The early vihdras of Ajanta, Caves 8, 12, 13 and 15 A, the last one brought to light in the
recent past, have plain oblong halls unsupported by pillars, with cells on three sides for the
residence of monks. The only decoration in these early vihdras, which may antedate Cave 9
and have otherwise severely plain exteriors, is the relief-patterns of cAaf^a-windows, railing and
stepped merlons above the doors of the cells. In their puritanic simplicity they reflect the austere
life led by the monks in these monasteries.

One of the vihdras attached to the chaitya-cdwt at Kondane, however, consists of a pillared hall
and, along with the vihdra, Cave 4, at Pitalkhora, marks a departure from the general order
of the early yfMra-architecture. The Pitalkhora cave is by far the most elaborate example in
the early series,^ with a magnificent sculptured fagade with chaitya-Windo'w ornamentation
in relief, a high plinth fronted by a splendid row of elephants and a covered entrance flanked
by (iyaraj&a/a-figures. The interior cells for monks have vaulted and ribbed ceilings. This and
the Kondane vihdras, carved almost immediately after the Ajanta ones but prior to the chaitya-
griha, Cave 9, bespeak a high watermark of contemporary architecture and presage the later
developments in the yf/tara-architecture as observed at Nasik and even in the later Mahayana
vihdras at Ajanta.

The chaitya-grihas. Caves 19 and 26, and the vihdras. Caves 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16, 17 and 20
to 24, that came to be excavated at Ajanta under the Vakatakas have a place of their own in
the later development of rock-cut architecture in western India. While we have examples of
contemporary vihdras in the Ghatotkacha and Bagh caves, the Ajanta chaitya-grihas of the
period are unique, the Visvarkarma, Cave 10, at Ellora marking the culmination of this series.
If the chaitya-csiVG at Karla is the best example of the early series, being described in the
inscribed record as ‘the most excellent rock-mansion in Jambudvipa’ (India),^ Cave 19 of
Ajanta, belonging to the period of king Harishena [circa 475-500),^ is the later chaitya-griha
par excellence. It follows in a general way the plan of the early ones, the fagade receiving the
highest attention by the addition of an elegant pillared portico in front and by a skilful in¬
tegration of its architectural and sculptural (below, page 28) decorations. The somewhat
later (early sixth century) and larger Cave 26 has a pillared verandah in front in place of the
portico of Cave 19 but is equally noteworthy for the profusion of sculptural wealth on its fagade.
Both the chaitya-grihas have a forecourt with attached pillared rooms to provide for the
accommodation of priest-monks. Yet another chaitya-griha. Cave 29, standing at a higher
1 For a description, see M. N. Deshpande, ‘The rock-cut caves at Pitalkhora in the Deccan,’ Ancient India,
number 15 (1959), pages 66-93, particularly 73-76.
2 H. Liiders, ‘A list of Brahmi inscriptions’, number 1087.
® See above, page 16, note 5.

19
 AJANTA MURALS

level, is unfinished. Its incomplete fagade and inner vault indicate it to be an excavation
of the latest period.

The later viharas of Ajanta,^ of which Cave 1 may be taken to be the most representative
and a perfect specimen, presuppose a long development which can be traced to the earlier
examples at Nasik and Kanhcri. At Nasik, the viharas of Nahapana, Gave 8, of Gautamiputra
Satakarni, Cave 3, and that attributed to Yajna Satakarni, Cave 15,—all of the early series
and ascribable variously from the middle to the end of the second century a.d.,—have each
a pillared verandah in front, though they have unpillared halls. In each the back wall of the
front verandah is pierced, like the later Vakataka ones, by a central doorway, side-windows
and smaller doors, one on either side, allowing light in the interior. Gave 3 of Nasik has on its
back wall a low-relief stiipa worshipped by females, forestalling the position of the garbha-
griha, which in all monasteries of the later period houses a Buddha-figure. In an almost con¬
temporary example at Kanheri, Gave 35, where, under Mahayana aegis, the inner walls were
decorated with sculpture, the original fa9ade consists of four octagonal pillars with square
bases and the back wall of the verandah is pierced by a central doorway and two side-doors
intended to illuminate the dark interior and to project the relieved carvings on the walls by
means of side-light. At Ajanta, the central entrance-doorway, two large-sized windows, one
on either side of the entrance in the back wall of the verandah, as also two side-entrances in
some of the viharas of the later period similarly help to light up the central hall and the side-
corridors and more specially the paintings on the walls. Such a development was the direct
result of necessit/. When it was decided to introduce subsidiary shrines in the viharas, proper
arrangement for light was inescapable. Thus, Cave 2 of Ajanta which has subsidiary shrines
on both sides of the rear wall, has also windows in the front wall admitting sufficient light to
illuminate the shrines and the paintings contained therein. The caves are in fact bathed in sub¬
dued but pleasing light towards the evening with the slanting rays of the setting sun brightening
the colourful world inside the cave.

The facade of Cave 1 of Ajanta received a special treatment in that it had a pillared porch
(now fallen) like Cave 19 and a verandah frontally supported by six elegantly-decorated
columns, the sculptured capitals of which carry spectacular entablatures with friezes of
sculptures, including scenes from the life of Buddha. The interior has a hall with twenty
pillars and four pilasters arranged in a square and fourteen cells pierced into the walls. The
central pillars of the back row are lavishly carved with extra ornamentation, again having
on their capitals scenes from the life of Buddha. An antechamber leads the visitor to the
sanctum enshrining a colossal image of Buddha (below, page 30). The other viharas, including
Caves 16 and 17, datable on inscriptional evidence to the end of the fifth century, follow the
same pattern. Cave 4, one of the largest viharas of Ajanta, can be definitely taken to be con¬
temporary to, or very slightly later than. Caves 1,2, 16 and 17 on the strength of a recently-
found inscription on the pedestal of the image of Buddha in the shrine.^

1 Cave 15, with eight cells and an astylar hall, may be the earliest vihdra of this series. The Buddha-figure
in the sanctum is stylistically earlier and is without attendants.
^ Epigraphia Indica, XXXIII (1959-60), pages 259-62. The palaeography of inscription belies the earlier
theories on the date of the cave, variously believed to be the third century, G. Yazdani, Ajanta, III (Oxford, 1946),
text, page 7, or the seventh century, J. Fergusson and J. Burgess, The Cave Temples of India (London, 1880), page

20
 THE CAVES : THEIR HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

In the fifth century and perhaps till a few years later activity at Ajanta was so brisk that work
simultaneously progressed in different sectors. Together with the unimportant intervening
caves, the vihdras, Caves 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7, were excavated at the outer end of the valley and
11, 16, 17 and 20 in the central sector. The other vihdras, Caves 21 to 24, together with chaitya-
griha, Cave 26, all at the inner end, were commenced a little later but were executed within
the sixth century, some left unfinished. Also to this later period belongs the double-storeyed
vihdra, Cave 6, abruptly breaking the general level of the caves and having on its ground
floor four rows of four pillars each, unlike the plan of the other vihdras, and on the upper floor
a garbha-griha with standing figures of Buddha—a feature of the caves at Ellora.

The Aurangabad group of caves draws its inspiration from the later caves at Ajanta, its
unfinished vihdra, Cave 1, being the largest cave planned here, and another vihdra. Cave 3,
being the most exquisite example of the period. A departure from the earlier tradition of
painting on the wall-canvas stories of the Jatakas is first noticed here, the Sutasoma-Jdtaka
being sculptured on the architrave of pillars in the hall of that cave. This emphasis on sculp¬
tural decoration, noticed in Cave 26 of Ajanta (below, p. 33), asserts itself at Aurangabad,
though painting is not wholly neglected. The Buddhist caves of Ellora form, as it were, an
epilogue in the story of Buddhist rock-cut architecture, but for our present purposes it is
needless to go into details about them.

21
 THE CAVES : THEIR SCULPTURE
T he splendour of the paintings of Ajanta has overshadowed the elegance and serene
dignity of its sculpture, as a result of which the latter has not received its due attention.
Indeed, the sculpture of Ajanta, besides possessing a certain amount of classical excellence, is
of great interest and importance to the study of the development of plastic art in the
Deccan.

It must, however, be remembered that the sculptured figures of Ajanta were not meant to be
seen, as they are seen now, shorn of the layer of plaster and painting, which anciently coated
them^ like the walls—a fact which is generally lost sight of Large patches of painted plaster
over the figures in Caves 1,2, 16 and 17 are intact, and a careful look at them would convince
one that the appreciation of the Ajanta sculpture in its extant form is bound to suffer if the
transformation that a piece of carving underwent at the dextrous hand of the painter when
he applied luminous colours on its surface is not taken into account. Such a treatment was
bound to enhance the tridimensional effect of depth and perspective. The metamorphosis
brought about in this manner was perhaps as enchanting as the transformation of a mountain-
stream into a silvery streak at the touch of the rays of the autumnal moon.

BACKGROUND OF SCULPTURAL ART IN THE DECCAN

The sculptural art of the Deccan is so intimately connected with the architecture that neither
of them can be dealt with in isolation. Within a century of the spread of Buddhism in western
India under the direction of Asoka (273-36 b.c.) a novel and dynamic architectural activity
commenced in the area and excavation of caves for the residence of and worship by monks
became the practice. It must, however, be remembered that excavation of a cave was itself
the enterprise of a sculptor, who showed his capability not only in carving out a human or
animal figure but something far grander and more monumental. In this sense the excavation
was not an architectural endeavour but essentially a sculptor’s dream coming to life with every
stroke of the hammer on the chisel. Yet, the great halls—chaitya-grihas and vihdras—betray
aAtrong influence of wooden construction so as to create an illusion of a building in wood.^

1 The use of plaster and paint on sculpture is met with at Pitalkhora, as on th.e yaksha acting as dvdrapala.
Ancient. India, number 15 (1959), page 82. The marble sculpture of Amaravati was also covered originally with a thin
plaster, coloured and gilt, A. K. Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art (Cambridge, Mass., 1927),
page 70. The colossal Buddha-image at Bamiyan (Afghanistan) was also painted, and Hiuen Tsang describes
it as ‘of a brilliant golden colour and resplendent with ornamentation of precious substances’, Thomas Watters,
On Yuan Ckwang’s Travels in India (London, 1905), page 118. [A Sarnath inscription of a.d. 476 refers to the
Buddha-image on which it occurs as having been embellished with painting (chitra-vinydsa-chitritaih), Archaeological
Survey of India, Annual Report, 7974-75 (Calcutta, 1920), pages 124-25, Jagan Nath in Journal of the United Provinces
Historical Society, XIII (1940), part ii, page 100.—Editor.]
2 Western India, like other parts of India, had the tradition of wooden architecture. This is borne out by
literary and archaeological evidence. The Divyavadana, edited by P. L. Vaidya (Darbhanga, 1959), pages 26 ff.,
refers to a sandal-wood merchant of Surparaka who built a sandal-wood monastery at that place for Buddha. It
also mentions, page 27, that Surparaka had eighteen gates, which were presumably made of timber. Excavation
at Bahai, District Jalgaon, revealed rectangular post-holes in Period II [circa 600-200 b.c.), suggesting the use of
cut timber for buildings, Indian Archaeology 1956-57—A Review (New Delhi, 1957), page 18. The timberwork still
attached to the ceiling of the chaitya-caves at Bhaja (second century B.c.) and Karla (first century a.d.) is also
suggestive of the wood-tradition.

22
 THE CAVES : THEIR SCULPTURE

Such masterly integration of architectural details of wooden construction in a non-structural

building was indeed possible because the architect-sculptors were mainly drawn from the
profession of carpenters, who took to the work of creating rock-cut mansions^ and soon exhibited
great proficiency therein. Goldsmiths^ and ivory-carvers^ joined hands with sculptors, and all
together completed the requisite personnel for rock-carving.

PHASES OF SCULPTURAL ACTIVITY IN THE CAVES

The sculptural activity in Buddhist caves in the Deccan is broadly divisible into two main
periods. Aj’anta does not, however, contain any sculpture of the earlier period, covering about
four centuries, from the second century B.c. to the second century a.d., when the Hinayana
caves at Aj’anta, the chaitya-grihas—Caves 10 and 9—and vihdras—Caves 8, 12, 13 and 15 A—
were excavated. The lacuna is now filled by the fortunate discovery of a large number
of early sculptures in the cave-group of Pitalkhora in District Aurangabad, about 70 km. to
the west-south-west of Ajanta.^ Sculptures in the caves at Bhaja, Kondane, Nasik, Bedsa,
Karla and Kanheri further help in providing an almost unbroken tradition of sculptural art
of the earlier period.® Thereafter there was a comparatively unproductive period in the
northern Deccan, the centre having shifted to Andhradesa, where, under the patronage of
the later Satavahana and Ikshvaku rulers, the existing art-tradition blossomed forth to
decorate Buddhist monuments such as those at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda. The- dis¬
covery of sculptured limestone slabs of the Amaravati type at Ter (ancient Tagara) in the
Deccan attests to the synthesis of these art-traditions. The northern Deccan came into
prominence once more with the rise of the Vakataka power, when an all-round develop¬
ment of fine arts like sculpture, painting and architecture was witnessed. Under the new
impact of iconic Buddhism, figures of Buddha and the Bodhisattvas came to be carved
as the chief objects of worship in the caves. Vakataka inscriptions in the Ajanta and Ghatot-
kacha caves would indicate that this second phase was ushered in in the last quarter
of the fifth century a.d. Once a beginning had been made, side by side with the excavation of
new caves the existing Hinayana ones were suitably modified and sculptures or paintings of
Buddha and the Bodhisattvas were added thereto as at Pitalkhora, Karla, Nasik and Kanheri,
while entirely new groups of caves were excavated at places like Aurangabad, Ellora and
Ajanta itself

THE MAKE-UP OF AJANTA SCULPTURE

Ajanta imbibed artistic influences which penetrated into the Deccan from both the north
and the south. The figure-sculpture of Ajanta thus reflects the best in the art-tradition of
contemporary India, generally drawing its inspiration from the artistic movement set afoot

^ A Karla inscription refers to a carpenter as having fashioned the fa9ade of the cave, H. Luders, ‘A list
of Brahmi inscriptions’, Epigraphia Indica, X (1909-10), number 1092.
2 An inscription on the outer palm of a jaksha-im3.ge from Pitalkhora states that the image was fasliioned
by a hiramnakdra, goldsmith. Ancient India, number 15 (1959), page 82.
3 A Sanchi inscription records that a carving {rupakaiima) was done by the ivory-workers of Vidisa,
H. Luders, ‘A list of Brahmi inscriptions,’ number 345.
‘^Ancient India, number 15, pages 66-90.
® In a paper read at the Seminar on Indian Art History, 1962, organized by the Lalit Kala Akademi, the
present writer made a plea for a Deccan school of sculpture and suggested an internal development within the
school. Seminar on Indian Art History, edited by Moti Chandra (Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi), pages 16-25.

23
 AJANTA MURALS

under the aegis of the Guptas and Vakatakas, yet retaining fundamentally autochthonous
elements. The basic character of the Ajanta sculpture is unconsciously but quite naturally
related to the indigenous school of the Deccan sculpture which flourished under the Sata-
vahanas and was later nurtured in the Krishna and Godavari valleys. Indirect influences
also travelled from north India. A recently-noticed inscription’- on the pedestal of a Buddha-
image in the sanctum of Cave 4 of Ajanta states that the image was the deya-dharma or religious
gift of a person named Mathura who was the son of Abhayanandin and the owner of the
monastery (yihdra-svdmi). The name of the person may suggest that he hailed from
Mathura, an important centre of Buddhism and Buddhist art in northern India. The influence
of Sarnath is apparent on the sculptured decoration introduced during the fifth and sixth
centuries at several centres in the Deccan. The later carvings, specially in the ckaitya, Cave 3,
at Kanheri, show nearly the same refinement of modelling and spiritual expression as are met
with at Sarnath. These features which form the fundamental characteristics of Gupta art are
palpable at Ajanta in the standing figures of Buddha on the facades of Caves 9, 19 and 26 and
particularly in the standing figure of Buddha in abhaya-mudrd in Cave 19. Barring such excep¬
tions, the general character of the sculpture tends towards a certain amount of ponderosity
and heaviness of form, though there was a conscious attempt at imparting a spiritual expres¬
sion and finer sensitivity to the sculpture by means of refined modelling.

It is quite apparent that all the later caves at Ajanta were not excavated at the same time,
though a few may have been produced simultaneously. Besides, they were the outcome of
donations of different persons and consequently reflect the changing needs of worship and in¬
dividual predilection of donors in the matter of sculptural decoration, though, on the whole,
the chief architect-priest of the monastery must have exercised control over the general lay¬
out and execution of the plastic embellishment in his monastery. Taking into account the
entire sculptural wealth of Ajanta, we can divide the sculpture into a few broad categories
on the basis of its subjects.

THE SUBJECTS

Buddha

As pointed out earlier (above, page 23), the worship of Buddha as the saviour of humanity
had taken root in the Deccan by at least the fifth century a.d. and the artist took particular
delight and care in fashioning his figure in rock. The representation of Buddha in both chaitya-
grihas and vihdras became a necessity.^ The colossal images of Buddha carved in the garbha-
grihas located at the rear end of the pillared vihdras thus form a class by themselves. In this
class Buddha is usually shown seated in vajrdsana with his hands in the dharmachakra-pravartana-
7nudrd (preaching pose). Flanked by a Bodhisattva acting as the whisk-bearer, the figures of
Buddha have a sublime spiritual expression and are the very embodiment of karund or bene¬
volence. Among such figures, special attention may be drawn to the sculpture in Cave 1
(plate J), which represents the scene of the First Sermon in Mrigadava (Sarnath). The standing
figure of Buddha in abhaya-mudrd (pose of assurance), as in Cave 19 (plate G), or sitting on a

^ Epigraphia Indica, XXXIII (1959-60), page 260.

^ In the almost contemporary Buddhist caves at Ba^h. in central India, the vihdras contain only the stupa
in the garbha-griha, while in one case only there is a figure-sculpture of Buddha flanked by the Bodhisattvas.

24
 THE CAVES : THEIR SCULPTURE

lion-throne, as in Cave 26, both carved on T;he frnnt part of a stupa, follow the practice,
originating in the Gandhara country, of superimposing the cult-image on the stupa. The
images possess an air of spirituality and tenderness and can be ranked as specimens
of a high order.

The figures of Buddha flanking the entrance to the chaitya, Gave 19 (plates B and C), are re¬
markable examples where the sculptor has lavished all his skill in bestowing on the Master a
superb expression of detachment as also of universal love. He has refrained from producing
colossi but has, for once, produced masterpieces. The fine modelling and the delineation of
feeling by subtle touches have given a rare charm to these sculptures. In another case,
however, probably to match the greatness of Buddha, a sculpture of colossal proportions was
carved in Cave 26, where the parinirvdna (extinction) of the Master is treated with an utmost
warmth of feeling.

The rising popularity of the worship of Buddha necessitated, in due course of time, his nume¬
rous representations. Standing figures of Buddha in the mendicant’s garb and in varada-mudrd
were carved in the antechambers of Caves 4 and 6. The shrine-door ofCave 6 contains a sculp¬
ture of Buddlja seated in vajrdsana and protected by the ndga Muchalinda along with his other
representations including one in abhaya-mudrd (pose of assurance). Smaller panels of Buddha
in various attitudes also came to be carved at convenient places (plates B and C) around a
principal image so as to frame it (plate E). To this class also belongs the manifold representa¬
tion of Buddha (plate R).

The Bodhisattvas

Under the influence of polytheism of Mahayana, the worship of the Bodhisattvas began to have
an irresistible appeal to the Buddhist laity on account of the more humane qualities and the spirit
of self-sacrifice of the Bodhisattvas to the extent of abjuring the highest knowledge and Buddha-
hood for the good of humanity. The Bodhisattvas who had been sculptured as attendants of
Buddha now came to be carved independently. Particularly popular was the litany of Bodhi-
sattva Avalokitesvara depicted both in painting [garbha-griha of Cave 2 and verandah of
Cave 17) and in sculpture (verandah of Cave 4 and a small and a large panel near Gave 26).
The litany usually contains a central figure of Avalokitesvara with eight small panels, four
on each side, showing him in the act of giving protection to the devotees from the calamities
of life. He is usually shown with jatd-mukuta (matted hair) with Amitabha on his forehead.
He holds a lotus-stalk, with an opening bud in one hand and generally a rosary in the other.
He is invoked in all cases of danger and distress, and it is interesting to notice that they are
varied, such as those that a caravan-leader might suffer in his journey by land and sea, the
fear of wild animals like the lion, elephant and cobra and of goblins, fire, assassins, incarcera¬
tion and shipwreck. Such panels had a special appeal to the people engaged in commerce by
land and sea. Similar panels are met with at the Buddhist cave-groups of Aurangabad, Ellora
and Kanheri, the one at Aurangabad being the most vivid and best executed. One of the
representations at Kanheri depicts Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara with his consort Tara^ standing

^ In course of time similar representations with the central figure of Tara came to be carved and
one such litany is seen at Ellora (Cave 9), R. Sengupta, A Guide to the Buddhist Caves of Elura (Bombay, 1958),
page 20.

25
 AJANTA MURALS

in the centre amidst smaller panels illustrating his benevolent actions in granting protection
to devotees in distress.

The nag as and yakshas

The worship of nature-spirits like the ndgas, the serpent-kings of the waters, and the yakshas,
the rulers of the Four Quarters, has a hoary antiquity in India. Buddhism accepted these
widely-prevalent and popular forms of worship and stories of ndga-rdjas and yaksha-rdjas were
woven around Buddha. Early Buddhist literature including the Jatakas is permeated
with numerous tales of the exploits of these nature-spirits. Older representations of ndgas exist
at a number of early monuments. In the Hinayana caves at Pitalkhora,i Nasik, Kondivte and
Thanala, the ndga is portrayed in the theriomorphic form, but later on he appears in an
anthropomorphic form at the outer entrance to the courtyard of the principal chaitya-cz.vt
at Kanheri and on the fa9ade of the Manmodi chaitya at Junnar, which are considered to be
the last two chaitya-gnhas of the Hinayana phase. At Ajanta, the ndgas are represented on the
door-jambs of the entrance-doorway to vihdras and the inner cells containing the Buddha-image.
In all cases they are depicted as performing the function of guardian-deities. Ndgas with a
five-hooded canopy are also shown as worshipping the stupa on the facade of Cave 19 (plate C).
This particular subject is very interesting ndgas are shown in the aerial region in the place
usually occupmd by the vidyddharasA That the ndga was believed to be capable of flying in the
aerial region is not at all strange, for according to an episode in the Mahdbhdrata Takshaka,
the king of serpents, having bitten Parikshit, is credited to have moved through the aerial
region.3 Besides the ndga-rdja couple (plate D) described later (below, page 30), a separate
anthropomorphic representation of ndga-rdja sitting on his coiled body is also seen in a
special shrine situated halfway in the elephant-flanked entrance to Gave 16. An inscription
in this cave mentions that the cave was provided among other things with a shrine for the
lord of the nagas {nag-endra-vehna). This sculpture (not included in this Album) has considerable
artistic merit. Smaller panels depicting the ndga-rdja with a five-hooded canopy and his consort
with a single hood over the head are also carved in Caves, 1, 2 and 23. The ndgas by name
Nanda and Upananda, supporting the lotus-seat of Buddha as also his manifold representa¬
tions, are also depicted at Ajanta (below, page 34). The representation of ndga-rdja and his
consort was an equally popular theme in the paintings of Ajanta. The Sahkhapdla-Jdtaka
(Cave 1), Champeyya-Jdtaka (Cave 1; plate XXXVII) and Vidhurapandita-Jdtaka (Cave 2;
plate LIII) contain some of the finest representations of the ndgas and the splendour of their
watery domain.

Representations oiyakshas ^nd yakshis guarding the quarters stupas are also met with in
early Indian monuments like Bharhut and Sanchi. In western India, the caves at Pitalkhora,
ondane and Nasik coni^.\n yakshas as dvdra-pdlas guarding the entrance to the chaitya. They
are also met with as supporting vihdras and holding with their upraised hands the bowl of
plenty. At Ajanta a, separate shrine in a vihdra, Gave 2, houses two yakshas of royal demeanour
wearing a variety of ornaments like the clasp for keeping the ringlets of the hair in position.

^ Ancient India, number 15, page 75.

j. Ph. \ ogel, Indian Serpent Lore, page 68.

26
 THE CAVES : THEIR SCULPTURE

haras, keyuras, udara-bandhas, etc. They are flanked by female whisk-bearers indicating their
regal character. The chaitya-window of Gave 19 is flanked by standing jVflfj-Aa-figure (plates A
and F), while that of Cave 26 is flanked by seated ones. A painted record with the name of
yaksha Manibhadra is seen on the left end of the verandah of Gave 17, but the painting of the
yaksha himself is almost entirely obliterated.

Besides these representations, mention must be made of the sculptures olyaksha Pafichika and
his consort Hariti, the goddess auspicious to children. Pahchika (also called Jambhala, the
Buddhist god of wealth) and Hariti are invariably met with in the monasteries of the Gandhara
region and their worship also became popular in western India. Caves 2 of Ajanta (plate Q,)
and 7 of Aurangabad have subsidiary shrines dedicated to them, while at Ellora they are
sculptured in a separate niche in the middle of the group of the Buddhist caves. At Ajanta
smaller panels depicting only Hariti with children or with Panchika are carved in Caves 2
and 23 on the architraves of the cells inside the vihdras.

Celestial beings

In the world of Ajanta the celestials commingle with human beings but are primarily depicted
as subservient to Buddha and the Bodhisattvas and in the role of offering prayers or displaying
their musical talent by singing^ and playing on musical instruments. In the paintings they are
shown in legions flaunting in the aerial region with effortless ease, but their representation in
sculpture is limited. Vidyadharas are also shown in the aerial region but as offering garlands
to Buddha (plates B, C, E and J). Gandharvas also make their appearance usually with their
female partners (plate H), and the entire ceiling of Cave 16 is shown as supported on the backs
olyakshas, kinnaras and gandharvas. The pillar-capitals of Cave 24 have some fine sculptural
decoration, and the two ends of the brackets display gandharva-mithunas of extremely supple
forms, the females gracefully resting on the floating male companions. As if to complete the
depiction of the celestial region, kinnara-mithunas with human busts and bird-like lower parts
are depicted-amidst clouds as playing on musical instruments. A pot-bellied seated in
quiet repose is also shown as enjoying a drink, attended by a maid holding a flask. Vidyadharas
and gams are also carved on pillars, the latter with cymbals or other musical instruments in
their hands and keeping time to the melody of the gandharvas. The entire atmosphere of the
gandharva-loka is thus recreated. The lithesome limbs of these celestials are shown in spritely
but gracious movements and the onlooker feels that they are as living as the ringlets of clouds
amidst which they are sculptured. Plate K shows, on the lower part of architrave, three gams
within the chaitya-O-vcht?, carrying garlands in hands.

PiTALKHORA providcs the earliest example of a winged kinnara holding a bowl of flowers in
his hand.^ His lower limbs are covered with feathers and probably he had the feet of a bird.
This is in accordance with the practice at Ajanta, but a kinnari depicted at Bhaja (second
century b.c.) in the so-called Indra panel is horse-faced, if she is not to be taken to be a
yakshi with a horse’s head® as is found at Bodh-Gaya. A flying gandharva holding a shield in
one hand also comes from the same place. A Nasik cave-inscription^ states CxzX gandharvas along

1 Gandharvas are described as devd-gayakas in Vishnudharmottara, third khanda, viii, 22.

^Ancient India, number 15, page 84.
® C. Sivaramamurti, Amaravati Sculptures in the Madras Government Museum (Madras, 1956), page 75.
^ J. Burgess, Report on the Buddhist Cave Temples and their Inscriptions, Archaeological Survey of Western
India, IV (London 1883), page 108.

27
 AJANTA MURALS

With.yakshas, rdkshasas and vidyddharas participated in battles; one of the functions of these
celestial beings was, therefore, to help gods in warfare.^

River-goddesses and miscellaneous subjects

It is well-known that river-goddesses Gahga and Yamuna are shown as standing on makara
and kurma respectively, one on either side of shrine-doors, and have a significant place in the
architectural framework of entrances to religious edifices. This iconographic form has a long
development starting with the representation of yakshi-hgnvts at either end of the Sanchi
/orawfl-architraves. A representation of Gauga is noticed at Amaravati as well, but the depic¬
tion of the twin rivers became popular only later on. Even at Aj’anta the iconography was not
sufficiently crystallized and both the deities, one on either side of the door-frame, stand on
crocodiles below trees laden with fruits. In one case (plate N) the male attendant of the river-
goddess stands on a tortoise. In Cave 27 the goddess stands on a makara under a tree; her left
hand rests on the head of a dwarf, while on her right hand, which is flexed at the elbow, is
perched a parrot almost in the act of uttering pleasantries to the sweet-faced damsel. The
vrikshikds or graceful maidens standing under trees, perhaps signifying dohada (longing), are
also sculptured on the upper ends of the door-jambs.

Youthful couples {mithunas) are also set in panels along the door-frames. They have a special
auspicious significance, and we find them sculptured in panels on door-jambs, sometimes one
below another, as partly seen on plate M.

Decorations

Besides the above subjects, Ajanta has a fascinating variety of sculptured ornamentation.
Rows of elephants with raised trunks in a jungle-setting or carrying branches of trees in their
trunks, fights of wild buffaloes, hamsas with flowing arabesques sporting in a lotus-pool and
feeding on the pollens of the lotus—all these form the decoration on the fagade of Cave 1
amidst scenes showing lovers in amorous sport. The diversity of other types of delicate
carvings usually sculptured on pillars and pilasters is extremely bewildering. Consisting
of floral patterns, medallions depicting the full-blown lotus, the conch, makaras, hamsas,
lotus-creepers, pearl-hangings, jewelry-patterns, kirttimukhas, mythical animals, etc., they
help in creating an atmosphere of warmth, delicacy and richness that is characteristically
classical.

COMMENTS ON PLATES A TO R

Facade of Cave 19 (plates A to F)

The highly-ornate fagade of the chaitya-griha, Cave 19 (plate A), has a wealth of sculpture,
affording an opportunity for the study of sculpture of the classical period. Some plastic decora¬
tion cropped up here and there later on, but it only helps in understanding the artistic
decadence and the changing pattern and needs of the faith. The fagade was artistically con¬
ceived with a view to achieving an aesthetic unity by the harmonious blending of architecture
and sculpture. The carvings on pillars and pilasters, the rows of chaitya-archcs framing pretty

^ R. S. Pancharaukhi, Gandharvas and Kinnaras in Indian Iconography (Dharwar, 1951), page 19.

28
 THE CAVES : THEIR SCULPTURE

faces, scrolls of foliage in horizontal bands—all these were introduced on the facade to project
pleasing architectural features and to bring out the beauty of sculpture thoughtfully intro¬
duced at appropriate places.

Coming to the principal carvings on the fagade, we notice two sculptured panels set within
an architectural framework of delicately-carved pilasters on either side of the mukha-mandapa
(plates B and C) and a standing figure olyaksha Kubera on either side of the chaitya-'windo'w.
The first set of sculpture flanking the entrance depicts Buddha. In the sinister panel he appears
in his mendicant’s garb at the palace-door at Kapilavastu where his son Rahula led by his
mother Yasodhara receives the begging-bowl from him (plate C). His peerless wisdom and
compassion are indicated by his superhuman stature and spiritual expression. The crown held
over his hallowed head by heavenly cherubs further enhances this effect. The scene is, no doubt,
inspired by the painting in Cave 17 (plate LXXVI) and is a masterpiece of Ajanta sculpture
as the latter is of Ajanta painting.^ The corresponding figure on the dexter side depicts Buddha
in varada-mudra, his figure steeped in karund. On his right side is a standing woman bereft of all
ornaments and near his left foot is another woman, this time prostrating. Probably both re¬
present Amrapali, the favourite courtesan of Vaisali, who, according to Asvaghosha, appeared
‘in white garments and devoid of body-paint and ornaments before Buddha like a woman of
good family at the time of worshipping’ and ‘prostrated her slender body like a blossoming
mango-creeper and stood up full of piety’.^

As a total composition the principal figures in the niches flanking the entrance stand gracefully
in slight tribhanga postures half-inclined inwards and, therefore, facing the devotee entering the
shrine, their benign expressions creating a feeling of assurance in the heart of the worshipper.
The soft mellifluous contours of the bodies which were enriched originally by painted plaster,
coupled with the charming expression exuding spirituality, nlake these figures stand out from
the rest.

The adjacent panels on either side depict Buddha as cult-object of worship; on the sinister side
(plate C) he is portrayed as standing in varada-mudra on a double lotus against the drum of
the stupa under a finely-carved makara-torana, above which rises the anda, harmikd and triple
chhatrdvali flanked by /za^a-celestials. The corresponding panel on the right (plate B) has two
compartments, the upper one having a seated figure of Buddha in dharmachakra-pravartana-
mudra and the lower, a standing figure, in varada-mudra.

The upper part of the fagade is relieved by a central chaiiya-'NinAov^ of an elegant design, with
a figure of richly-bedecked and majestically-standing on either side (plates A and F).
These two gudsdidinyakshas, in the classical Gupta-Vakataka idiom, are genetically related to
the yakshas of the Satavahana period (Pitalkhora and Nasik). Verging on corpulence, they
stand in tribhanga posture with a tight belt [udara-bandhd) around their bellies. The general
contours of the body are soft and fleshy. The legs are rather heavy and short but less so than
their archetypes. The facial expression is calm and charming with a smile concealed under a
thick lower lip. The round halo around the face bestows an air of spirituality. A dwarf attendant

^ The same subject is also painted on the interior left wall of this chaitya-griha.
'■ 2 Buddha-charita, xxii, 17 and 51. This identification is being proposed here for the first time.

29
 AJANTA MURALS

emptying the bag of wealth of its gingling contents adds greatly, by contrast, to the majesty of
theyaksha, who has a Buddha-figure on his crest—a unique feature.

The lord of the ndgas with his consort on his left and a standing whisk-bearer on his right (plate
D), carved in a niche on the flanking wall at right angles to the fagade of Cave 19, is a product
of superb artistry. Steeped in dignity, he is seated on a rocky platform in mahdrdja-lild posture
with a seven-hooded cobra behind his head. The form of the body is graceful and slim and has
an expression of peace and devotion. The lavish ornamentation, besides adding beauty to the
sculpture, makes up for the paucity of costume worn by the figures.

Opposite the ndgardja-\Ta^.gQ is the figure of Buddha (plate E) in pralamba-pdda posture and in
dharmachakra-pravartana-mudrd. Absorbed in contemplation, he is seated on a raised platform
and with the feet resting on a double-lotus pedestal. The miniature Buddha-figures bordering
the principal niche are later additions, carved at intervals within the next century. It will be
noticed that the lotus foot-rests of these miniature Buddhas were further amplified by the addi¬
tion of a worshipper at either end, probably a donor in each case. Similar miniature Buddha-
figures are also noticed on pilasters and below the principal Buddha-figure. See plates B and G.

Interior of Cave 19 (plate G)

The lavish sculptural decoration on pillars and capitals and the triforium with a standing
image of Buddha against the stupa within a highly-ornamental niche in Cave 19 are features
which attract the visitor and hold him spell-bound by its artistic charm. In contrast to the
stupas in Caves 10 and 9, this stupa shows developed characteristics—with base-mouldings, a
round anda and a tall harmikd with tapering triple umbrellas supported by yakshas and
surmounted by a purna-ghata reaching up to the vaulted ceiling. The serenity and charm
of the central Buddha dominate the warm spiritual atmosphere of the prayer-chamber. He
appears to symbolize the changeless among the constantly-changing phenomena of the world
and the resort of the suffering humanity. On the capitals and the triforium are niches contain¬
ing Buddha-figures in dhydna-mudrd separated from each other by a variety of foliage-designs.

Ceiling of Cave 16 (plate H)

The ceiling of Cave 16, a vihdra with some fine gandharva-s,cu\pXurt% carved on the capitals of
pillars and brackets, is intended to convey the effect of a celestial region. The gandharva-co\xp\e
illustrated on plate H, though bereft of the protective plaster-layer, is of supreme charm. The
female is held in half embrace by her male partner on whose lap she is seated gracefully.
The flowing wavy locks of hair of the male held in position by a clasp contrast beautifully with
the dhammilla head-dress of the female.

Shrine of Cave 1 (plate J)

All the vihdras of Ajanta usually have a garbha-griha to enshrine a colossal figure of Buddha.
Cave 1 contains a fine specimen of such a sculpture depicting Buddha in dharma¬
chakra-pravartana-mudrd. On the pedestal is seen the Wheel of Law flanked by a deer on either
side to suggest the provenance of the sermon, viz. Mrigadava (Sarnath). The main object of
worship, Buddha, is flanked on either side by a stout whisk-bearer. These attendant figures
are similar to thej(2A;.5-Afl-figures on either side of the chaitya-Wiadoyi in Cave 19 in regard to

30
BLACK-AND-WHITE PLATES
A TO R
MEASUREMENTS (IN METRES) OF SUBJECTS ILLUSTRATED ON PLATES A TO R
A ]0-75x9-30 E 2-60 X1-70 J 3-95X2-75 N 1-65X0-60
B 2'50x2-10 F 2-50 X1-45 K 3-10X2-15 P 2-30 X 1-30
G 2-30X2-10 G 7'40x4-35 L 3-20X2-20 Q3-05X2-60
D 1-60 X1-35 H 0-80X0-70 M 1-80X1-30 R 3-65X2-35

ERRATA
In the captions of plates L and P, read ‘Gave 26’ and ‘Gave 21’ respectively for
‘Gave 29’ and ‘Gave 23’.

32
PLATE A
Gave 19: sculptured faQade
 'Ji>^j- V.S C

*i[rtjBiil>yHii^«iy

PLATE B
Cave 19: sculptures to the right of the entrance
(PLATE C
Cave 19: sculptures to the left of the entrance
 rJf-'-v- V"-V. ■;

.i..T V-';.' ■..v::''*»v:.if;

PLATE D
Cave 19: Nagaraja and his consort on a rocky seat,
on the wall to the right of the entrance
PLATE E
Cave 19: Buddha in a niche
to the left of the entrance
 L. l' 'al' .

■i'a^jS;i?

-^1 .

PLATE F
Cave 19: yaksha to the right of the window
over the entrance
 L X
-

'■-«'•'■■.■-*-“*«'

PLATE G
Cave 19 interior
 Ti

PLATE H
Gave. 16: celestial couple on the ceiling
 -

PLATE J

Cave 1: Preaching Buddha in the shrine

 PLATE K
Cave 1: sculptures over the cell to the right of the encrance. The
central panel depicts scenes from the early life of Gautama
j

(
(

li

Gave 29: attempt of Mara’s daughters to tempt Buddha

i PLATE L
 w&

PLATE M
Cave 4: sculptural ornamentation on the right
upper part of the door-frame of the shrine
 PLATE N

Cave 20: aquatic deity to the right

of the shrine-entrance
 i
i

Cave 23: sculptured architrave in the hall

PLATE'

WMlim
PLATE Q Gave 2: Hariti and Pafichika in a shrine
 ■J

ji

V \
[

PLATE R

Cave 7: manifold
representations
of Buddha

i
 THE CAVES : THEIR SCULPTURE

modelling (plate F) and may, therefore, represent the work of the same group of artists. The
vidyddharas with garlands in hands on either side of the painted halo amidst clouds represented
by ringlets are also well-conceived figures. The composition is extremely well-integrated and
the attention of the onlooker is focussed on the main object of worship. The sculpture, however,
tends to be rather heavy and lacks the grace of that on the fagade of Cave 19.

Scenes from Gautama’s life in Caves 1 and 26 (plates K and L)

The story-telling pattern followed in the paintings of Ajanta is at times repeated in sculpture.
One such example is to be seen over the cell to the left of entrance to Cave 1 (plate K). The
four great encounters in the life of Gautama which prompted him to forsake the life of pleasure
are carved here on the fagade. The life of pleasure led by the prince is also depicted in the panel
above the central chaitya-divch, where he is seen hstening to the music produced by a lady
holding a vind on her lap. The two panels to the right depict the young prince Gautama on a
horse-driven chariot going for a ride, where scenes of death (extreme left), old age (left centre)
and disease (right) confront him.

Cave 26, a chaitya-griha not far removed in time from Gave 19, contains on its interior walls a
large number of small and large sculptured panels, suggesting a definite departure from the
earlier tradition of decorating the interior wall of caves with paintings. The wall-space on the
left of the cave is covered by two large panels connected with the life of Buddha, while the rear
and right sides bear panels depicting Buddha flanked by the Bodhisattvas. One of the former
group IS the attempted temptation of Buddha by Mara; its lower portion showing the
dalliance of his daughters to allure Buddha is illustrated on plate L. Failing in his attempt to
disturb Buddha meditating under the Bodhi-tree, Mara thought of spreading a golden snare
and commanded his youthful daughters Rati (lust), Trishna (thirst) and Arati (delight) to
tempt him by their bewitching charm. Their coquettish gestures, attractive dance and melo¬
dious music—all failed to tempt Gautama and swerve him from the path of Enlightenment.
They are then shown seated on the right lower portion with their father, dejected at the
failure of their mission. The story-telling quahty of the sculpture, the unity of the composition
and the ingenuous disposition of the figures attest to the mastery of the sculptor in his art
equalling that of his brother-artist in painting.

The emphasis on sculptural decoration in this cave is continued in the caves at Aurangabad and
marks the beginning of a new mode of carving out large panels illustrating the principal
theme of ail edifying story. Also in the Brahmanical Gave 21 (Ramesvara) at Ellora, of the
beginning of the seventh century, this practice was followed; it was continued in the later
caves of the place.

Doorway of Gave 4 (plate M)

The chief figure on plate M is a vrikshikd on the upper‘part of the door-frame of the entrance¬
doorway of Cave 4, a vihdra. The graceful pose of this damsel standing below a tree with one
leg bent and resting on the wall recalls the painting of Maya in Gave 2 (plate XLIV). Standing
under the luxuriant foliage of a tree, this semi-nude figure suggests that she belongs to the
same tradition of the jt<2/ti^/«"-figures at the end of the architraves of the Sanchi gateways. The
sensuous figure, with heavy hips, a slender waist and a sumptuous bust, conforms to the tradi¬
tional standard of beauty which is enhanced by her expression of repose. The bracket with the

33
 AJANTA MURALS

mythical animal with a stout gana astride and the other architectural features and sculptured
panels make the door-jambs very attractive.

Doorway of Cave 20 (plate N)

The female figure standing on a makara (crocodile) with one attendant standing on a kurma
(tortoise) presages the full-fledged iconography of the river-goddess Ganga met with at
Deogarh and other places. The figure displays a delicate sense of modelling and is an excellent
specimen of female beauty conceived by the artist of the classical period.

Architrave in Cave 21 (plate P)

The Ajanta artist decorated the architraves with sculptured panels set in beautiful floral and
architectural framework. One such example, from Cave 21, illustrated on plate P shows a
princely couple engaged in conversation.

Shrine of Cave 2 (plate Q^)

The worship of Hariti and Pafichika was gaining popularity, and at Ajanta, Aurangabad
and Ellora we find them portrayed in separate shrines.^ The Ajanta specimen (plate Ci) is,
however, the product of the story-telling tradition; the story of the conversion of the cannibal
yakshi Hariti into the guardian-deity of the new-born infants is represented in a synoptic
manner. Hariti with her lord Panchika is seated side by side on a raised stool, while two incidents
of the former life of the ogress are carved in the background, one each on either side above the
whisk-bearers. In one she is aggressively arguing with Buddha to restore her child purpose¬
fully concealed by the latter. In the other she attentively listens to the words of wisdom
of the Master, who advises her to give up cannibalism and to take up the protection of the
children of Rajagriha. On the pedestal are her children playing and undergoing instruction
from the teacher. The whole subject was once painted and traces of plaster and paint
are still visible. The principal figures remind us of the figures yakshas on the facade of
Cave 19 and the whisk-bearers flanking Buddha in Cave 1.

Manifold representations of Buddha in Cave 7 (plate R)

With the decline of the artistic standards the sculpture, as also painting, lost elegance and
artistic quality and merely repetitive subjects came to be carved. One of them is the Miracle of
Sravasti, where Buddha multiplied himself to baffle his critics. Cave 2 contains painted panels
with rows of Buddhas one over the other (below, pages 38 and 41; plate XLIX). On plate
R the same subject, in Cave 7, follows the Divyavadana version, according to which the two
ndga kings Nanda and Upananda created a miraculous lotus on the pericarp of which the
Blessed One seated himself. Then, through magic, above this lotus were created multiple
lotuses, each of which formed a seat for Buddha.^ This story was popular and its representations
in sculpture are found at Aurangabad (Cave 2) and Kanheri (Cave 25). The Ajanta
specimen belongs to this class but is an inferior sculpture.

_ 1 It is said that to compensate for the loss of her livelihood (devouring of children), Buddha ordained that
Hariti and her family would be given sufficient food in every monastery. ‘For this reason, the image of Hariti
is found cither in the porch or in the dining-hall of all Indian monasteries depicting her as holding a babe in her
aims, and lound her knees three or five children’, Itsmg’s Record of the Buddhist Religion, translated by J. Takakusu
(Oxford, 1896), page 37.—Editor.
^Divyavadana, edited by P. L. Vaidya (Darbhanga, 1959), page 100.

34
 THE MURALS ; THEIR THEME & CONTENT
'Lukasmim hi chittakammato uttarnh ahhaiii chittahi ndma naithi, “there is nothing finer in
the world than the art of painting.”^ Thus begins Buddhaghosha’s commentary on
what Buddha said about charana-chitra. In executing a piece of painting, .this idea
first occurs to the mind of the painter: “Here these pictures should be drawn”. With
this idea in the mind, the sketching, outlining, putting on the paint, touching up and
other processes of painting proceed by means of the brush. As a result thereof, the
desired figure appears on the canvas. Thereafter the artist gives a finishing touch by
setting the details in their right places according to his own ideas.

T he colourful and pictorial embellishment of the bare walls of the monastic cave-
complex of Ajanta seems to be an incongruous phenomenon when we recall the austere
attitude towards life in early Buddhism. The caves were intended to provide a quiet retreat
for meditation and a place for the corporate residence and instruction of monks specially dur¬
ing the rains—they were the varshdvdsa, abode in the rainy season. The natural beauty of the
Ajanta and other similar cave-groups and the appeal of Buddha’s message of love and
benevolence preached by the resident-monks soon transformed these monastic centres into
meeting-places of traders and other pilgrims not only from India but from many distant lands
like China, Central Asia and the Mediterranean world. The visiting pilgrims—commoners,
merchants and princes—imbued with a deep religious fervour vied with each other in making
offerings to these establishments. Inscriptions carved in the caves of western India bear
testimony to the munificence of Indian and Yavana (Graeco-Roman) merchants, the latter
having settled down as traders at emporiums like Dhenukakata.^

*****

In order to preach the gospel of Buddha, the monks thought of converting the walls of the
caves into an eloquent canvas; thus did the paintings take shape on the walls of Ajanta. No
subject could achieve this purpose better than stories from the previous lives of the Master
(Jatakas), where the would-be Buddha, in his careers as the Bodhisattvas, outshone others
by his supreme intelligence, the nobility of his character, his spirit and selfless service and
sacrifice and his boundless compassion—no matter whether he was born as a human or a celes¬
tial being, a small bird or a mighty elephant. Each Jataka-story exemplifies the efforts that
the Bodhisattva made to develop one of the ten virtues (pdrarnita). The artist selected under
the direction of the master-priest a particular Jataka, for example the Chhaddanta to
demonstrate the Bodhisattva’s boundless generosity, the Vessantara his charity, the Vidhurapandita
his wisdom. It will thus be seen that the narrative element plays a dominant part, as the
intention was to emphasize the importance of virtuous living rather than the doctrinal aspect
of Buddhism. To the delineation of such absorbing tales were added the principal events

^ Atthasdlini, edited by Edward Muller, Pali Text Society (London, 1897), page 64.
^ Benimadhab Barua, Bar hut, hook iii (Calcutta, 1937), page 76.
® El. Liiders, ‘A list of Brahmi inscriptions’, Epigraphia Indica, X (1909-10), numbers 1093 and 1096.

3,S
 AJANTA MURALS

from the life of Buddha as Gautama—his birth in the Lumbini garden, happenings in his
childhood, Mara’s futile attempt to tempt him, his attainment of the highest knowledge, the
conversion of Nanda, subjugation of Nalagiri, etc.

In this respect Ajanta follows the well-established convention set up at the early Buddhist art-
centres like Bharhut, Bodh-Gaya, Sanchi and Amaravati, where significant events from the
life of Buddha and of his previous births were beautifully sculptured in panels, with label-
inscriptions in some cases to facilitate identification. The elaboration of these edifying stories
into well-knit compositions of successive scenes is seen in the reliefs at Sanchi and Amaravati.
Understandably there were limitations in the carving of the details of the stories on stone.
The Ajanta artist wielding the brush and colour with great facility used the prepared plain
canvas of the walls to a greater advantage. He introduced new modes of his own in delineating
successive events and in partitioning them with architectural, vegetational or other novel
motifs. By an appropriate dispersal of the scenes on the canvas he could resolve the difficult
proposition of showing the distance in time and space between two events. The exquisite
colour-taste, perfect brushwork and sense of modelling lent vividness to and enhanced the
dramatic appeal of these noble incidents. The old practice of giving labels was no more
necessary, as the paintings revealed the subject with clarity, save when the subject was
uncommon as in the Kshdnti-Jdtaka (Cave 2) or was freely rendered like the Sibi-Jdtaka (Cave
17), where for easy identification the names of Kshdntivddi and ^ibirdjd are mentioned below
their figures.

Such a realistic and yet imaginative depiction of the Jataka-stories must have made a deep
impression on the devotees of the spiritual grandeur of Buddha and the creed he preached.
But the artist was not content with this alone. He brought to bear on the subject his rich
imagination and a rare sense of beauty and imbued these tales with a sort of subtle realism
by transporting modes and manners from contemporary life. The paintings, therefore,
assume great interest as giving a vivid picture of the social life and customs of ancient India.

*****
The subject-matter of most of the early extant paintings in Caves 10 and 9 {circa second and
first century b.c. respectively) has not been fully identified. The long panel depicting the
worship of the Bodhi-tree and stupa by a royal party (plate I), however, clearly conforms to
the early convention of depicting Buddha by symbols. The Chhaddanta or the story of the six-
tusked elephant and the Sdma are the only two Jataka-stories painted in Cave 10 as a result
of this early artistic endeavour.

* * -k -k -k

The middle phase of painting, commencing from the last quarter of the fifth century a.d.,
specialized in the depiction of narrative stories from the Jatakas and Avadanas, of which
portions from the following are included in the present Album: Safikhapdla-Jdiaka (Cave 1;
plate IX), Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka (Cave Ij plates X to XV and XVH to XX1; story of Amara
from Um7nagga-Jdtaka (Gave 1; plate XXI); Champeyya-Jdtaka (Cave 1; plates XXXIV to
XXX VHI); Vidhurapandita-Jdtaka (Gave 2; plates LHI and LIV); Vessantara-Jdtaka (Cave 17;

36
 THE MURALS : THEIR THEME & CONTENTS

plates LVII, LVIII and LXIX to LXXI); Harhsa-Jdtaka (Cave 17; plate LXVIII); Sirhhald-
vaddna (Gave 17; plates LXXVIII to LXXX);and §ibi-Jdtaka (Cave 17; plate LXXXII).
Besides these, there are many other Jataka-stories painted in great detail on the walls of Ajanta.

Delineation of the Manushi-Buddhas in human form (plate LXII), whose worship had gained
popularity, was another subject in which the artist took great delight and interest. The First
Sermon of Buddha, a favourite theme in sculpture, has a fine parallel in a painting where
Buddha, attended by celestials, arhats, princes and others, is shown preaching to the Congrega¬
tion (right wall of the verandah above the cell-door. Gave 17). He is also shown elsewhere in
this cave as preaching to his mother in the Tushita heaven and later on descending to the earth
in two stages. His sermon to princes and disciples (plates LXXIV and LXXV) is treated
with great imagination so as to bring out the solemnity of the occasion.

Depiction of the Bodhisattva not as an attendant of Buddha but as a viable subject also came
into vogue. The two famous Bodhisattva-figures, on either side of the antechamber in
Cave 1 (plates XXIV and XXXHI), were products of this class and exhibit artistic excellence.

The growing influence of the Mahayana creed also brought in its trail the ideas of the Buddhist
paradise: the upper portions of walls and ceilings of the vihdras were painted with celestial
beings like kinnaras (plates XXIII, LX and LXXVH), 'vidyddharas and gandharvas (plate
LIX), soaring in the heavenly regions amidst clouds. Floral patterns (plates XXV, L, LII,
LXVII and LXXXHI), geometrical designs, jewelry-motifs, strange mythical beings (plates
XVI and LXXIII), some sporting and others evoking humour (plates VIII and XXXIX),
and playful birds (plate V) and animals (plates XXVI11 and XXX) were portrayed along
with objects of religious significance hke the conch-shell or the full-blown white lotus—all
adding to the rich variety the artist was fond of At places the artist has demonstrated his
keen observation of animal-life and painted scenes like the fight of two cocks or buffaloes
(ceiling of Cave 17). The superb rendering of the two fighting bulls on the capital of a pillar
in Cave 1 is another instance. The decorative band in the roundel on the ceiling of the
yaksha-'&hxme in Gave 2 shows a chain of twenty-three geese amidst a lotus-creeper, each goose
rendered naturalistically and yet differently from each other so as to evoke admiration for the
artist who produced their graceful movements. The roundels with concentric bands of
variegated colours and patterns around a central lotus with a gandharva-I^gure or couples in
the corners amidst clouds (plates XLVIII and LVI) were a very common pattern of
ceiling-decoration. Among other subjects in the ceiling-decorations the one showing a foreigner
in a typical Iranian costume enjoying drinks and attended by male and female attendants
(plate XLI) is specially noteworthy (cf below, page 47, note 1),

*****

The tradition of painting the flat ceilings of caves in compartments, such as we sec at Ajanta,
is also noticed in Buddhist caves even outside India, for example those at Tun-huang in
north Central China. Commenting on the painting in Cave 428 of Tun-huang, Basil Gray
observes A ‘the vault of the roof, which is naturally flat, simulates the lantern vault system of

^ Basil Gray, Buddhist Cave Paintings at Tun-huang (Chicago, 1959), page 42, plate 17.

37
 AJANTA MURALS

construction as practised in a country of timber building, which is actually to be seen at

Bamiyan, Afghanistan^ The similarity of the subjects painted on the ceilings of Ajanta and
Tun-huang is striking. At both the places the sunk panels contain lotus-motifs within crossed
squares, while in the corners are depicted gandharvas at Ajanta and apsarases at Tun-hua’ng.
The rectangular spaces between the cross-timber vaulting in the chaitya-caves at Kondane
and Karla also contain traces of paintings, and it would thus follow that the fiat ceilings
of the Ajanta vihdras simulated the construction of contemporary timber-structures used
as viharasA

•k -k -k -k -k

A UNiquE subject of philosophical import at Ajanta is the grand bhava-chakra or the wheel of
life, painted on the left wall of the verandah of Cave 17. This wheel, which is partly obliterated,
is held by two giant hands and when complete must have had eight compartments, further
divided into sixteen in all. It is supposed to represent the Wheel of Causation^ on the analogy
of a Tibetan version of about the eighth century a.d. It may, however, represent an earlier
conception of sarhsdra as contained in the Saundarananda of AWaghosha,^ wherein Ananda,
while pointing out the absurdity of Nanda’s infatuation to the paradise, tells him of the real
nature of the world ‘to be encompassed about by the disasters of birth, disease and death and
to be revolving still in the cycle of existence, whether in heaven, among men, in Hell, or among
animals or Pretas’ The painting depicts in its various compartments different facets of life—
scenes from gardens, market-placeSj the workshop of a potter, royal apartments, wooden hut¬
ments of the poor, monkeys and elephants—all intended to show the endless surroundings in
which beings are placed as a result of their past actions.

*****

With the decline of artistic standards, the narrative scenes were replaced by repetitive
representations of Buddha (below, page 41). They came to be painted as a result of the gifts
of Sakya-bhikshus (Buddhist monks) for earning religious merit for the attainment of supreme
knowledge by all sentient beings beginning with the donors’ parents. A painted record below
the figures of eight Buddhas in Cave 22 tells us that the painting was the gift of a Mahayana
Sakya-bhikshu for the attainment of the supreme knowledge by all beings. The purpose of
such gifts is further made clear by the statement that they endow the donor with good looks,
good luck and good qualities. In the chaitya-grihas with early paintings (Caves 10 and 9),
where Buddha had been depicted symbolically by the Bodhi-tree, additions were made almost
after eight hundred years, when Buddha in various attitudes and the Bodhisattvas were painted
on the available wall-surfaces and pillars in an effort to recondition these chaitya-grihas for
iconic worship. In these paintings (plate LXXXV) Buddha is shown seated on a full-blown

( Benjamin Rowland, The Art and Architecture of India (Harmondsworth, 1956), plate 56.
“ 4 he wooden ceilings of the Buddhist gumphas at Tabo, District Lahul and Spiti, Panjab, indicate what kind
of ceiling the artist had in mind when he painted the surface at Ajanta. At Tabo the surface of beams and rafters
and the sunken spaces eitclosed by them is also painted. These paintings on the ceiling, though later [circa
eleventh century), undoubtedly follow the ancient Ajanta tradition. The Tabo monastery was recently visited
by the writer when this observation was made. The attention of the writer has been drawn to the nature of the
Ajanta ceilings by Shri G. S. Haloi. Cf. j. Griffiths in Indian Antiquary, III (1874), page 27.
3 L.A. Waddell, The Buddhism of Tibet (Cambridge, 1958), pages 107-09.
The Saundarananda, edited by E. H. Johnston (O.xford, 1932), xi, 62.

38
 THE MURALS : THEIR THEME & CONTENT

lotus against a bolster. The devotee who caused the figure to be painted also sits near the
Master with his hands folded in anjali-mudrd.

There is yet another interesting representation of Buddha in Cave 10, where flames are shown
as emanating from his halo. The worship of Buddha as a Pillar of Fire is met with earlier
at Amaravati.^ Sculptures of Buddha with flames issuing from the shoulder are also reported
from the Gandhara region.^ The depiction of Buddha at Ajanta as surrounded by a flaming
aura is not, therefore, unusual. Agni (fire) also denotes supreme knowledge [jndndgni) and
the effulgent flames around Buddha would stand for his spiritual light dispelling the darkness of
ignorance.

The theme of the Miracle of Sravasti (plate XLIX) became popular, and rows of Buddha-
figures, one above the other, came to be painted. The repetitive theme reflects the artistic
tendency of the age: the paintings lack the vigour, imagination and delicacy of the earlier
ones. A fragmentary painted record on the back wall of the antechamber to the right of the
shrine-door in Cave 2 may record the donation as that of the ‘Thousand Buddhas’
[Budhdsahasa). This record is attributed to the sixth century. There are numerous other
painted records below the figures of Buddha in other caves indicating, on palaeographical
grounds, that they belong to the same century, if not to the next, and form the latest addi¬
tions on the canvas of the Ajanta monasteries.

*****

The cumulative effect of the large variety of subjects on the devotees must have been of enrap¬

tured devotional zeal and piety—the purpose for which they were intended.

^ A. K. Coomaraswamy, Elements of Buddhist Iconography (Cambridge, Mass., 1935), figs. 4, 6 and 10

He suggests: ‘There is some reason to suppose that the Pillar of Fire type is in a special way connected with the
Mara Dharsana and Mahasambodhi’, ibid., page facing plate III.
^ Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1921-22 (Simla, 1924), page 65, plate XXV(a).

39
 THE MURALS : THEIR ART
T he AJANTA murals arc a picture of harmony between the ethos of the theme and the
means by which the ethos has been expressed. Only a sound tradition of experimenta¬
tion with and experience of the media could have given tire artist the necessary background for
achieving what he did. But whereas the successive stages of the development of sculpture, from
the earliest archaic figurines to the beautifully-moulded products breathing in forms, are
traceable, unfortunately no material is left at hand to give evidence to concurrent develop¬
ment of painting.

What actually happened during the period between the idiomatic paintings in the rock-
shelters of primitive man and the murals of Ajanta is a lost chapter in Indian art-history.
The void between the colour-drawings of the former and the sophisticated paintings of the
latter remains unaccountable. Although we ponder over the question from where the
seeds of the Ajanta style of painting sprang forth, we know they were there, they germinated
in the quiet, took form being grafted on the walls (in the second century b.c.), where
they cocooned for centuries (till about a.d. 450)—a period during which no work seems
to have been done,—later to emerge as paintings vastly original and matured in a style of
their own.

About half of the total of finished and unfinished caves were once adorned with paintings.
In the present Album we are, however, satisfied with presenting plates from the best-preserved
murals of six caves. They are shown in the following order: Caves 10, 6, 16, 1, 2 and 17 and
again 1 and 10. As far as we know, the earliest paintings at Ajanta date back to the second
century b.c., while the latest must have been executed over seven hundred years later. During
this span of time the murals underwent stylistic changes which are visible not only by
comparing caves with caves but also panels with panels within the same caves. As an example
of the latter we choose Cave 10 which holds not only the oldest paintings but probably
the latest .as well. Plate I and the last, LXXXV, in this Album, both from Cave 10,
represent these two extremities.

*****

Artists working over a span of centuries could not have kept their bearings had not faith
perfected the work of cementation. Thematic steadfastness apart, stylistic changes were
bound to occur, but to what extent and where it is difficult to pinpoint. The aesthetic level
must have its rise and fall as the date spread over centuries. Consequently the paintings
at Ajanta grew on the walls, reached their culmination and also met with decadence there.

Considering plate I,^ Cave 10, where devotees proceed toward the Bodhi-tree with their
offerings, we come across a painting of the earliest period. Being a singular reflection of the

^ Plate I, Cave 10, is the only sample in this Album of a reproduction made from a copied painting of the
original, the original being too obliterated to lend itself to photography.

40
 THE MURALS : THEIR ART

Hinayana Buddhism, the mural is restrained and prude; bur as an example of embryonic
painting the ‘canvas’ is astonishingly free and imaginative, bearing resemblance in com¬
position and outlay to contemporary sculptured reliefs of the stupas at Bharhut and Sanchi
(see also drawing of the whole panel, fig. 1). The frieze has been drawn in one horizontal
plane maintaining the same tonal level, as if nailed to the wall without highlighting the
transgression of planes by shading or drawing marked body-contours, as seen in the paintings
of the later period (plates XLVI and LI), where the figures show sculpturesque and forth¬
coming qualities, breaking the flatness of the surface by indicating scope for spontaneous and
life-like movements. Being representatives of the Mahayana faith with its complex
thought-pattern and rich imagery, the paintings too grew exuberant and ornamentative.
The Mahayana spirit crystallized itself in a stress on ritualistic details and many-faceted life.
The colour-scheme, which in the earlier paintings (plate I) was rather formal and limited
to different hues of ochres, became in the later ones more distinguishable and vivid with the
addition of lapis lazuli, a blue colour probably from Iran. Being imported, it was
precious and therefore discreetly applied. Its limited use made its brilliance self-evident.

The bulk of the plates is representative of middle and late-middle periods when Ajanta
paintings were at their height. The late-middle period showed signs of mannerism in style,
which subsequently passed into decadence. A discussion on the plates showing such mannerism
is the most convenient study-material for grasping the very style which we may term as
Ajantaism. Since mannerism is nothing but a repetition of what is particular in style, the
rendering of it without discrimination exaggerates the best while inadvertently exposing
the weakness too. Gf. plate LXIX, where the self-assured mastery of the sweeping lines be¬
comes facile but is nevertheless indicative of the power latent in the elegance of curved lines.
Such lines reveal a particular creative dimension, changing in its meaning according to the
environment and placement of the object. The pressure of the brush makes the line appear
thick or thin, to have the desired effect. Thick, wide and deep lines become forms in them¬
selves; while thin, sharp and precise lines take a calligraphic character. (Plates IV and XII
arc examples of the former and plates II and LXXIV of the latter.) Even the colours of the
lines assume different shades—varying from Indian red to dark-brown and black—depend¬
ing on particular needs and very often changing from colour to colour within a limited area
(cf plates XIV and XX). The difference of artistic impact that hnes can ]\ave when applied
in modulation as a painter’s characteristic part of a picture, as against mere graphic
representation, can be seen by comparing the original plates with the line-drawings in
the figures.

The painting on plate LXXXV, which is a specimen of the period of decadence, presents
two seated Buddhas in teaching attitude, with disciples kneeling with folded hands.
These are only two of many similar Buddhas that we find enclosed in separate cubicles,
horizontally covering the whole of the upper panels of Gave 10. Gompared with other
Buddhas of the walls of Ajanta painted earlier, they lack refinement and finish. The colours
are naive, flat and unnuanced—lines wanting in feeling and resembling mediocre tankas.

Probably belonging to the same period, the painting on plate LXXXIV, from Gave 1, is
a glaring example of the change of style and execution. Both the drawing and finish are

41
 AJANTA MURALS

degenerate, and when compared with other paintings of the same cave (particularly plate
XXIV) it appears clumsy and bare. Viewing critically, we notice that the refinements
that are present in the others are non-existent here: gone are the shapely palms and sensitive
fingers. The entire portrayal is in rather stiff and simplified lines, which have nothing in
common with the linear expression of soft curves typical of Ajanta. This odd but rather
expressive picture, which is part of a larger damaged panel, has baffled scholars, who have
not yet been able to identify the subject-matter.

•k -k * * *

The kinship between sculpture and painting that we find in India is something altogether
unique in the history^ of world-art. Most impressive is the way the two art-forms, co-exist
at Ajanta, complementing each other. Artistic ingenuity has reinforced the relationship.
The blending achieved must have been astonishing when the stone carvings were bedecked
in colours, falling in line with the hue and colour-scheme of the murals. Although we usually
find thematic parallelism between sculpture and painting, they apparently functioned
separately using compositional references from within their own kinds. In certain instances,
however, we find planned interaction. Cave 1 lends testimony to this observation. The
farther we proceed into the depth of the cave the nearer we come to the image of worship,
culminating at a stage when the paintings on the walls become secondary, a plausible adjunct
focussing on an awe-inspiring sculptured Buddha. The scenic tone is stupendous, the
compositional fusion is at its height. The large painted panels narrate stories of Buddha’s
prior incarnations, while on either side of the door leading to the antechamber we come
across the twin images of Bodhisattvas rendered in great stature (plates XXIV and XXXIII).
The entire setting is studiously premeditated. As it were, the placement of these two giant¬
sized personified paintings was with the sole intention of preparing the pilgrim for his final
revelation, for his humbling himself before the magnificent sculptured Buddha reposing
in the inner shrine.

Plate LXII renders the rhythmic representation in Ajanta art. Each figure is in concord
with the other, sculpture blends with the murals, colours with the colour-scheme, flower-studded
door-panels with the glowing wallscape and the decoratively-paintcd ceiling. A close-up,
as seen on plate LXIII, speaks of the marvellous interaction where the mood of the mithunas
(couple) is shared by the coloured girdles enclosing it. The frieze of the mithuna-figuvcs,, who
arc heavenly lovers in their acts of endearment, has been placed on the proper pedestal, with
a row of Buddhas seated above together with Maitreya, the Future Buddha, on the extreme
left. Even though framed they are not rigidly bound and are in interplay with the rest—
each presented in alternate 7nudrds. Two exquisite sculptured figures of riverine deities
lend support and add welcome grace to the doorway of Cave 17. A yearning for mutual
cx'ghange and unity that we find here permeates throughout the walls of Ajanta, resounding
the story of this unity bonded in faith.

*****
The agreement existing between the ethos of the themes and their pictorial representation
has been refen ed to above (page 40). \Vc now explain how this lias become manifest in

42
 THE MURALS : THEIR ART

paintings throughout the walls. There is one theme, a single leit-motiv running through the
panels—a theme often emphasized in the Buddhist credo—the concept of impermanence,
how everything is fated to change, how the baby in the mother’s arms changes to become
the dying man. This concept distinguishes the nature of the worldly from that of the divine.
The worldly has been rendered in its glory removed from meanness and evil,^ and the divine
in its divinity.

As the artist used the world as his model—and it is common knowledge that likeness with
nature was the accepted artistic maxim—he was not for belittling man and his life nor
for commenting on social justice. He did not altogether escape reality, for he took
delight in the depiction of extravagance that was surely representative of contemporary
court-life that it was lived with zest and joy. Surrounded with the paraphernalia of daily
rounds he did not overlook humour and comic, nor the pathos and tragedies concomitant
to life. That stamp of impermanence, as typified in the excess of emotions, over-emphasization
of sensuous forms, characterization of fleeting moods, has been arduously depicted and con¬
trasted against the rocky permanence of religion, and ultimately of Buddha.

When it came to portraying Buddha himself, the artist was seemingly at his wit’s end. He
was to convey the impression of one Vv'ho was beyond him, undepictable. He eased the task
by presenting Buddha within the prescribed details of iconography and iconometry, realizing
him in abstraction. As a result, we find his image either contained in bounded repetitious
forms or in superimposed generalizations conveying an idealized identity. The Great
Buddha manifested himself teaching [dharma-chakra), meditating {dhydna), assuring {abhaya)
or subduing Mara {bhu-sparsa), and this eloquence has been conveyed by the various mudrds,
i.e. the poses of his hands. Even when confining him within the bonds of the brush, the
artist has given him sculptural forms, dynamic and yet placid.

Take plate LXXVI; mother and child meet Buddha. A scene which would have normally
been given to emotional drama—a husband meeting his wife after long years—here becomes
symbolically depersonalized. The Great One with his begging-bowl—an affirmation of
renouncement—is greeted by his wife, helping their only son Rahula forward. She receives
the lord—once of her house, now of the universe—in dual acceptance. The structure
here is like two pyramids—one big and the other small. The larger bends forward, comes
nearer earth and appears smaller; while the smaller looks up, strives to reach the hallowed
lord who has taken his stand at the door-step. These two contrasting forms are set
against a dark neutral background, highlighting the glow of the saffron robe. The shine
is effulgent enough, illuminating everything around.

When figuring Buddha, not all the artists reached the mark. Conventional norms and
formulae, in certain instances, have had preferences over artistic empathy. An observation
of plate XLIX, the ‘Thousand Buddhas’, will demonstrate that conventionalism and
mechanical representation rather than artistry inspired the scene. Trying to impart some

1 There are a few exceptions, such as the scenes (not included here) depicted on the right wall, main hall.
Cave 17, of the Sirhhalavaddna, which are gruesome to the extreme. Another example, in Cave 1, shows a
tray with four severed heads (plate XXI).

43
 AJAMTA MURALS

artistic interest in the panel they took care to vary Buddha’s postures and mudras. The
painters did also introduce an element of colourfulness by painting the robes of Buddha in
different colours ranging from white, grey, brown, green and red.

On the rock-wall are woven Jataka-stories which expound the ethics leading to the final
Enlightenment. The principal figure of these stories is the Bodhisattva, manifest in innu¬
merable characters and each representing an account of the previous lives of Gautama Buddha.
The Bodhisattva is a being of the divine order and, therefore, even in his worldly role is
emphatic of his distinctiveness and understanding. The Bodhisattva was not necessarily a
human being; he often took the form of an animal—yet expounding and meaningful. On
plate LXVIII, Cave 17, we find the Bodhisattva in the guise of a golden duck. In other
words, Bodhisattva is ‘wisdom in disguise’. In each new.incarnation he retains the bodily
form that he has chosen for himself, he is the bridge between the two worlds—the worldly and
the divine. When born in the frame of a man he is the superman amongst men, untrammelled
and radiant.

Plates XXIV and XXXIII show two Divine Bodhisattvas. These paintings have earned
laurels for their rare ability of endowing personalities with the stamp of‘detached greatness’.
They are towering but not exuberant. They have all that make human virtues, only more
of it. Large features, princely attires, imposing head-gears and abundant jewelry have made
them more impressive than the rest. Even in stature and dimension they stand in contrast
to others. The artist has perhaps been freer in painting the Bodhisattva than Buddha himself,
in spite of having to obey codified canons of Buddhist iconography. Though not particularly
mascuhne, these figures of the Bodhisattva are represented by qualities of calm and intense
self-concentration. They share features which are typical of the portraiture of Ajanta: the
body is delineated in a general manner, while hands and faces become the carrier of their
individualities.

* * ■ "k k k

The artists were all men, probably living in great isolation and under a severe discipline,
communicating with none else but themselves, monks and dedicated artisans. Conditioned
by her very absence; they created the image of woman as was impressed upon their memories
—idealized and platonic. Traditional concept of motherhood made her symbolic of it, and
yet a being of life she is a woman on all counts—shapely and luscious. When they portrayed
the glorified man, they figured him as a saint, ascetic or one in quest of the lord. The little
man is also there, seemingly insignificant, but a dedicated being all the same. Heavenly and
even superhuman characters of the Buddhist pantheon which we find all over the walls and
ceilings of Ajanta also appear essentially human. Consequently we find ndgas (serpent-kings—
semi-divine beings, as on plates XXXVII and LIII), apsarases (celestial belles, plates LIX
and yakshas yakshis (male and female heavenly beings, plates XLII and LXXII),
kinnaras (heavenly musicians, plates XXIII, XLII and LX), the already-mentioned mithunas
(heavenly lovers, plates^XXII, LVI, LXII and LXIII) and others,—except for a few
iconographic distinctions that identify their kinds—tallying with the general artistic repre¬
sentations of human forms.

44
 THE MURALS : THEIR ART

On pictorial scenes crowded with people perhaps women outnumber men. While men are
engaged in more emphatic actions such as riding, giving audience, preaching or otherwise,
we find women involved in activities less poignant and yet invitingly eye-catching, expressing
surprise, sorrow or some emotional output. She is mostly in the background of a complex
scene though glorifying it. Hers is the charm of the refined body, supplying emotional bias
to each composition. As jewelry matches feminine grace, so have women contributed to the
ornamentation of the scenes. Dressed in translucent muslin, allowing attention to immaculate
shapes and curves, they are just living graces.

Plate VII is a detail of a much-damaged large panel in Gave I. It is an example of one of

the many damsels dressed in ‘nakedness’ and Ajanta imagery. The painter has utilized
all artistic means in order to emphasize the theme in its minutest details, making all
the accompaniments support the emotional content of the motif A well-built maid in glowing
skin and plentiful jewelry tends her mistress, a suffering princess reclining on a couch. On
the plate we see only the attendant as she bends over the rails holding a pitcher in her hands;
while water and flower-petals pour out, she literally pours herself It is not a mere depiction
of a scene, it is a piece of dedicated painting saturated with pathos. This pathos may appear
exaggerated, yet the principal character is simply self-effacing, in complete unison with the
spirit of dedication. The circular lines out-pointing the pitcher become the centre of gravity,
round which every movement takes its form. All other curves stroking the body-line, head
or bust are downward and heavy-laden; the anxious eyes of the attendant shower benediction
as the cool water becomes her extended self.

The Venus ideal differs from culture to culture, age to age. At Ajanta we notice variations
in the classical concept of Indian feminine beauty. A scrutiny of plates XIV, XXVII, XLIV,
LI, LXIV and LXXXI will give us an exemplary insight into the different representations.
The variations are subtle and not obvious. Physically speaking they are closely alike; with
curvatures and convex forms they resent being held within their builds—the lines that thread
them are stretched to bursting and yet sustained. Circular lines have done wonders. Bodily
curvatures extend themselves into every mould—from full breasts to pouting lips, from
round eye-balls to ear-rings, from tips of nose to touches of highlights distributed in small
whitish patches all over her body. For the particular effect of highlight see plates XIII,
XXVI and XL.. Each colour adds lustre, and each part of the body becomes a natural ex¬
tension of the other, being different only in treatment and scope. In creating the heads and
hands the artist took the greatest care, which is seen in equal accentuation whatever the object
of his brush, be it male or female.

Sometimes we notice differences in quality between the execution of the various parts of the
human body. Therefore it may possibly be correct to assume that several artists worked
together on one and the same painting, as we know was the custom with artists of the later
period who excelled in miniature painting. For instance, some might have specialized only
in portraiture, leaving the rest to be finished by others.

Traditional rendering of the eye should resemble and be based bn similes drawn from plant¬
er animal-life. Depending on the emotions to be conveyed, the model became a stylized

45
 AJA}{TA MURALS

design of a flower, fish or a bird; but an added refinement of lines and the finish of colours
made them intrinsically human, intensely expressive and distinguished (cf. plates XXXV
and LXXII). Sensuous lips, ripe and full like the bimba-fvnit {Momorda monadelpha), with
the lower lip protruding, were perhaps once covered with hingula-rtA, which has long since
faded, often revealing the white plaster underneath, as on plates X, XXVI, LXV and LXXII.
The eyes and lips that we come across on the walls of Ajanta have their prototypes in real life.
Yet in harmony with the age, the woman of Ajanta remains impersonal and aloof, concealing
her individuality, although making it impossible not to take notice of her. Her modulous
hands feelingly raised expose fingers likened to lotus-petals. Fingers nimble and sensitive,
as if indicative of her thoughts, match perfectly with the rest of the movements and blend in
the direction and glances of her eyes (cf. plates VI and LV).

The next emphasis is mainly on the upper limbs of the body, the neck, the bust and the waist,
but also on the hips—delineated in greater details and precision of forms than the lower parts.
Particularly the pitcherlike breasts, so full of warmth and shape, stand in an incredible
contrast to her slim waist (cf. plates VII and XIV).

Interestingly enough, more often than not the legs appear to have been finished in a hurry
and touched upon as little as possible. In agreement w'ith an old belief, the thigh and leg¬
line should be analogous to the trunk of a banana-tree drawn in parallel lines, the feet to the
leaves of a plant, neither of them revealing the bone-structure (cf. plates XL, XLIV and
LXXXI). This way of representation ignores the anatomy of muscles and has been termed
‘artistic anatomy’—a phrase coined by Abanindranath Tagore. Here we are faced with the
perfect feminine species supported by tapering legs, at times so thin as to raise doubt whether
they could sustain the body-weight.

More important than such details was the emphasis laid on her gait, and the whole figure
structured round three main axes in order to conform to the tribhanga pose. This concept is
well-known in Indian classical art and is practised by dancers. It gives the body an ‘S’-
shaped rhythm, a fluency of lines, which, together with the appropriate gestures of hands,
convey a wide range of expressions. Plate XI presents to us a dancing-scene, where the
movements of the swinging body stretch in different directions within the imaginary frame,
pivoting on the three main axes—hips, shoulders and eyes. The force of the rhythm as
delineated in the central figure is reinforced by the reversedly-drawn tribhanga poses of the two
flute-players on her right. The woman on the right on plate XIV and the damsel on plate
XXVH are equally good examples of the bold ‘thrice-broken’ pose. Plate XXIV, of the
famous Bodhisattva Padmapani, on the other hand, gives a more oblique'realization of the same.

Indian art of every form was just saturated with the notional concept of ‘rhythm’.
Consequently both chitra (painting) and nritya (dancing) were expected to contain a ‘rhyme’
almost similar in content, both aiming at reproducing the basic life-giving movements. Thus,
chitra on the walls of Ajanta becomes a tableau-wise representation of performing characters,
tribhanga postures being admirably juxtaposed.

* -k -k it ii

46
 THE MURALS : THEIR ART

This spontaneity of movement is particularly prominent in the flower-decorations of

the ceilings; the lines now uninhibited and set free from illustrating . story-telling themes
create fantasies and rich imagery by inventing geometric patterns, flower-arabesques, fruits,
birds—real and unreal—mythological creatures and other gay themes. They give the impression
of being hallucinatory imitations of reality. From the artistic point of view, the painting
on the ceilings shows power of imagination, perhaps even excelling the wall-murals. The
ceilings were set apart and did never carry religious motifs, yet kept a bearing with the walls—
their colour-scheme, delineation and repetitious themes were rendered with equal craftman-
ship. The ceiling in their unconcerned and humorous drawings became a glorious counter¬
part to thought-provoking Jataka and other Buddhist stories. Those drawings have taken the
texture of a carpet, brilliantly woven, immediately captivating the eyes and filling the senses.
They do not throw a challenge to the intellect but cover the void, above the walls, with idyllic
coloured designs.^

Set in contrast to the dynamic walls full of action, we find the ceilings different; here colours
gush out, take form and convulge on each other, wave upon waves. Although there are
subtle variations between the ceilings of different caves, in the main they are of the same kind,
with common pet themes appearing invariably over and again. One of them ds the huge
concentric circle enclosed in a square, with innumerable diminutive flowery bands within it,
as are usually to be found in the centre of the ceiling, main hall, antechamber and inner shrines
(cf plate LVI and also plates XLV, XLVIII and L). Another equally-cherished theme is
squarish and rectangular spaces of different dimensions placed next to each other, framed in
narrow panels carrying key-patterns or other geometric designs and used as a device for sepa¬
rating different areas. Plates XXV, XLVII and LXXXIII display this order.

Plates XXVIII and XXX illustrate how forcefully the artist has been able to draw animals
spaced in flowers and plants in between, as if to suggest a world of make-belief and ignore
the apparent proportional improbabilities. Plate XXX, representing a bull, is a splendid
example of how conversant the artist was with the technique of foreshortening.

As in other instances, plate VIII shows cxpCrtness of the artist in mingling a portrayal of wha t
is seemingly naturalistic, together with totally imaginary elements. A little dwarf is cradled
amongst flowers, as if seated on a swing. Not only in the rhythmic lines docs he become a part
of the flower-world, but also his right hand merges with flow'ers, and the end of his loin-cloth
becomes floral, drawing him close to the world of nature. Here the little being blends beautifully
into the decorative foliage and expresses at the same time a genuine joi de vhre in being one with
nature. Panels as on plates XVI, LXXVII and LXXXIII, with their grotesque and
weird creatures, exhibit a remarkable charm. Many of the ornaments which we find on the
ceilings of Ajanta are still alive. They have been absorbed into the different branches of
Indian artistic expressions and are esteemed even today.^

*****
1 When one is about to pronounce a general rule about the i\janta paintings one has to face exceptions;
one of them is plate XLI, ceiling of Cave 1, which has been much disputed. The scene, entitled‘a Bacchanalian
scene’, presents a strange amalgamation of physiognomies, dresses and caps indicating a foreign origin. The
panel itself looks like an enlarged miniature, like a court-scene of the Iranian school.
2 These traditional patterns have been preserved in dlpands, jewelry, brocades and borders of con\-cntional
saris, dresses, etc.

47
 AJANTA MURALS

It has been the conservator’s headache to secure the paintings from falling off the walls, as
they are prone to do during the monsoon when they are exposed to excessive humidity. In
the twenties two Italian experts applied a kind of shellac-varnish over them for preservation.
The result was not so satisfactory (below, page 56). One of the drawbacks was that the
coat was often applied thick, changing the original colour measurably. Even though
specialists have later tried to reniove shellac from the paintings, they have not always been
able to restore the authentic hue, as shellac has penetrated into the pores. While looking at
the plates we should be aware of such transformation, which, together with the wear of time,
has given the six basic colours a patina which has followed a pattern. Shellac applied on pure
red ochre has made red look deeper, but when put on red mixed with yellow has become dull.
On thick blue it has turned almost black but on thin blue appears greenish. Shellac on pure
terra verde (green) looks dark-green, but on green mixed with yellow has become olive. Applied
on ochre-yellow it has turned chrome-yellow, but when it is on white the white has become
pale ochre-yellow or like egg-shell in tone. Shellac is less harmful when it is applied on a colour
which is already thick, as also if the shellac-layer is thinly applied. But when thickly applied
on thin colours, the colours take a shine which gives an unintended coat of glossiness. The
changes induced by shellac have, in the most, affected the original white colour and particularly
the beautiful whites of the ceilings which, perhaps, was used so liberally in order to reflect
light on the darker painted walls. Gf plates XVI, XXV, LXVII and LXXXIII.

Although the drawback of shellac coat is self-evident, it has its compensation. Apart from
carrying preservative qualities, it has imposed a unanimous overtone, influencing the
character and tonal effects of each colour; but it has also bathed the walls in warmth, a kind
of dark glow—as it were the fading sunlight in abstraction.

* * * * *

Multipurpose is the use of colours—creative of forms, perspective and rhythm. v\s is usually
done, the colours have been applied in a certain order so that the foreground appears brighter
and the background darker. But this effect has again been modified by white flowers and
petals being strewn all over, so as to regain the link and continuous colour-dialogue. A look
at the plates will initiate us into their subtleties. Since drawing was the first step in the creation
of murals, it maintained its predominance; colour was for formative and embellishing needs.
The precise choice of a colour was prescribed by the figurative meaning of the object and was
mostly rendered in pigments such as we find them in nature. Colour used for backwash of
the ‘canvas’ was evenly laid, without much nuance, in order to bind together the different
spatial areas into one united plane, excepting when flowers and other details were superim¬
posed for breaking the irionotony. Cf. plate XXXII, where the dark-green back-drop presents
the negative form in contrast with the reddish-brown and yellow colours of the positive form
of the central figure. Plate XXIV is another example of the artistic interplay between the bright
and the toned-down colours of negative and positive forms. Such contrasts were resorted to
for giving a silhouettish effect so that the figures would stand out. Cf. also plate VI.

The application of colours in the foreground used for creating human figures is more complex.
The human form appears in three dimensions and the search for form compelled the artist

48
 THE MURALS : THEIR ART

to explore the textural possibilities of colour-application, for giving convexity to the surface.
Brush-strokes which play an important role in contemporary painting was not perhaps in
vogue in the days of Ajanta. The impress of brush-strokes becomes evident only in selected
instances when delineating body-contours, facial details or in elaborate coiffures as also in the
ornamentation of the ceilings. There they excel, but when it comes to applying colour for
colour s sake, the traces of the brush in action become invisible j transgression between colour
and colour becomes fused and the surface smooth, as if the wall itself was the palette for mixing
of colours. Or, could it be that time has blurred the edges of the original techniques and
the textures too have become unduly overgrown, the paint having been screened with countless
cracks ?

*****

In spite of the dilapidation of the murals, or just because of it, we can now spy
on their technique with profit. Since it was one of the axioms of Indian art that the highest
art was to conceal the technicalities of art,^ the artist took pride in not exposing his secret.
This accounts for the fact that we have no reliable written records giving us sufficient data.
Nor has anyone yet been able to decipher the' principles of composition which, supposedly,
must have guided the artist in painting huge wall-spaces in continuous conformity and
harmonious artistic expression. The question arises—did the artist work on a master-plan ?
When the first outline was drawn on the white plaster—was it a direct transference of a vision,
or was it a less spontaneous act of copying from a given key-sketch ? Our intuition would
make us feel that the walls were too big for instantaneous conception.

We know that the themes rendered were narrations after the Jataka-stories of the Buddhist
texts or other Buddhist scenes. But the sequence of events was not always strictly in confor¬
mity with that of the written versions. Although both the media, literary and the murals,
have attempted at evaluating man in relation to mankind as also the divine—the world of
painting exhibits greater details and nature too plays a larger role than in their literary counter¬
part. The composition of the themes and the composition of paintings were not worked out in as
close a manner as one would expect. Very often we find that the parallel-running friezes
start on the lower and continue in the upper part of the mural. At times the story begins
on the left, proceeding right, but often the other way round. If one is not already familiar
with the Jataka-stories, from the pictorial representation alone one will not be able
to discern the sequence. Such seeming incoherence may remind us Tat the painter was
an artist above all, lending himself to artistic spontaneity despite his distinctive role as a
religious interpreter.

Supposing this was the case, the problem of compositional principles still remains unanswered.
Certain scholars^ have tried to group apparently similar compositions and attempted at label¬
ling them as ‘circular type of grouping’, ‘connecting-link compositions’ and the like. These
speculations are interesting, but the walls have been very ungenerous by way of giving any

^ The equivalent Latin expression is; ars est celare artem, ‘it is true art to conceal art’.
^ Jcannine Auboyer, ‘Composition and perspective at Ajanta’, Art and Letters, India and Pakistan, New
Series, XXII, number 1 (1948), pages 20-28.

49
 AJANTA MURALS

systematic response to researchers. The artist might have as well painted wilfully, each time
anew from the force of his inspiration.

Surely the world of Ajanta, secure and self-contained, bears the stamp of unison commended
as if by ‘faith’; but when it comes to accepting the continuity of technical excellence, it is
baffling. There must have been some authoritative texts describing the relationship between
concept and form, symbols and their visual representation. The Vishnudharmottara, an early
treatise on Indian painting and image-making, was probably compiled in the seventh century
and may be roughly contemporary of the last of Ajanta paintings. It makes us ‘acquainted
with the theories prevalent at the time of the full maturity of their practice.’^ In this text we
find reference to a number of professional terms (technical concepts) such as pramdna (propor¬
tions), kshaya, and vriddhi (both meaning foreshortening—decrease and increasel and vartand
(modelling or shading).^

Plate XLVIII demonstrates the use of dots [bindu)—a kind of shading achieved by stippling.
This technique implies the iise of a thin brush to prick the surface of the painting with in¬
numerable tiny touches. It is a technique similar to that of the pointalists, although the Ajanta
artist did not use different colours, as did the impressionists, but only the different shades of
the same colour, mostly brown. Stippling was taken recourse to on the edges of a form,
with darker colours upon lighter background, to round it off. In terms of the concentration
of ‘dots’, this process of shading gives modelling effects to body-parts by degrees. The flying
angels on the ceiling of the inner shrine. Cave 2 (plate XLVIII), show this technique at its
best. Here the chubbiness of the limbs of the child-angel is painted with the same love and
understanding of a child’s bodily characteristics as we find in Rubens, centuries later. Except
for the very earliest paintings at Ajanta (cf. plate I), the above-mentioned form of shading was
abundantly used, though it may not be too visible in the plates due to the finesse of its applica¬
tion. Plates II, III, VI, VIII, XXIV, LIII and others are illustrative of the. point,

Another technique closely related to the former was the use of highlight (cf. plates XIII,
XXVI and XL). As already stated above (page 45), the artist achieved the effect of highlight
by white patches (now yellowish on account of the changes of colour induced by shellac)
appearing on the chin, breasts, arms, legs or wherever an elevation of form was desired. Both
these techniques served artistic purposes only and operated independently of any recognizable
source of light.

* * . * * *

In his conception of perspective too did the artist show originality and technique different
from that we find in Europe. Often we find the Ajanta artist designing heightened perspective
where he builds up different planes and brings them together, so that at times they
are telescoped into each other. Here we have no fixed focal point which leads the eye from
larger to smaller objects in recession, nor any perspective in depth drawing the eye towards a

^ Stella Kramrisch, The Visnudharmottaram (Calcutta, 1928), pages 5 and 14.

^ See also Priyabala Shah, Visnudharmottara-Purana, third khanda, I (Baroda, 1958), pages 144-45; II
(Baroda, 1960), pages 125-28.—Editor. ' •• v

50
 THE MURALS : THEIR ART

vanishing-point or a horizon-line. On the contrary, one and the same scene is often seen
simultaneously from numerous angles. A kind of multiple perspective has been introduced
where different objects are perceived, as if they were seen from within the panel; we might
even say as seen by the characters on the ‘canvas’ itself While pavilions and pillars are
mostly seen from below or at eye-level, roofs, trees, plants and flowers are seen as if from above.
Beholders not used to this kind of varied and fanciful representation may find it disorganized
and difficult to configurate. On the other hand, one should not assume that the artist relied
on this technique not knowing what he did. Because, in effect this rotating perspective of
multiple vision gives the spectator a feeling of being one with the scene, as if he himself is a
partner in the general commotion. This was an artifice allied to the methods of the cubists,
^vho also aimed at presenting the spectator with several aspects of an object at the same time.
Long before the cubists had evolved their theories, the Ajanta artist did contrive similar
principles.

The artist preferred not to break the architectural flatness of the painted surface by intro¬
ducing a dimension of depth, for creating an illusion of space larger than the physical frame of
the walls. We should not, however, infer that no attempt was made at depicting three-
dimensional forms, The only difference is that he reversedly achieved a three-dimensional
effect by means of shade and highlight, where the forms instead of being projected in the depth
were made forthcoming. On the other hand, he did introduce another kind of dimension;
through painting concepts and ideas rather than representational scenes he created a spatial
dimension which we may call the ‘mental space’.

What the spectator perceived depended as much on his inner self as on the paintings. His
own potential abilities were to provide the stimulus for plunging deeper into the meaning of
those visionary images he found on the walls. It was an art to be perceived by those who
were to be initiated; and the paintings served as the reminder of something else. That some¬
thing was the Buddhist faith in certain eternal values expressed in countless ways. These
fine overtones were suggestive of and associated with an archetypal thought-pattern lying
dormant in the personality of the beholder and deeply rooted in his consciousness,
conditioned by the refinements of his own culture.

*****

Everything said and seen, Ajanta belongs to the past. The perspective that epitomized its
vision is gone. In its cradle the image that was taking shape in the conception of Ajanta
inspired the believers not to create art for art’s sake, but to give their lives over to religion.
Hieratic art was the result. The belief that making of images led to heaven—not the making
of likeness to man—that which accords with the scriptures and canons is beautiful—not that
which pleases individual fancy—became the token of faith of the time. Such a trend is not to be
^\holly regarded as Eastern or Western, for ecclesiastical art was also very much in vogue
in the Christian world of the past and basked in Papal patronage. We can only describe it
as the art of the time. Religiocentric art no longer rules the creative genius; with the passage
of time it has been dissociated from the basic emotional fervour. Therefore, now when we
look at Ajanta, try to evaluat(; the zeal that nurtured its art, we wonder at it with a

51
 AJANTA MURALS

detachment which is inherent in the modernity of today. Our objective mind seeks artistic
excellence alone, and since Ajanta has it in ample measures we cherish its intrinsic worth
and basic humanism, notwithstanding the fact that the dedicated ones may resent the loss of
those faith-tinged values which once inspired the artist to create. Dilapidation and deteriora¬
tion of the material apart, what is left at Ajanta has stood the test of time and stands
invulnerable to the critical eye of the twentieth century.

52
THE MURALS: THEIR COMPOSITION & TECHNIQUE
T he mural paintings have been examined in great detail with a view to determining their
composition and technique and the material employed in their execution. All the factors
which constitute their material—the carrier, the ground, the pigments and the binding-
medium—and the state of their preservation have been studied carefully in order to ascertain
the causes of their deterioration and the method required for their proper chemical treat¬
ment and preservation.

THE CARRIER

The inner surface of the walls of the caves, cut into the hard and compact volcanic trap-
rock or basalt, characterized by vesicles and amygdaloidal cavities, constitutes the carrier
for the plaster on which the pigments were laid. The surface of the carrier is rough and un¬
even, with deep furrows and chisel-marks produced in the course of excavation of the caves
by the slow process of hammer-and-chisel strokes. This itself was an advantage, as a tooth
was provided to the plaster laid on the surface. Although the inner surface is more or less
free from weathering, yet it cannot be said that the climatic and environmental factors have
been inoperative. In fact, in spite of a very low porosity and an inappreciable permeability
of the rock, rain-water has gained access into the interior of several caves through natural
seams and vents and cracks in the rock-surface exposed to the outside atmosphere. Never¬
theless, the rock has withstood the onslaught of elements very well indeed, and there is
scarcely any salt-efflorescence on the painted surface, though the movement of water over
the paintings has caused considerable damage to them. The carrier is still very sound and
stable and is relatively free from moisture. The bond between the carrier and the plaster
has, therefoie, remained firm except in small areas where it has become loose; in such cases
the detachment is not due to any displacement of the latter but definitely to internal environ¬
mental factors.

THE GROUND

The ground of the paintings is composed of mud-plaster containing about 10 to 12 per cent
of combined water and organic matter, such as vegetable-fibres, paddy-husk, grass and other
fibrous material of organic origin, and rock-grit or sand. Silica is present to the extent of
about 60 per cent, and iron and alumina account for 27 per cent. Lime and magnesia are
present to the extent of 2 to 3 per cent. It is, therefore, clear that the plaster is made of a
ferruginous earth, reinforced with rock-grit or sand and fibrous vegetable-material. There
is hardly any lime in it, but traces of a whitish layer on its surface just below the pigment-
layer indicate the presence of lime, kaolin or gypsum. Being mainly of mud, the ground is
soft and porous and does not possess the natural strength and durability of common lime-
plaster.

The ground was prepared by the application of tw'O coats of plaster on the carrier. The
first coat was coarse in texture with a considerable amount of fibrous vegetable-material

53
 AJANTA MURALS

and rock-grit or sand. Evidently, the unevenness of the chiselled rock-surface was rectified
by the application of this coat. This was then made smooth by another layer of mud and
ferruginous earth, again mixed with fine rock-powder or sand and fine fibrous vegetable-
material. The surface was finally rendered smooth by the application of a thin layer of
limewash, which was then painted over.

The ground can thus generally be described as constituted of three layers—the pigments,
fine plaster and coarse plaster—with two distinct lines of junctions, and this is confirmed by
microscopic examination of the painted stucco. The paint-layer is generally about 0*1 mm.
in thickness. The underlying layer of fine plaster varies in thickness from cave to cave and
ranges in thickness between 2 and 3 mm. The thickness of the coarse plaster below varies
over a wide range, being primarily determined on a particular spot by the inequalities in the
rock-surface. While the exact thickness of the ground in a cave is of little consequence, it
seems that great care was exercised by the artist in laying the ground, for, although almost
completely free from lime, it still had a degree of compactness and hardness which rendered
it fit to receive the brushwork. The fibrous material incorporated in the plaster for impart¬
ing to it a degree of strength has, however, proved to be a serious drawback, for it has decayed
partly on account of depredations by insect-pest and partly on account of the natural de¬
composition of the vegetable-matter under conditions of high humidity and temperature.
A study of the grain-size of the particles constituting the plaster has shown that the mixture
of ferruginous mud and gritty rock-powder and sand was very carefully gauged and that
the grains of silica possessed marked angularity, which has considerably contributed to the
firmness and compactness of the plaster. Due to the absence of interlocking rounded grains
do not produce a consolidated plaster.

THE PIGMENTS

The paintings show a wide variety of pigments. The important pigments are yellow, red,
blue, white, black and green, along with mixtures of these in various shades. All these, with
the exception of black, are mineral in origin; the red and yellow pigments are red and
yellow ochres and lamp-black was used for black. For white were used kaolin, lime and
gypsum and for green glauconite. Lapis lazuli, used for blue, alone was imported, as it has
not been reported from the neighbourhood; all other pigments, viz. white, red, yellow and
green, were locally available as residual products of the volcanic rock. There is hardly any
evidence of the use of copper compounds such as malachite for green and azurite for blue.
Terra verde, mineralogically called glauconite, is a green complex ferrous silicate and is a
secondary product of weathering of the basalt. Ochreous clays, such as red and yellow
ochres, were also evidently obtained from the clayey products of weathering of the rock.
The presence of such other pigments as verdigris, vermilion, cinnabar, orpiment, realgar
or red lead has not been established on the basis of chemical, microchemical and “spot
analysis. While there is no clear evidence for the use of any organic colouring-material,
whether or not it was used remains an open question, since even if it was used it must have
perished, leaving behind no evidence of its possible prior existence.

In order to determine the technique of the painting-process employed at Ajanta, it has been
necessary to examine the pigments for detecting the cementing-material or adhesives used

54
 THE MURALS : THEIR COMPOSITION & TECHNIQUE

for binding the pigments to the ground. The pigments of the paintings are easily softened
by water. This is indicative of the existence of a water-soluble binding-medium in the
pigment-layer. A clear proof of the existence of glue or gum as the binding-medium has been
furnished in some cases by a careful chemical and microscopic analysis of the pigments.
Chemical analysis shows that animal glue was probably employed.

THE TECHNIQUE

The condition of the pigments, the flaking of colours, the lifting up of paint-film in the form
of cups and the blistering-effect—all these show that the technique of painting at Ajanta was
not that olfresco buono, which is not affected by water since the pigments are not softened
by it. Moreover, the ground of a true fresco-painting must be lime-plaster and the painting
should be carried out on the plaster while wet, with mineral pigments compatible with lime
and ground only in plain water without the incorporation of any binding-medium. At
Ajanta polished sections of the painted stucco clearly show that the pigments stand out as a
thin but distinct layer on the ground. No diffusion of colours into the body of the plaster
is noticed; the pigments are neatly superimposed on the surface as a thin but distinct layer
without permeating into the body of the plaster. It is evident that it was only the organic
binding-medium, such as gum and glue, that held the pigments firmly to the ground. The
binding-medium has largely perished in the course of centuries partly on account of autoxida-
tion and partly due to the depredations by insect-pest. The bond between the pigments
and plaster has thus now become weak, and this has resulted in the flaking of pigments. At
the same time, as stated above, the examination of a large number of painted stuccos from
different caves has shown that in some cases glue is still present in the pigments in detectable
quantities.

In short, the absence of lime-plaster at Ajanta, the presence of glue in some cases as demons¬
trated by analysis, coupled with the possibility of a complete oxidation and deterioration of
glue, and the characteristic flaking of the pigments would definitely point to a tempera
technique.

55
 THE MURALS : THEIR PRESERVATION
T he problem of preservation of the paintings has been receiving constant attention of
conservators. The causes of their deterioration have been studied and suitable methods
have been evolved to arrest further decay.

CAUSES OF DETERIORATION

The causes of deterioration of the murals are both external and internal. Among the
external causes may be mentioned wide variations in temperature and humidity, atmospheric
pollution, such as dust, dirt, soot, smoke and tarry and greasy accretions, deleterious effects
of hot gases from the fires and oil-lamps lit inside the caves in the past, accretions of droppings
of birds and bats, insect-nests, seepage of moisture and water-stains, growth of mildew and
human vandalism. Dust and dirt which settled down on the painted surfaces have now be¬
come hard and firm and form a translucent to opaque film on the paintings; smoke and tar
have caused the accumulation of thick layers of soot, tarry matter, grease and oil.

Among the internal causes ol' deterioration are development of cracks, decay of binding-
medium, alligatoring of pigment-layers, chemical changes in the pigments, fading of colours,
softening, friability of the plaster, movement and bulging of the plaster and flaking of pigments
and priming—the last two caused by violent changes in humidity and temperature and in
turn encouraging the external factors of the growth of mildew and breeding of insect-pest.

Due to prolonged desiccation and action of atmospheric oxygen and moisture and the
depredations of insect-pest, the binding-medium originally present in the pigments has lost
its adhesive property or has been completely or partially destroyed, with the result that the
pigments have developed a marked tendency to flake off. Unless this loss of pigments is
effectively stopped the paintings are bound to deteriorate and to be irretrievably damaged.

PRESERVATION : PRIOR TO 1953

Between the years 1920 and 1922, at the invitation of the Hyderabad Government, an
expert restaurateur Signor L. Cecconi, accompanied by his assistant. Count Orsini, conserved
some of the paintings in Caves 1,2, 10, 16 and 17. The work was continued in subsequent
years by the local staff of the Archaeological Department of Hyderabad. Cecconi’s method
consisted of a liberal use of shellac in alcohol and gum dammar in turpentine as fixatives of
pigments. Where the colour was seen to be peeling off, a very dilute solution of gum dammar
was applied, the process being repeated until the pigments were fixed. Finally, the surface
was gently pressed down with a spatula. For the removal of old darkened varnish,^ alcohol

^ It seems that in the course of copying the paintings (above, page 3) Griffiths had laid varnish on the paint¬
ings ‘with the double object of brightening up the details of the paintings and of protecting them against damp’,
Animal Report of the Archaeological Deparlment of His Exalted Highness the Mzam’s Dominions, 1920-21 (Calcutta, 1923),
page 15. Its disastrous effect was almost immediate, for, when Maindron visited Ajantain 1884, ‘the varnish had
ilakcd ofl from all parts, carrying with it the painting, the fragments of which were accumulated on the ground,’
Maui'icc Maindron, Half indienne (Paris, 1898), page 148. In 1919, A. Fouchcr, quoted in the above-mentioned
Annual Report, 1917-18 (Ualcutta 1919), page 12 note, complained of the ‘varnish and smoke, which have done so
much to darken their colour’.—Editor.

56
 THE MURALS : THEIR PRESERVATION

was tried either singly or with turpentine. Cecconi also favoured the use of very dilute caustic
soda, alcohol and a few drops of hydrochloric acid. Though he had never tried ammonia
before, he found that it worked satisfactorily at Ajanta.

For fixing detached patches of paintings Cecconi used the following methods;
(1) injection of casein-hme, where the gap was narrow;
(2) filling with plaster of Paris or lime, fine pazzolana, where the cavity was large;
(3) fixing of nails in dangerous parts for supporting the rinzoffato (coarse plaster);
(4) strengthening of the rinzoffato by sticking strips of linen on the surface with hot
gelatin solution and removal of the linen by means of hot water after the parts
had been secured to the wall; and
(5) liberal use of unbleached shellac dissolved in alcohol for general preservation.

PRESERVATION : FROM 1953

The hope that by these measures ‘the deterioration of the “frescoes” has been stopped for at
least a century to come’, was too optimistic, for when, as a result of post-Independence
integration, the Archaeological Survey of India took charge of the Ajanta caves as monuments
of national importance, it was observed that all the deteriorative factors were in full operation.
Dust, dirt, old varnish and other accretions such as insect-nests, insect-wax, smoke, tarry matter
and grease had brought about a marked change in the optical values of the paintings.
Percolation of rain-water had not altogether stopped. The plaster on the rock-surface
had lost its hold at many places. The pigment-layers had become dry and showed a tendency
to peel off. In addition, the coats of shellac had undergone aerial oxidation and had become
translucent, thus changing the tonal values of the paintings. Remedial action was therefore
called for.

Wherever there was evidence of plaster being loose or pigments showing a tendency to flake
off, a first-aid treatment was carried out with a view to saving the paintings from further
damage. The loose plaster was consolidated and fixed to the wall and broken edges of plaster
filleted on a large scale. In addition, the treatment consisted of consolidation of loose plaster
and paint-layer and fixation of loose pigments to the ground by surface-impregnation with a
transparent fixative such as polyvinyl acetate or polymethyl methacrylate. Work has been
concentrated in Caves 16 and 17.

Where the condition of paintings and the state of pigment-layers allowed, dust, dirt, cobwebs
and other loose surface-accretions were removed mechanically with the help of feather brushes,
soft camel-hair brushes, foot-bellows and small vacuum-cleaners after the fixing of the loose
pigment-films to the ground. Insect-wax, oil, grease, tarry matter and smoke presented
extremely difficult problems and extensive field-trials and laboratory-tests had to be carried
out for evolving satisfactory techniques for the elimination of these injurious accretions. The
choice of a suitable solvent or a mixture of solvents was extremely important, as on it depended
the successful elimination of the accretions and the consolidation and strengthening ol paint-
layers without any loss of pigments or any otner damage. Such reagents, solvents and
detergents as ethyl alcohol, methyl alcohol, naphtha, ethylene glycol monocthyl ether.

57
 AJANTA MURALS

diacetone, alcohol, triethanolamine, butyl alcohol, turpentine and butyl acetate have been
found very effective.

On the basis of experience gained out of work on paintings at monuments of lesser importance,
the problem of elimination of the darkened shellac was taken up at Ajanta and several panels
have been successfully treated and preserved without in any manner affecting the paintings
or causing any damage. Various organic solvents and their mixtures in different proportions
for eliminating natural resins were tried. Morpholine, acetone, methyl-ethyl ketone, butyl
alcohol, ether, triethanolamine, dibutyl phthalate, etc., are some of the reagents which have
been found successful.

As a result of experiments it was observed that the treatment with low-boiling solvents gave
rise to chalkiness on the paintings. This clue led to further experiments. By combining
the physico-chemical properties of different organic solvents, it has been possible to develop
mixtures of solvents which remove the natural resin without giving rise to blanching. The
employment of warm solvents for the elimination of the shellac by a process of refluxing has
not been considered safe, as local heating of painted surfaces is not desirable. Accordingly,
mixtures in different: proportions of chemicals already mentioned are employed for the elimina¬
tion of shellac.
t

It was later on found that better results could be obtained by eliminating acetone, butyl
alcohol and ammonia from the mixtures. The proportion of the reagents in the mixtures
has to be varied from place to place according to the individual requirement of the paintings.
Wherever grease is present, a few drops of ammonium hydroxide are used in the mixtures.

The application of filter-paper moistened with the solvents gives better results and is a safer
method, because it avoids all rough contact with the delicate painted surfaces. Soft camel-
hair brushes and cotton-wool are, therefore, used only in exceptional cases in addition to
filter-paper. The method of dry friction is not advisable, as such a drastic method may
cause scraping and smudging of the painted surfaces and may result in serious damage. The
filter-paper technique eliminates all friction and causes no damage to the delicate surfaces.
In fact, for the elimination of accretions abrasives are not at all used and all friction is avoided.

For the preservation of chemically-treated painted surfaces, polyvinyl acetate in toluene,

ethylene dichloride and ethyl alcohol mixtures are employed in 3 to 5 per cent strength.
Polymethyl methacrylate was limitedly tried, but it was found that under the tropical condi¬
tions of high temperature and high humidity prevailing at Ajanta the material, which is
normally readily soluble in toluene, acetone and similar organic solvents, tended to become
insoluble after exposure to atmosphere. In view of this and its marked tendency to attract
dust, it has not been employed in the fixing of the pigments. Instead, surface-impregna¬
tion with thin dilute solutions of polyvinyl acetate is carried out. Polybutyl methacrylate
is a better preservative than polyvinyl acetate, but its non-availability precludes its use.

The use of N-hydroxymethyl nylon, called soluble nylon, as a surface-fixative and adhesive
was also considered in view of its non-yellowing properties and its freedom from contractile

58
 THE MURALS: THEIR PRESERVATION

forces in thin films, but as the result of large-scale work of preservation of painted surfaces
with this resin is not available, and it is not known how it will behave under the climatic
conditions of Ajanta, it has not been tried. The same considerations have ruled out the use
of sodium salt of carboxy methyl-cellulose as an adhesive for securing loose plaster and
priming to the ground and the plaster respectively. Epoxy resins have, for similar reasons,
not been considered suitable as consolidants. Moreover, these materials are not available
in India. Cavities are filled in with a thick solution of polyvinyl acetate mixed with fine
sand, introduced into the gap with a hypodermic syringe. Plaster of Paris is also used in
some cases.

Apart from chemical cleaning and preservation it was essential to secure crumbling edges
of broken painted plaster to the ground by careful filleting, with the well-tried technique
used on Indian mural paintings. In addition, gaps, holes and cavities in the painted surface
are suitably filled in, leaving a neutral tint so as not to produce any obtrusive contrast.

Detailed photographic records, black-and-white as well as in colour, are prepared of the

paintings in different stages of treatment.

Such optico-photographic documentations as ultraviolet photography and infrared photo¬

graphy, which are necessary not only for recording the condition of the paintings but for
bringing to light such hidden features as cannot be perceived by the naked eye, for detecting
restoration and overpainting, for determining the condition of the pigment-layers and for
diagnosing the factors of deterioration, could not be attempted in the absence of necessary
equipment.

The photographic documentation is supplemented by drawings and copies of the paintings

for indicating the extent of the existing painted surface and for reproducing such paintings
as are well-preserved.

59
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
*Erskine, ‘Remains of Buddhists in India’, containing a note by Morgan on the
visit of the Army officers in 1819, Transactions of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,
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J. E. Alexander, ‘Notice of a visit to the cavern temples of Adjunta in the East-
Indies’, Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, II (1830), pages 362-
70.
J. Prinsep, ‘Facsimiles of Indian inscriptions’. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,
V (1836), pages 554-61, containing Ralph’s account of visit in 1828.
* Bombay Courier (1839), containing Blake’s account, reprinted inDescription
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Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, XLVII (1878), part I, pages 62-72.
J. Fergusson, ‘On the identification of Ghrosroes II among the paintings of Ajanta’,
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60
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

J. Griffiths, The Paintings in the Buddhist Cave-temples of Ajanta, Khandesh {India), two
volumes (London, 1896).
J. Burgess, The Ancient Monuments, Temples and Sculptures of India, portfolio of illustra¬
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S. F. Oldenburg, ‘Notes on Buddhist art’ (translated), Journal of the American Oriental
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J. Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, revised, edited and enlarged
by J. Burgess and R. Phene Spiers, two volumes (London, 1910), particularly I, pages
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61
 AJAMTA MURALS

The Paintings of the Ajanta Caves in India, with twenty plates of illustrations, tour of
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P. S. Rawson, Indian Painting (Paris and New York, 1961), pages 21-51.
V. A. Smith, History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, third edition, revised by K. Khanda-
LAWALA (Bombay, 1962).
Ramesh Shankar Gupte and B, D. Mahajan, Ajanta, Ellora and Aurangabad Caves
(Bombay, 1962).
The Ajanta Caves, with introduction by Benjamin Rowland, Mentor-UNESCO Art
Book (New York, 1963).
D. Barrett and B. Gray, Painting of India, Treasures of Asia (Cleveland, 1963),
pages 24-31.
Debala Mitra, Ajanta, third edition (New Delhi, 1964).
Ganesh Chandra Haloi, ‘Ajanta painting, its technique and execution,’ Art in
Industry, VII, number 4 (1964), pages 12-22.
Madanjeet Singh, The Cave Paintings of Ajanta (London, 1965).
Asok Mitra, ‘The pageant of Indian painting’, BhavanT Journal, XII, number 23
(1966), pages 45-60.

*The editor has not been able to see and check up the details of these publications
but has included them here for the sake of completeness. Such details in regard to them as
have been given have been collected from different sources.

62
 INDEX

ABHATA-MUDRA, 24, 25, 43 architecture, rock-cut, 15-21

Abhayanandin, 24 architrave, 34
Achala, 2 n. arhats, 37
A-che-lo, 1, 2 n. Aryasura, 4
Afghanistan, 17, 22 n., 38 Asia, 17; east and south-east, 11
Agni, 39 ashlar-masonry, pillars of, 5
Agrawala, V. S., 15 n. Asoka, 15; spread of Buddhism under, 22
Ahmad, Syed, 4, 5 Asvaghosha, 29, 38
Ajanta, art-form at 42, artist(s) of, 40, 43, Atthasdlini, 35 n.
44, 45, 46; comparison of Tun-huang Auboyer, Jeannine, 49 n.
with, 38; imagery of, 45; relation to Aurangabad, 1 n., 14, 18 n., 21, 23; litany
Deccan sculpture of, 24; rendering of of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara at, 25;
human body by artist of, 46; rhythmic Miracle of Sravasti at, 34; subsidiary
representation of art of, 42; style of, 11; shrines dedicated to Hariti and Panchika
worship of Hariti and Pahchika, 34, pi. Q, at, 27; worship of Hariti and Panchika
Ajanta Pavilion, 5 n. at, 34
Ajita, lay name of Maitreya, 15 n. Avadanas, 36
Ajitafijaya, 15 n. Avalokitesvara, 25, pi. XXXIII, fig. 9
Aiitafiiaya-sthana, 15 n.
Akola, 14
dip and, 47 n. BACHHANALIAN scene, 47 n., pi. XLI
Amara, 36 Bagh, caves at, 19, 24 n.<
Amaravati (ancient Dhanyakataka), 14; Bahai, 14; rectangular post-holes at, 22 n.
Buddhist monuments at, 23; ndgas Bamiyan, cave-paintings at, 17; colossal
worshipping stupa at, 26 n.; reliefs painted image at, 22 n.
at, 36; representation of Gahga at, 28; Barabar hill, 15
use of plaster on sculpture at, 22 n.; Barua, Benimadhab, 35 n.
worship of Buddha at, 39 Barygaza, 14
Amitabha, 25 basalt, 53, 54
Amrapali, 29, pi. B Basim (Vatsagulma), 14
Ananda, 38 Bava-Pyara cave, 18 n.
anda, 29, 30 Bazalik, 17 n.
Andhradesa, Buddhist monuments in, 23 Bedsa, 18 n.; tradition of sculptural art at,
anjali-mudrd, 39 23
Aparanta, 15 Bhaja, 17; chaitya-c?Lve at, 18; sculptural art
apsarases, 44 pis. LIX, LXV; at Tun- at, 23
huang, 38 Bharhut, 36; representations of yakshas and
apsidal plan, 18 yakshis at, 26; sculptured reliefs of the
Arati, 33 stupas at, 41
Archaeological Department of Hyderabad, Bharukachchha, 14
5, 56 bhava-chakra, 38
Archaeological Survey of India, 3, 5, 6, 57 Bhogavardhana (Bhokardan), 14, 17, 18 n.
architect-sculptors, 23 Bhokardan, 14, 18 n.

63
 AJANTA MURALS

Bhor-gnat, 17 pis. XXVI, XXVII, L, fig. 8; worship of

bhusparsa-mudra, 43, pi. L, fig. 8 in the Deccan, 23
Bihar, 15 Buddha-charita, 29 n.
bimba-^xmt, lips like, 46 Buddhaghosha, 35
binding-medium, 55, 56 Buddhism, 11, 15, 16, 17; early 35; iconic,
Bird (Dr.), 2 n. 23, 24; narrative element in, 35; patron¬
Bodh-Gaya, 27, 36 age of, 16, 18; philosophy of, 8; spread of
Bodhisattva(s), 10, 42; acting as whisk- in western India, 15, 22
bearer, 24; Avalokitesvara, 25; Buddha’s Buddhist(s), 8, 16; art of Mathura, 24;
career as, 2, 35; celestial beings sub¬ caves 23, 24 n.; concept, 13; faith, 51;
servient to, 27; Divine 44; flanking gwnphds, 38 n.; monk(s), 1, 2 n., 15;
Buddha, 24, 33; figures produced under monuments at Amaravati and Nagar-
influence of Mahayanism, 23, 25; Padma- junakonda, 23; philosophy, 10; scenes, 49;
pani, 46, pi. XXIV, fig. 7 symbology, 13; texts; 49; themes, 12
Bodhi-tree, Buddha meditating under, 33; Burgess, James, 3, 4, 20 n., 27 n.
Buddha represented by, 38; devotees
proceeding to, 40, pi. I, fig. 1
Bombay School of Arts, 3 h. GALCUTTA School of Arts, students
Bose, Nandalal, 4 of, 4
Brahmanical caves, at Ellora 33; at Patna cave(s) (Ajanta), commencement of excava¬
17 n. tion of, 14; datable inscriptional evidence
Brahmanism, 15, 17; Brahmanists, 16 at, 20; discovery of, 2; early chaitya-,
Brahmapuri, 18 n. 15, 16 11., 18, 19; early vihdra-, 19; first
Broach (ancient Bharukachchha), 14 scholarly report on, 2; of Hinayana-
Buddha(s), 9, 11; attaining bodhi and pass¬ Satavahana phase, 16 n.; inscriptions in,
ing away of, 2; begging-bowl of, 5 n.; 14, 16, 19; later chaitya-, 16, 19, 21;
career as Bodhisattva of, 2, 35; celestial later vihdra-, 19, 20, 21; location of later,
beings subservient to, 27, pis. B, C, E, J; 21; of Mahayana-Vakataka phase, 16 n.;
depiction of on the facade of Cave 19, systematic study of, 3; photographing
29; figures of, 23; -figure on the crest of the paintings in, 5; under the Archaeo¬
yaksha, 30; identification of, 4; image of, logical Survey of India, 5
1, 19, 20, 21, pis. B. C. Y,. ];indharma- Cave 1, bull-fight scene in, 37;
chakra-pravaria?ia-mt/drd, 24, 29, 30, Bodhisattva Padmapani in, 46;
pis. E. J. LXXV, fig. 20; in pralamba- colossal Buddha in garbha-griha of, 30,
pcida posture, 30; inscribed image of, 24; pi- J; hamsas on the fagade of, 28;
life-scenes of, 2, 25, 30, 33, 43, pis. X, Jatakas painted in, 26, 36; large
XLIX, LXVI, fig. 17; Manushi-, 37, pi. patches of painted plaster in, 22;
EXIT; meditating under the Bodhi-tree, scenes from Gautama’s life in, 30-33,
33; miniature figures of, 30; nume- pi. K; treatment of fagade of, 20
j'ous representations of, 25, 34, 39, pi. Cave 2, Avalokitesvai'a in the garbha-
R; panels connected with the life of, griha of, 25; Kshdnli-Jdtaka in, 36;
3.']; postures and mudras of, 25, 30, 43; large patches of plaster in, 22; ndga-
previous lives of, 44; protected by couple in, 26; ndga in Vidhurapandita-
ndga Aludialinda, 25; representations of Jdtaka in, 26, pi. LIII; shrine of
on facade of Gave 19, 25; row of, 42; Hariti and Pahehika in, 27, 34,
-sahasa (thousand), 39, 43; sculptured, 42; pi. Q_; subsidiary shrines in, 20;
standing figures of, 21, 24, 25; temple Thousand Buddhas in, 39, 43, pi.
for, 16; (etn])lalion by Mara of, 33, 36, ILKiyi', yaksha- shrine in, 26

64
 INDEX

Cave 4, Avalokitesvara in, 25; inscrip¬ Cave 24, sculptural decoration on

tion in, 24; standing figure of Buddha pillar-capitals of, 27
in antechamber of, 25; vrikshikd on Cave 26, pillared verandah of, 19;
the door-frame of, 33, pi. M rock-dwelling at, 2 n.; sculptural
Cave 6, Buddha in vajrdsana protected decoration in, 21; sitting figure of
by ndga Muchalinda in, 25; standing Buddha on a lion-throne in, 25; stand¬
figure of Buddha in antechamber ing figures of Buddha in, 2^’, yakshas
(upper storey) of, 25 flanking the window of, 27
Cave 7, Miracle of Sravasti, depicted Cave 27, goddess on makara under a
in, 34, pi. R tree in, 28
Cave 8, early vihdra in, 19 cave-architecture, Buddhist, 15, 16-21
Cave 9, chaitya-^ 19; early painting in, caves, Brahmanical, 17, 33; Buddhist, 23,
38; Hinayana chaitya-griha, 23; stand¬ Jaina, 17 n.
ing figures of Buddha in, 19, 24 Cecconi, Signor L., restaurateur, 56, 57
Cave 10, Buddha figure with flames Ceiling, ribbed or vaulted, 19; painting on, 47
emanating from halo in, 39; early Central Asia, 35
painting in, 38, 40; gift of facade of by Central Asian monasteries, 17
Katahadi, 16; Hinayana chaitya-griha, Ceylon, 11, 17
23; inscription in, 16; Jatakas in, 36 chaitya, anthropomorphic representation of
Cave 12, Hinayana vihdra-, 23; ins¬ ndga in at Kanheri, 26; -arches, 27, 28, 33;
cription in, 16 -caves at Bhaja, 22 n., Karla, 22 n., 38,
Cave 13, Hinayana vihdra-, 23 Kondane, 3P-; facade of, 19, 28, 29, 33,
Cave 15 A, Hinayana vihdra-, 23 38, pi. A; figure of yaksha on either
Cave 16, elephants flanking the entrance side of, 27, 29, 30, pi. F; -griha{s), 16,
of, 26; gandharva-<:ovi^\& in, 27, 30, 17, 18, 19, 21, 24, 26; -hall, 18; influence
pi, H; inscription in, 16, 26; large of wooden construction on, 18, 22, 23;
patches of painted plaster in, 22; panels within, 33; prayer-hall, 15 n.;
ndga-rdja in a special shrine of, 26 -window, 18, 19, 27, 29, 30
Cave 17, Avalokitesvara painted in Champeyya-Jdtaka, 26, 36, pis. XXXIV-
the verandah of, 25; large patches XXXVHI, fig. 10
of painted plaster in, 22; Rahula charana-chitra, 35
and Yasodhara in, 29, pi. LXXVI; Chhaddanta-Jdtaka, 35, 36
Sibi-Jdtaka in, 36, pi. LXXXH; chhatrdvali, 29
yaks ha Manibhadra in, 27 China, 11, 17, 35; central, 37
Cave 19, Buddha-figures on the capitals Chinese paintings, 7
and triforium in, 30; Buddha flank¬ Chiqgan Kol, 17 n.
ing the entrance of, 29, pis. B, C; chitra (paintings), 46
ndga-rdja couple on one side of, 26, Chrosroes (Khusrau) 11, identification of a
29, pi. D; portico of, 19; sculptural painting connected with, 4 n.
wealth on the facade of, 19, 28, pi. A; colour, -photography, 5; -scheme, 41, 42;
standing figure of Buddha in, 24, 29, use of, 48
pis. B, C, G; stupa inside, 30, pi. G composition, 12
Cave 20, female figure on makara in, compositional principles, 49
34, pi. N connecting link compositions, 49
Cave 21, princely couple on architrave Coomaraswamy, A. K., 22 n., 39 n.
in, 34, pi. P Court of Directors of the East India
Cave 23, Hariti in, 27; ndga couple Company, 2
in, 26 Crystal Palace, Indian Court of, 3

65
 AJANTA MURALS

DAJI, Bhau, 4 Ganesa-lena group of caves, 18 n.

Dakshinapatha, 14 Ganga, depiction of, 28; at Amaravati, 28;
Deccan, 15; background of sculptural art at Deogarh 34
in, 22; earliest caves in, 15; periods of garbha-griha{s), 20, 21; image of Buddha
sculptural activity in, 23; sculpture in, 24 carved in, 24, 30, pi. J
Deogarh, 33 Ghatotkacha caves, 18 n., 19, 23
Deshpande, M.N., 4 n., 18 n., 19 n. Gautama (Buddha), Enlightenment oO 33;
dharmachakra-pravartana-mudra, 24, 29, 30, previous lives of, 44; scenes from the life
pis. E, J, LXXV, fig, 20 of, 2, 33, 36
Dharmarakshita (Yavana), 15 Gautamiputra Satakarni, cave of, 20
dhammilla, 30 Gavatal-ghat (or Amba), an old pass, 17
Dhanyakataka (Amaravati), 14 geometric patterns, 47
dhydna-miidra, 30, 43 Ghanamadada, merchant, 16
Dhenukakata, 35 Gill, R., 2, 3; copies of paintings by, 3 n., 6
Dhulia, 14 Girinagara (modern Junagarh), 18 n.
Dikshit, M.G., 4 n. Godavari valle^q 24
Divyavadana, 22 n., 34 n. Goetz, H., 3 n.
dohada, 28 Golden Age, paintings of, 13
dvdra-pala, 19 Goloubew, Victor, 4
Govardhana (near Nasik), lay-followers of,
18
EARLY Renaissance Paintings, 7 Government of Bombay, 3
Elapura (Ellora), 17 Government of India, 2, 6
elephant, figures of, 2, 18; row of, 19 Graeco-Roman, 35
Ellora, 5, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 n., 33; Hariti Gray, Basil, 17 n., 37
and Pafichika at, 27, 34 Greece, 7 n.
Enlightenment of Gautama, 33 Gresley, 2 n.
excavation of the caves, 18 Griffiths, John, 3, 6, 38 n., 56 n.
eye, traditional rendering of, 45-46 Gujarat, 18 n.
gumphds, Buddhist, 38 n.
FAZLUD-DIN, 4 Gupta (s), influence of on Ajanta, 24;
Fergusson, James, 2, 3, 4 n., 20 n., -Vakataka idiom, 29
figures, painted, showing sculpturesque and Gupta Samarendranath, 4;
forthcoming qualities, 41 Guntapalli, 14
flower-arabesques, 47; -decoration, 47
Foucher, A., 4, 56 n.
fresco-buono, 55 HALDAR, Asit Kumar, 4
fruits, as decorative design, 47 Haloi, G. S., 38 n.
hams as, 28
Harhsa-Jdtaka, 37
GANDHA-KUTl, 16 hdra, 27
Gandhara, 25, representation of Pafichika Harishena, Vakataka, 16, 19
and Hariti in, 27; sculptures of Buddha Hariti, 27, 34
from, 39 harmikd, 29, 30
gandharva{s), 27, 38; -couple, 30, 37; Harport, David L. De, 6
-mithunas, 27; sculptures of on pillars and Herringham, Lad)^, 4, 5, 6
brackets, 30 highlighting, 41
gonas, 27, 34 highlights, 45; use of, 50

66
 INDEX

Hinayana, Buddhism, 17, 41; caves at ^ankhapdla-, 26, 36, pi. IX, fig. 3; Sdma-,
Kondivate, Nasik, Pitalkhora and Thanala, 36; i§ibi-, 36, 37, pi. LXXXH; Sutasoma-,
26; faith, 15; influence of on Ajanta, 23; 21; Ummagga-, 36, pi. XXI, fig. 6;
-Satavahana phase, 16 n. Vessantara-, 35, 36, pis. LVH, LVHI,
hifigula-xtd, 46 LXIX-LXXI, figs. 15, 19; Vidhurapandita-,
hirarhnakdra, image fashioned by, 23 n. 26, 35, 36, pis. LHI, LIV, figs. 13,’ 14;
Hiuen Tsang, 1, 2 n., 14, 16; Buddha -stories, 4, 12, 35, 36, 44, 49
image at Bamiyan, description by, 22 n. Jdtaka-mdld of Aryasura, 4
human flgures, 48 jatd-mukuta, 25
Hyderabad, artists of, 6; Government of, jewelry-motif, 37
5, 56; State Department of Archaeology jndndgni, 39
of, 5, 56 Johnston, E. H, 38 n.
Junagarh (ancient Girinagara), cave-
group at, 18 n.
IKSHVAKU, rulers of Andhradesa, 23 Junnar (Jirnanagara) caves, 18 n.; anthro¬
India, 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 17, 19, 23, 26, 35, 36, pomorphic representation of ndga at,
37; north, 14, 17, 24; western, 2, 16, 17, 26
18, 19, 26, 27, 35
India Society, 4
Indian, art-axioms of, 49; feminine beauty, kailAsa, cave at Ellora, 17
concept, 45; influence, 17 n.; merchants, Kalyan (Kaliyana), 18
35; monasteries, 34 n.; people, 17; red, Kanheri (Krishnagiri), 18, 20; Bodhisattva
41; students, 4 Avalokitesvara at, 25; Miracle of Sravasti
Indra, nymph of, 16 carved at, 34; sculpture at, 24; tradition
inscription(s), at Ajanta, 2 n., 15, 16, 24, of sculptural art at, 23
26; at Ghatotkacha, 23; in western Indian Kapilavastu, 29
caves, 35 Karad (Kharahata), 18 n.
Iran, blue colour from, 41 Karambagola (Kurandaka-Lena), 17 n,
Iranian, costume, 37; school, court-scene Karla, chaitya-griha at, 18, 19; tradition of
of, 47 n. sculptural art at, 23
Italian, experts, 48; restaurateurs, 5 karund, 24, 29
ivory-carvers, 23 Katahadi, son of Vasithi, 15
keyura, 27
Khandesh, 14
JAGAN NATH, 22 n. Khed caves, 18 n.
Jaina caves at Patna, 17 n. Khotan, 17
Jakhinwadi (Yaksha-vatika ?) caves, 18 n. Khusrau II, Persian king, 4 n.
Jalgaon, 1 n., 14 kinnara{s), 27, 44; -mithunas, 27, 37, pis.
Jambhala, 27 XXHI, LX and LXXVII
Jambudvipa, 19 kinnari, depicted at Bhaja, 27
Jamshedji Jijibhai School of Art, 3 kirttimukha, 28
Janjala (Ghatotkacha), cave at, 18, 19 Kol caves, 18 n.
Japan, 11 Kolaba, 18 n
Jataka(s), 4, 21, 26, 35; Chanipeyya-, 26, 36, Kolhapur, Brahmapuri mound at, 18 n.
pis. XXXIV-XXXVHI, fig. 10; Chhad- Kondane, 18 n., 19; representation of
danta-, 35, 36; Harhsa-, 37, pi. LXVIII, yakshas and yakshis at, 26; tradition of
fig. 18; Kshdnti-, 36; Mahdjanaka-, 36, sculptural art at, 23
pis. X-XV, XVH-XX, figs. 4, 5, 6; Kondapur, 14

67
 AJANTA MURALS

Kondivte, caves at, 18 n.; theriomorphic mass-concrete, introduction of, 5

representation of ndgas at, 26 Mathura, 24
Kramri.sch, Stella, 50 n. Mathura, son of Abhayanandin, image
Krishnagiri (Kanheri), 18 donated by, 24
Krishna valley, 24 Maya, 33
Kshdnti-Jdtaka, 36 Mediterranean world, 15, 35
Kshantivadi, 36 Middle Path, 8
kshaya, 50 Miracle of J^ravasti, 34, 39, pi. XLIX
Kubera, 29 Miran, 17
kurma, 28, 34 Mirashi, V. V., 14 n., 15 n., 16 n.
mithuna, 28, 42, 44, pi. LXIII
Mitra, D., 4 n.
LALIT Kala Akademi, 6, 23 n. Mitra, Rajendralala, 4 n.
lapis lazuli, 41, 54 Mo-ha-la-cha‘a (Maharashtra), 1
Larcher, Dorothy M., 4 monasteries, 20; Gentral Asian, 17; Indian,
Lenapur, 14 8, 34 n.
Liiders, H., 4, 14 n., 15 n., 18 n., 19 n., monastery at Ajanta, p. 1
23 n., 35 n. monastic establishment, 16 n.
Lumbini, 36 Mongolia, 11
mother-and-child scene, 5, 43
Moti Ghandra, 23 n.
MADRAS Army, officers of, 2 Mrigadava, representation of the First Ser¬
Magha, 17 n. mon in, 24, 30, pi. J
Mahad (Mahahata ?) caves, 18 n. Muchalinda, protected by ndga, 25
Mahdbhdrata, 26 mudrd{s), 42; abhaya-, 24, 25, 43; bhu-
Mahdjanaka-ldtaka, 36, pis. X-XV, XVII- sparsa-, 43, pi. L, fig. 8; dharmachakra-
XX, figs. 4, 5, 6 pravartana-, 24, 29, 30, 43, pis. E, J,
?nahdrdja-lild, posture, 30 LXXV; dhydna-, 30, 43; varada-, 25,
Maharashtra, 1, 14, 18 n. 29
Mahasambodhi, 39 n. mukha-mandapa, 28
Mahdmdyun, 15 n. Muller, Edward, 35 n.
Mahayffira, 17, 20, 41; influence of, 19; murals, at Ajanta 40; composition of, 53;
§akya-bhikshu, 38; -Vakataka phase, material employed in, 53; resembling
16 n.; vihdras at Ajanta, 19 sculptured reliefs, 41; technique of, 53
Mahayanism, 10 mythological creatures, 47
Mahishmati, 14
Maindron, Maurice, 56 n.
Maitreya, Future Buddha, 15 n., 42 NAGA{S), 44; at Ajanta, 26; celestials, 29;
makara, 28, 34; -torana^ 29 figures of, 26; king Nanda and Upananda,
Malalasekera, G. P., 15 n. 34; Muchalinda, 25; -rdja image, 30, pi.
mandapa, monolithic, 15 n., 16 D; -rdja{s), 26; representations of, 26;
Manibhadra, 27 shrine of, 16 n. ; worshipping stupa at
Manmodi cave, 18 n., 26 Amaravati, 26 n.
Manning, Mrs., 3 n. Nagarjunakonda, Buddhist monuments at,
Mmiushi-Buddhas, 37 23
Mara, temptation of Gautama by 33, 36; Nagarjuni hills, 15
Dharsana, 39 n., pis. L, XXVI-XXVII, ndg-endra-vesma, 16 n., 26
fig. 8 Nahapana, vihdras of, 20

68
 INDEX

Nalagiri, subjugation of, 36, pi. LXVI, fig. 17 tions of the caves at, 18, 19; inscription
Nanda, Buddha’s cousin, 36, 38; naga king, on a yaksha-ixndigt at, 23 n.; represen¬
34 tation of ndgas, yakshas and yakshis at,
Nasik, 18, 19, 20; cave-inscriptions at, 26, 29; use of plaster and paint at, 22 n.
27; ndgas at, 26; representation of plaster, 53-54
yakshas dindyakshis at, 23, 26, 29; tradition plaster of Paris, filling with, 57, 59
sculptural art at, 23 Poona, 18 n.
Nasikya (Nasik), Pandu-lena cave at, 18 n. Po-lu-ka-che-p‘o (Broach), 14
National Museum, 6 Povala caves, 18 n.
Nepal, 11 Prakash, 14
nirvana, 10 pralamba-pdda, figure of Buddha in, 30, pi. E
nntya (dancing), 46 pramdna, 50
Pratishthana, 14, 15; court-physician of, 17
preservation of paintings, 56-59
OLDENBURG, S.F., 4 pretas, 38
Orsini, Count, 56 priest-monks, 19
Prinsep, J., 2 n.
Pulakesin II, Chalukya, 4 n.
PADMAPANI, Bodhisattva, 46, pi. XXIV, piirna-ghata, 30
fig. 7
painted sculptures, 10; at Amaravati,
Bamiyan, Pitalkhora, Sarnath, 22 n.; RADHAKRISHNAN, S., 14
stucco, microscopic examination of, 54; Rahula, 29, 43
surface, salt-afHorescence on, 53 railing-patterns, 18
painting(s), art of, 10, 17; chemical preser¬ Raj agriha, 34
vation of, 5, 53, 56; composition of, 49; rdkshasas, 27
earliest, at Ajanta, 40; ground of, 53; Ralph, 2
latest, at Ajanta, 40; period of decadence Ramesvara cave at Ellora, 17, 33
of, 41; photographs of, 4; process of, rahgit leni, 8
54; technique of, 53-55; style of, 40, 41, 42 Rashtrakutas, period of, 16
Paithan (Pratishthana), 14 Rati, 33
Pala caves, 18 n. rinzaffato, 57
Panchamukhi, R.S., 28 n. rock-architecture, 17
Pahchika, 27, 34 rock-cut, development of architecture,
Pandu-lena caves, 18 n. 17-21, excavations, 15
pdramitd, 35 rock-shelters, paintings in, 40
Parikshit, 26 Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and
Parliament of India, 5 Ireland, 2
parinirvdna, 25 Rowdand, Benjamin, 6 n., 38 n.
Patna, near Chalisgaon, caves at, 17 Rubens, 50
Periphis of the Erythraean Sea, 14
Persia, 7 n.
perspective, conception of, 50, 51 SAHYA (Western Ghats), 45 n., -pada
pictorial art, Ajanta school of, 7 n. hill, 15 n.
pigment(s), 12, 54, 55; loss of, 56, 57 Sahyadri range, 15, 17
Pitalkhora, 17, 18 n.; discovery of an early saila-griha, 15 n.
group of sculptures at, 23; earliest example Sakya-bhikshus, 38
of a winged kinnara at, 27; excava¬ sela-ghara, 15 n.

69
 AJAMTA MURALS

Sdrna-Jdtaka, 36 TABO, Buddhist gumphd at, 38 n.

Sanchi, 26, 28, 36, 41 Tagara (Ter), 14
sanghdrdmas, 16 n. Tagore, Abanindranath, 46
Sankhapdla-Jdtaka, 26, 36, pi. IX, fig. 3 Takshaka, 26
Sarnath, inscription referring to painted Takakusu, J., 34 n.
Buddha image, 22 n.; influence on Deccan tankas, 41
sculpture, 24, 30 Tapti, 14
Satakarni rulers, 20 Tara, 25
Satara, 18 n. T'^ang China, 17 n.
Satavahanas, 14, 15, 16, 23, 24, 29 tempera technique, 17, 55
Satavahana pottery, 14 temple of Buddha, construction of, 16
Sat-kund, 14 Ter (Tagara), 14; sculptured limestone
Satmal range, 14 slabs of Amaravati type at, 23
Saundarananda, 38 Thana, 15, 18 n.
scripture, Buddhist, 10 thdnaka (shrine), 16
sculpture(s) 10, 17; and painting, kinship Thanala, theriomorphic representation of
between, 42; development of, 40 ndgas at, 26
sculptured painting, 10 themes, composition of, 49
Sengupta, R., 25 n. Thousand Buddhas, 39, 43, pi. XLIX
Shah, Priyabala, 50 n. Tibet, 11
Sibi-Jdtaka, 36, 37, pi. LXXXII Tibetan, 38
Sibirdjd, 36 timberwork, 18
Sigiria, 17 /orayfl-architraves, 28
silk-route, 17 Toyug, 17 n.
Siriihaldvaddna, 37, 43 n., pis. LXXVIII- trap-formation, 15; -rock, 11, 53
LXXX tribhafiga, 29, 46
Singh, Madanjeet, 6 Trishna, 33
Sisupdlavadha, 17 n. Tulja-lena group of caves, 18 n.
Sivaramamurti, C., 27 n. Tun-huang, 17, 37, 38
Smith, Vincent A., 7 n. Turfan, 17
Sopara, 18
South Kensington, Indian Museum at, 3 UDARA-BANDHA, 27, 29
Speir, Mrs., 3 n. Ujjain, 14
Spink, Walter M., 2 n. Ummagga-Jdtaka, 36, pi. XXI, fig. 6
Sravasti, Miracle of, 34, 39, pi. XLIX UNESCO, 6
stippling, 50 Upananda, ndga king, 34
story-telling themes, 47 Upanishad, Svetdsvatara, 14
stucco, painted, 55 Upanishadic seer, 14
structural preservation, recommendations Uparkot cave, 18 ri.
for, 5 updsaya, 16
stupa{s), 16 18, 24n., 25, 29, 30; sculptured uvarakas (cells), 16
reliefs of, 41
surface-impregnation, 57 VAIDYA, P. L., 22 n., 34 n.
Surparaka (Sopara), 15, 18 n.; reference Vaisali, 29
in Divydvaddna to wooden architecture vajrdsana, 24
at, 22 n. Vakataka(s), 16, 19; Basim branch of, 14; ins¬
Sutasoma-Jdtaka, 21 criptions of at Ajanta, 23; in Ghatotkacha
Sydenham, Crystal Palace at, 3 caves, 23; rise of, 23; Gupta-idiom, 29

70
 INDEX

varada-miidrd, 25, 29 Watt, George, 7 n.

Varahadeva, 16 Watters, T., 2 n., 14 n., 22 n.
varshdvdsa, 35 Wheel of Causation, Tibetan version of,
vartand, 50 38
Vassey, E.L., 5 Wheel of Law, 13, 30
Vatsagulma, 14, 16 wooden architecture, at Ajanta, Bhaja,
Venus ideal, 45 Karla, 22 n.; references in Divydvaddna
vermilion, 54 to, 22 n.; tradition of in western India,
Vessantara-Jdtaka, 35, 36, pis. LVII-LVIII, 22 n.
LXIX-LXXI, figs. 15, 19 wooden beams, 18; ribs, 17
Vidisha, 23 n. wooden structure, feeling of, 18
Vidhurapandita-Jdtaka, 26, 35, 36, pi. LIII, women of Ajanta, 10
LIV, figs. 13, 14 Wei period, 17 n.
vidyddharas, 26, 27, 33, 37, pis. B, C, E, J
vihdra[s), architecture of, 16, 17, 19, 20,
YAJNA Satakariii, cave attributed to, 20
21; Buddha-figure in, 24; influence of
yaksha{s), 19, 29, 30, 34,44; acting as dvdrapdla
wooden construction on, 22, 23; repre¬
22 n.; inscription on outer palm of at Pital-
sentation of celestial beings in, 27, 37, 38,
khora, 22 n.; Kubera, 28; Kutadarhshtra,
pis. XXIII, LIX, LX
15 n.; Maiiibhadra, 27; Panchika, 27,
vihdra-svdmi, 24
34; -shrine, 27, 34, 37
Vishnudharmottara, 27 n., 50
yakshls, 26, 27, 28, 44; Hariti, 27, 34
Visvakarma cave at Ellora, 19
Yamuna, depiction of, 28
Vogel, J. Ph., 26 n.
Yasodhara, Buddha’s wife, 29
vriddhi, 50
Yavana, 15, 35
vrikshikds, 28, 33, pi. M
Yazdani, G., 4 n., 5, 14 n., 15 n., 16 n.,
20 n.
yogins, 14
WADDELL, L. A., 38 n.
Waghora, 1, 14
water-reservoir, 16 ‘ZODIAC’, painting of, 2 n.

71
• >
'U- ■

\
PLATES IN COLOUR
I TO LXXXV
 PLATE I
Part of a scene of the worship of the Bodhi-tree.
A king and his queen proceed with their followers
to worship the Bodhi-tree (not included in the plate).
This is one of the earliest paintings of Ajanta.
Cf. fig. 1.
38x28 cm.
Cave 10.
 PLATE II
• Part of a scene of the worship of Buddha.
A devout monk with a flower and a handled casket
(incense-burner ?) in hand kneels beside the leg of an
enormous rock-cut Buddha. The sizes of the pygmy and
the colossus bespeak their relative importance.
65x37 cm.
Cave 6.
 PLATE III
Part of the story of the Conversion of Nanda.
Prince Nanda, newly wedded to Janapada-kalyani
(an uncommon but meaningful name; the ‘Fortune of
the Country’), also called Sundari, was taken away
to the monastery by Buddha and was ordained—so goes
the story. When a messenger returns with the crown of
Nanda (left part of the plate), indicating Nanda’s re¬
nunciation of the world, the wife swoons in utter misery.
The heart-rending reality is shared by the other characters
in the panel: even the peacock, the pale flowers and
the mute pillars are in tune with the leit-motiv—rin com¬
munion with the lady. This masterpiece is commonly
known as the ‘Dying Princess’.
1'02 m. x82 cm.
Cave 16.
4
 PLATE IV
Part of a panel representing the Preaching Buddha.
A celestial carrying flowers on a lotus-leaf glides
down the air to worship Buddha (now disappeared).
29x27 cm.
 PLATE V
Part of ceiling-decoration.
34x30 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE VI
Part of a scene probably representing the story of
the Conversion of Nanda.
This plate and the one following it probably represent
a free rendering of the story of the Conversion of Nanda
(for the story see explanation of pi. III). The other parts
of the scene (not included in the plate) depict a simply-
clad person standing at the palace-gate and undoing
his ornaments. He is probably Nanda on his way to
assuming monkhood. The tidings are brought by a
hurrying menial to a princess, probably Nanda’s wife
Janapada-kalyani, conversing with her maid (the latter
not included in the plate).
Cf. fig. 2.
37 X 33 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE VII
Part of a scene probably representing the story of
the Conversion of Nanda.
For the likely story see explanation of pi. VI. A maid
anxiously tries to revive her mistress, probably Janapada-
kalyani, swooning on a couch (not included in the plate)
by pouring water over her out of a pitcher.
36x26 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE VIII
Part of ceiling-decoration.
56x43 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE IX
Part of the story of the Sankhapdla-Jdtaka.
A lady listens in rapt attention to a sermon delivered
by a king of Magadha, turned an ascetic, in the presence of
a Bodhisattva, born as Sahkhapala, the lord of the serpents
(not included in the plate).
Cf. fig. 3.
44x36 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XI
Part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi. X. A show of
dance and music has been arranged by Sivali in her
attempt to keep Mahajanaka tied to worldly life.
Cf. fig. 4.
67 X48 cm.
Cave 1,
 PLATE XII
Part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi. X. Mahajanaka
goes out of his palace on an elephant to attend a saint’s
sermon.
Cf. fig. 4.
72x46 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XIII
Part of the story, of the Mahajanaka-Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi. X. Here Maha-
janaka announces his firm decision to retire as a recluse.
A maid standing behind looks dejected.
Cf fig. 5.
49 X 39 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XIV
Part of the story of the Mahajanaka-Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi. X. Sivali and her
retinue listen to Mahajanaka in bewilderment.
Cf. fig. 5.
67 x54 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XV
Part of the story of the Mahdjanaka- Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi. X. This group
forms part of the procession of Mahajanaka forsaking
his palace (not included in the plate). Rows of geese are
depicted on the garment worn by the lady in front a
fashion also referred to in contemporary literature.
Cf fig. 5.
47 X 35 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XVI
Part of ceiling-decoration.
95 x80 cm.
Cave 1.
*4
 PLATE XVII
Probably part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka.
For the story probably represented on pis. XVII to
XX see explanation of pi. X. On this plate the ladies of the
palace, with simple floral garlands, pay homage to an
ascetic, probably Mahajanaka himself. Their simplicity,
along with that of the ascetic, presents a study in contrast
to the lavish decoration of the palace.
Cf. fig. 6.
T09 mx 78 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XVIII
Probably part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka.
For the probable story see explanations of pis. X and
XVII. This plate is the detail of the left portion of
pi. XVII.
Cf fig. 6.
55 x38 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XIX
Probably part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka.
For the probable story see explanations of pis. X and
X\TI. This is a portion of a scene of the lustration of a
prince, probably Mahajanaka. The attendants, an odd
assortment including a dwarf, serve the king at his royal
toilet (pi. XX). Excitement pervades the scene, but
each person performs his assignment in an orderly manner.
Mendicants wait outside the pavilion for the customary
alms.
Cf. fig. 6.
1 ’09 m. X 84 cm.
Cave 1.
v^HE

^ \f
 PLATE XX
Probably part of the story of the Mahajanaka-Jdtaka.
For the probable story see explanations of pis. X and
XVII. A prinee, probably Mahajanaka, seated under
a gorgeously-ornamented pavilion, is being given a cere¬
monial bath before coronation with holy water poured
over him from deeorated pitchers by two attendants, while
three maids wait in attendance. The proper synthesis of
the details and the characters is subdued enough to high¬
light the central topic—the royal lustration.
Cf. fig. 6.
IT 1 m. X 74 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXI
Probably pari of the story of the Utnmagga- Jdlaka.
The four severed heads on a salver may be those of the
four royal counsellors who pretended to be clever but were
outwitted by young Mahaushadha, a Bodhisattva, and
incurred the king’s displeasure. (But the story does not
say that they were beheaded.) If the identification is
correct, the young person looking at the heads mav be
Mahaushadha, with his wife Amara at his back. Such
ghastly scenes arc seldom represented at Ajanta.
Cf fig. 6.
70x51 cm.
Cave 1.
 I
!

1
 PLATE XXII
Part of the panel cTBodhisattva Padmapani.
Pis. XXII to XXIV represent parts of the noble and
eonsonantly extensive panel of Bodhisattva Padmapani
(‘the one who holds a lotus in his hand’), depicted to the
left of the entrance to the antechamber fronting the
enshrined Buddha, as an attendant of Buddha himself;
On this plate gandharva-cowY^Q is watching the Bodhisattva
(pi. XXIV) from a hill-abode.
Cf. fig. 7.
69 X 59 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXIII
Part of the panel of Bodhisattva Padmapani.
For the context see explanation of pi. XXII. A couple
of kinnaras, celestial musicians, plays on instruments—the
male on a lute and the female on cymbals—in honour of
the Bodhisattva (pi. XXIV).
Cf fig. 7.
79x61 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXIV
Part of the panel of Bodhisattva Padmapani.
For the context see explanation of pi. XXII. And here
is Bodhisattva Padmapani himself—the focal figure of the
elaborate panel. He towers over all his paraphernalia; his
head is held high among the cloudy hills. Yet, unconscious
of the majestic surroundings, his figure, of peerless grace,
dissolves, as it were, in infinite compassion for the living
world in sympathy with its miseries and with a promise of
deliverance.
Cf. fig. 7.
 PLATE XXV
Part of ceiling-decoration.
l-39xM3m.
Gave 1.
 PLATE XXVI
Part of the panel depicting the Assault and
Temptation by Mara.
Mara, the Evil One, assaulted Buddha who was about
to attain Enlightenment. Failing in his attempt, Mara
sent his youthful daughters, one of them seen here, to
swerve Buddha from the path of virtue.
Cf. fig. 8.
25 X 18 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXVII
Part of the panel depicting the Assault and
Temptation by Mara.
For the story see explanation of pi. XXVI. Here is
one more of Mara’s daughters, whose bewitching charm
fails in the mission.
Cf. fig. 8.
50 X 34 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXVIII
Part of ceiling-decoration.
35-5 X 30 cm.
Gave 1.
 PLATE XXIX
Part of ceiling-decoration.
32x29 cm.
Gave 1.
 PLATE XXX
Part of ceiling-decoration.
36 X 29 cm.
Cav€ 1.
 PLATE XXXI
Part of the panel of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.
Depicted to the right of the entrance to the ante¬
chamber fronting the enshrined Buddha, thus correspond¬
ing to the left panel of Bodhisattva Padmapani (pis. XXII
to XXIV), is the equally elaborate panel of Bodhisattva
Avalokitesvara, appearing as another attendant of
Buddha, also in a hilly setting. On this plate a dark lady
of singular charm, appearing in the left lower corner of
the panel, accepts lilies offered by another lady (not
included in the plate).
Cf. fig. 9.
46 X 39 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXXII
Part of the panel of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.
For the context see explanation of pi. XXXI. A royal
figure makes an offering of lilies to the Bodhisattva.
Though richly attired, his glory fades into insignificance
in the presence of the divine Bodhisattva (pi. XXXIII).
Cf. fig. 9.
53 X 50 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXXIII
Part of the panel of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.
For the context see explanation of pi. XXXI. Over¬
whelming his rich surroundings by his personal splendour
stands Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, with a Divine Buddha
on the crest of his immense bejewelled diadem. His physical
charm is at least equalled by the warm spirituality that
exudes from his countenance.
Gf. fig. 9.
63 x42 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXXIV
Part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka.
Fragments of the story are illustrated on pis. XXXIV
to XXXVIII. As a penance Champeyya, a Bodhisattva
born as'the serpent-lord, allowed himself to be captured
by a snake-charmer, who made him dance in the court
of Ugrasena, the king of Varanasi. At the request of his
wife Sumana, he was released by Ugrasena, who accom¬
panied him to his serpent-kingdom. There Champeyya
delivered a sermon for the edification of his royal guest.
On this plate we see the serpent-king seated in his palace
in a repentant mood, for he has led a life of enjoyment
and has thus strayed from the path of piety. Sumana,
seated beside him, looks at him questioningly. A dwarf
brings him a tray of refreshments to cheer him.
Cf. fig. 10.
82 X 60 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXXV
Part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi. XXXIV. Here
king Ugrasena and his courtiers watch with interest the
performances of the captive serpent-king (not included
in the plate).
Cf fig. 10.
60 X 47 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXXVI
Part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi. XXXIV. Among
those assembled at the royal court to watch the show
of the dancing serpent are two provincials in their rustic
attire, squatting in peculiar poses at the feet of the king
(seen on pi. XXXV) and appreciating the dance with
ludicrous gestures.
Cf. fig. 10.
63 X 52 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XXXVII
Part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi. XXXIV. This is the
scene in the royal palace of Champeyya, who, distinguished
by a five-hooded cobra over his head, delivers a sermon to
the king of Varanasi, seated in front of him. Sumana, the
serpent-queen with a single-hooded cobra, and the royal
attendants listen to the sermon.
Cf. fig. 10.
1'50 X 1‘04 m.
Cave 1.
 twapowf

■ -^- .-.i-T ,
 PLATE XXXVIII
Part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi.' XXXIV. This
plate is the detail of the right portion of the preceding one.

Cf. fig. 10.

43 X 40 cm.
Cave L
 . 'jj
■ w^'- aws '• A EMB^f
1 • "^4i2®Bk
0*?^
 PLATE XXXIX
Pa^rt of ceiling-deeoration.
30 X 30 cm.
Gave 1.
 PLATE XL
Part of an unidentified story.
A queen seated on a cushion and surrounded by her
retinue converses with the king (partly included in the
plate). The figures are somewhat disproportionate and are
disposed in a mechanical way.
Cf. fig. 11.
89 X 73 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE XLI
Part of ceiling-decoration.
Ceiling-decorations at Ajanta are usually ornamental,
but here is a definite picture which depicts a distinguished
foreigner (Persian ?) enjoying his drink and with five
attendants, also foreigners, three of them ladies.
77 X 75 cm.
I
 PLATE XLII
Part of a scene of the worship of the Bodhisattva.
A. yaksha-co\iY>\& proceeds to worship the Bodhisattva
(not included in the plate). Below are two kinnara musi¬
cians.

68x51 cm.
Cave 2.
 PLATE XLIII
Part of ceiling-decoration.
Like pi. XLI, here again is a drinking-scene on the
ceiling. The participants this time are two comical figures,
both in non-Indian attire, one of them with a tuft-like beard
and the other with drooping whiskers.

37 X 30 cm.
Cave 2.
 PLATE XLIV
Part of scenes relating to the birth of Buddha.
Maya, the would-be mother of Buddha, stands
musingly between two pillars. A dwarf attendant standing
beside looks up.
Cf. fig. 12.
TOl m. X 72 cm.
Cave 2.
 PLATE XLV
Part of ceiling-decoration.
69x62 cm.
Gave 2.
 PLATE XLVI
Part of a scene of votaries bringing offerings.
Three ladies are proceeding to the place of worship
(not included in the plate). A child sees a toy-duckling on
the outstretched palm of the lady on the left and rushes to
snatch it.
61 X 49 cm.
Cave 2.
 PLATE XLVII
Part of ceiling-decoration.
l-07ni. x89 cm.
Cave. 2.
J Jinmm feiiM is^y
 plate xlviii
Part of ceiling-decoration.
1 "09 m. X 83 cm.
Cave 2.
 PLATE XL IX
Part' Df scenes of.tne life of Buddha.
The scene, consisdng of monotonously-reproduced
figures of Buddha in various mudrds, represents the Miracle
of Sravasti, wherein Buddha multiplied himself to the
bewilderment of his critics.
l-08m. x 87 cm.
Cave 2.
 PLATE L
Part of ceiling-decoration.
95 X 85 cm.
Cave 2.
I
 PLATE LI
Part of a scene of votaries bringing offerings.
For the context see pi. XLVI.
84x68 cm.
Cave 2.
 PLATE LIl
Part of ceiling-decoration.
IT 1 m. x85 cm.
Cave 2.
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 PLATE LIII
Part of the story of the Vidhurapandita-Jataka.
The lord of serpents, with his queen Vimala and
daughter Irandati, listens with devotion to the words of
wisdom of Vidhurapandita, who is none but a Bodhisattva
himself. Behind Vidhura is the yaksha general Purnaka,
the suitor of Irandati.
Cf. fig. 13.
85 X 66 cm.
Cave 2.
 PLATE LIV
Part of the story of the Vidhurapandita-Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi. LIII. Here
Irandati sports on a swing in the palace-garden. On the
left is Irandati again, bashfully conversing with Purnaka
(not included in the plate).
Cf. fig. 14.
46 X 34 cm.
Cave 2.
 rA- .fc. ..

f: .
 PLATE LV
Part of the story of an unidentified Jdtaka.
Despondently leaning against a pillar, the maiden has
a feeling of anxiety writ large on her face. On the other side
of the pillar is a monk (partly included in the plate).
40 X 30 cm.
Cave 2.
 PLATE LVI
Part of ceiling-decoration.
2-37X2-36 m.
Cave 2.
 PLATE LVII
Part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka.
Prince Vessantara was banished for an act of over¬
generosity not approved by his royal father and the people
alike. Watched by sad attendants, the prince and his
consort Maddi are seen here leaving the palace on
exile. A beggar, with a crooked staff, is present to test the
generosity of the prince. A couple, probably the royal
parents, witnesses the scene of departure from the palace-
window.
Cf. fig. 15.
1’20 m. x92 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LIX
Part of the scene of the worship of Buddha.
The god Indra gracefully glides down through the
clouds with his retinue,' which includes musicians, to
worship Buddha (not included in the plate).
Cf. fig. 16.
T03 m. x88 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LX
Part of the scene of the worship of Buddha.
For the context see explanation of pi. LIX. Here is
a kinnara-co\i\Ae with human torsos but bird-like tails and
claws floating amidst rocks.
Cf fig. 16.
61 x45 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXI
Part of ceiling-decoration.
Two gandharvas with a common arm (only one included
in the plate) whirl within a circle.
73x57 cm.
Cave 17.
 platp: T.xii
Entrance to the monastery.
Ov'cr the dooi' arc eight compartments, each with a
yaks ha-couple. Alcove it is a row of the seven Past Buddhas
and Maitreya, the Future Buddha. A sculptured figure of
a dcit) on makara flanks each side of the doorway.
3-40X 1-85 m.
Cave 17.
i!
 PLATE LXIII
Part of paintings on the door-lintel.
Cf. pi. LXII. This is the detail of a. yaksha-coxi'p^t in
one of the compartments in the panel over the entrance of
the cave.
40 X 24 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXIV
Part of a scene of the worship of Buddha.
Among the celestials proceeding to pay homage to
Buddha (cf. pi. LXV) is a yaksha-couTpXe flying through
clouds.
66 X 46 cm.
Cave 17.
«. w*^ J' „
 PLATE LX\
Part of a scene of the worship of Buddha.
Along with other celestials ^cf. pi. LXI\’), a nymph
moves to worship Buddha with effortless ease through the
aerial region, the strong wind swaving her ornaments and
tassels.
34x'25 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXVI
Part of the scene of the subjugation of the rogue
elephant.
The story is that Devadatta, a wicked cousin of
Buddha, let loose a mad elephant to kill Buddha at
Rajagriha, but Buddha overcame the beast by his com¬
passion. Here the elephant is seen tamed by a mere touch
of Buddha’s fingers and prostrating before him, while the
citizens witness the Miracle with awe and adoration.
Cf. fig. 17.
1-60 , M2 m.
Cave 17.
!■
 PLATE LXVII
Part of ceiling-decoration.
T57 X T36 m.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXVIII
Part of the story of the Harhsa-Jdtaka.
A fowler has caught the Golden Goose, who is a
Bodhisattva. The other geese of the flock fly away in panic.

Cf. fig. 18.

84-5 X 38 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXIX
Part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka.
For the story see explanation of pi. LVII. Princess
Maddi sadly receives from her husband (not included in
the plate) the news of his banishment, while a maid
looks at her piteously.
55x40 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXX
Part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka.
For the story and context see explanations of pis.
LVII and LXIX. Vessantara relates to Maddi (not
included in the plate ) the news of his bainishment in the
presence of a sad maid.
81 x49 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXXI
Part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka.
Jujaka, a greedy and wicked Brahmin, receives
ransom from king Sanjaya for having restored to the
king his grandchi|dren. Horripilated at the jingling of
coins, he grins and exposes his broken teeth. Behind the
king, to hig left, is a maid. One of the restored grand¬
children (partly included in the plate) stands near the
king.
Cf. fig. 19.
89x71 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXXII
Part of an unidentified story.
Depicted here is &yaksha with a remarkably calm mien
of the face.
30x24 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXXIII
Part of ceiling-decoration.
T64 X T05 m.
Cave 17.
"Tiy'ry:^ '’>'^>'

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 PLATE LXXIV
Part of the scene of the preaching of Buddha.
This is a section of a large congregation, including
foreigners, devoutly listening to the exposition of the Law
by Buddha (not included in the plate).
Cf fig. 20.
42 x35 cm.
Cave 17.
I

1
 PLATE LXXV
Part of a scene of the preaching of Buddha.
Cf. pi. LXXIV. Here is seen the preaching Buddha
and the other section of the congregation, which indud
monks and noblemen on horseback.
Cf. fig. 20.
1-37XM0 m.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXXVI
Buddha in Kapilavastu.
The scene depicts Buddha’s return to his birth-place
Kapilavastu after his Enlightenment, when his wife
Yasodhara and son Rahula meet him at the palace-gate.
Buddha gives Rahula his begging-bowl and admits him
to the Order. Out of joy the celestials drop flowers from
the heaven. The sublimity of Buddha is reflected in his
halo and towering personality. The emotional content
of the picture is indeed touching.
T88 X T30 m.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXXVII
Part of ceiling-decoration.
T50 X1T5 m.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXXVIII
Part of the story of the Simhaldvaddna.
King Simhala, with a crown on his head, over
which is held aloft an umbrella, sets forth with all regal
splendour from the city-gate on a white elephant at the
head of an army to Tamradvipa to conquer the demons.
The accompanying vassals also ride on elephants and
have umbrellas over them. The fluttering flags and the
swinging trunks of elephants impart a forward movement
to the scene.
T05 m. x80 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXXIX
Part of the story of the Simhaldvadana.
For the story see explanation of pi. LXXVIII. A
treacherous ogress in the guise of a beautiful maiden
lures a young man and dallies with him under a pavilion.
She appears in her true form on the left above the pavilion.

1-07 m. x77 cm.

Cave 17.
 PLATE LXXX
Part of the story of the Simhalavaddna.
For the story see explanation of pi. LXX\TII. Of
immense charm, the lady, perhaps an ogress feigning
love, languidly relaxes under the fondling' touch of the
hand of a lover ffigurc damaged) placed around her
neck.
30x25 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXXXI
An independent scene.
Standing in sylvan surroundings amidst hills, a
youthful princess of extraordinary charm, with rich
ornaments and a diapharious drapery, *is engaged in her
toilet, holding a mirrnr in her hand. Of her two atten¬
dants, one holds a fly-whisk and the other a tray of
cosmetics. A dwarf stands by, gazing at the princess.
1-23 m. X 79 cm.
Gave 17.
 PLATE LXXXII
Part of the story of the Sibi-Jdtaka.
Warriors, with weapons, flags and buntings, re¬
joicingly return to the capital with king Sibi (not included
in the plate) after his reputation as a peerless donor has
been vindicated.
1 -04 m. X 72 cm.
Cave 17.
 PLATE LXXXIII
Part of ceiling-decoration.
2*68 X 2-32 m.
Gave 17.
 PLATE LXXXIV
Part of an unidentified scene.
The bizarre youth with flowing wavy hair and a
striped sash round his neck perhaps represents an
aboriginal type.
39 X 26 cm.
Cave 1.
 PLATE LXXXV
Conventional representations of Buddha.

1-19 m. X 60 cm.
Cave 10.
e-At.
LINE - DRAWINGS
FIGS. 1 TO 20
 FIG. I
Part of a scene of the worship of the Bodhi-tree.

A royal couple with retinue proceeds towards the Bodhi-tree. The costumes and ornaments are
akin to those on early Indian sculpture. )

M5 X 0-42 m.
Cave 10.
)

S
 FIG. 2
Part of a scene probably representing the story of the Conversion of jSfatida.

A prince at the gate, probably Manda (right), takes off his ornaments as if in renunciation. The
news is conveyed by an anxious messenger (centre) to a princess, probably JVanda's wife Janapada-kalydni
(left).

M5 X 0-76m.
Cave 1.
 FIG. 3
Part of the story of the Sahkhapdla-Jdtaka.
At the centre is the serpent-king §ankhapdla listening to the sermon of an ascetic, once the king
of Magadha. In the gathering is a woman in the left foreground intently listening to the sermon. On the
right is Sankhapdla in his serpeiit-form.
1-47 X 1*13 m.
Cave 1.
 FIG. 4
Part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka.

In the centre is a scene of dance and music designed to amuse king Mahdjanaka, who, seen on
the left in his palace-apartment with his queen Sivali, however, remains unmoved. On the right is again
Alahdjanaka, going out on an elephant to meet a saint. JVote the rich architectural details of the palace in
f his figure and the next.
2-27 X 1-36 m.
Cave 1.
 FIG. 5
Part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka.
On the left is the royal household agitated at Mahdjanaka's decision tn renounce the world. On the
right Mahdjanaka leaves the palace led by musicians and attendants.

2‘39 X 1*50 m.
Cave 1.
 FIG. 6
Probably part of the story of the Mahdjanaka-Jdtaka (upper portion) and of the Ummagga-Jdtaka
(lower portion).
On the left is probably Mahdjanaka in his mendicant’s attire with the ladies of the royal
household making offerings to him. The remaining scene shows the ceremonial bath of Mahdjanaka. The
lavish furnishings and royal splendour of the palace are striking.
Below is a grim scene with four severed heads, probably from the story of the Ummagga-Jdtaka.
2-34 X 1-92 m.
Cave 1.
 FIG. 7
Part of the panel of Bodhisattva Padmapdni.

2-12 X 2-07 m.
Cave 1.
 FIG. 8
Part of the panel depicting the Mara episode.

Here are seen the assault on Gautama by Marais army and the amorous attempts by Marais daughters
to captivate Gautama and swerve him from the path of Enlightenment.
1*63 X 1’40 m.
Cave 1.
Part of the panel of Bodhisattva
Avalokitesvara.
 FIG. 10
Part of the story of the Champeyya-Jdtaka.
This reproduces the major portion of the Jdtaka and Shows the disposition of three successive scenes.
The first scene (left) shows the serpent-lord Champeyy a repenting of his life of pleasures. The second scene
(right) is that of the court of king Ugrasena enjoying the tricks of the snake-charmer with Sumand, Champeyya’s
queen, in the centre. The third scene (below) takes us to the ndga-world, where Champeyya preaches to the
king of Vdrdnasi. The scenes are also illustrative of court-architecture.

2*37 X 1-92 m.
Cave 1.
Part of an unidentified scene.
1‘31 X 0'92 m.
 FIG. 12
Part of the scenes relating to the birth of Buddha.
On the left are king Suddhodana and his wife Maya, the would-be parents of Buddha, listening
to the interpretation of Maya’s dream by a Brahmin. Maya again appears on the right gracefully leaning against
a pillar.
1-28 X 0-98 m.
Cave 2.
 FIG., 13
Part of the story of the Vidhurapandita-Jdtaka.
The scene on the left shows Bodhisattva Vidhurapandita preaching to the royal ndga-couple and
their daughter Irandati with the yaksha general Purnaka sitting behind him. ^ In the right upper part
Irandati converses with her mother, and in the balcony below are two figures engaged in conversation.

1-42 X 1’03 m.
 FIG. 14
Part of the story of the Vidhurapandita-Jdtaka.
This is the earlier part of the story. On the left is Irandati sporting on a swing in the palace-garden,
where she is met by Purnaka, her suitor. On the right is the royal ndga-family engaged in an animated
discussion.
Ml X 0*75 m.
I
Cave 2.
 FIG. 15
Part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka.
The first scene (right) depicts prince Vessantara and his wife Maddi seated under a pavilion. Maddi
IS sad at the news of her husband's banishment and is being consoled by him. The second (left) shows the
departure of the princely couple through the palace-garden.
2*19 X 1*14 m.
Cave 17.
 FIG. 16
Part of the scene of the worship of Buddha.

Indra accompanied by his celestial musicians and a kinnara-couple moves through the aerial region
^\y

to worship Buddha.
1*35 X 0-92 m.
 FIG. 17
P rt of the scene of the subjugation of the rogue elephant.
This represents a miracle performed by Buddha in a street of Raj agriha. In the first part (left), as the
elephant rushes towards Buddha, trampling people on the way, the shop-keepers pull down the door-shutters
and the ladies in the balconies look horrified. In the second part (right), is the elephant tamed by the over¬
whelming compassion of Buddha. The people witnessing the miracle bow down in adoration and the ladies
jubilantly throw down their ornaments.
2-87 X 1-21 m.
Cave 17.
 FIG. 18
Part of the story of the Hathsa-Jdtaka.
Kshemd, queen of Bahuputraka, longed to listen to the sermon of Bodhisattva born as the Golden
Goose. The goose is caught by a fowler (right) and is taken to the royal court, where it delivers a sermon to the
royal household (rest of the scene).
1'78 X 1*45 m.
Cave 17.
 FIG. 19
Part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka.
The generous prince Vessantara gave away his two sons to a greedy Brahmin Jujaka, who treated
them cruelly. A person finds Jujaka with the children (lower left) and produces them before Vessantara’s
father (right), who has them released by paying a ransom to Jujaka.

1-77 X 1-35 m.

Cave 17.
 Part of the story of the Harhsa-Jdtaka.
Kshemd, queen of Bahuputraka, longed to listen to the sermon of Bodhisattva born as the Golden
Goose. The goose is caught by a fowler (right) and is taken to the royal court, where it delivers a sermon to the
royal household (rest of the scene).
1-78 X 1-45 m.
Cave 17.
 FIG. 19
Part of the story of the Vessantara-Jdtaka.
The generous prince Vessantara gave away his two sons to a greedy Brahmin Jujaka, who treated
them cruelly. A person finds Jujaka with the children (lower left) and produces them before Vessantara’s
father (right), who has them released by paying a ransom to Jujaka.

1-77 X 1-35 m.
Cave 17.

(
 FIG. 20
Part of the scene of the preaching of Buddha.
Buddha seated on a throne in the centre preaches to a large congregation of monks and noblemen,
including foreigners, who have come with princely pageantry but listen with reverence to the words of the
Master.
2-65 X 2-03 m.
Cave 17.
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