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AJANTA
About 107 kms from the city of Aurangabad, the rock cut caves of
Ajanta nestle in a panaromic gorge, in the form of a gigantic
horseshoe. Among the finest examples of some of the earliest .
Buddhist architecture, cave paintings and sculptures, these caves
comprise Chaitya Halls, or shrines dedicated to Lord Buddha and
Viharas or monasteries used by Buddhist monks for meditation and
the study of Buddhist teachings.
The thirty rock-hewn caves at Ajanta, cut into the scarp of a
cliff are either Chaityas (chapels) or Viharas (monasteries). On
the walls of the caves are paintings, many still glowing with
their original colours. The outer walls are covered with
brilliantly executed sculpture. The Buddhist theme of the Ajanta
paintings recounts the life of Lord Buddha and tales of his
previous earthly experiences.
The view point from where John Smith first glimsed the caves,
provides a magnificent sight of the U-Shaped gorge and its scenic
surroundings.Ajanta has been designated as a World Heritage Site,
to be preserved as an artistic legacy that will come to inspire
and enrich the lives of generations to come. The caves including
the unfinished ones are thirty in number, of which five (9, 10,
19, 26 and 29) are chaitya-grihas and the rest are sangharamas or
viharas (monasteries). After centuries of oblivion, these caves
were discovered in AD 1819.They fall into two distinct phases
with a break of nearly four centuries between them. All the caves
of the earlier phase date between 2nd century BC-AD.
The caves of the second phase were excavated during the supremacy
of the Vakatakas and Guptas. According to inscriptions,
Varahadeva, the minister of the Vakataka king, Harishena (c.
475-500 AD), dedicated Cave 16 to the Buddhist sangha while Cave
17 was the gift of the prince, a feudatory. An inscription
records that- Buddha image in Cave 4 was the gift of some
Abhayanandi who hailed from Mathura.
A few paintings which survive on the walls of Caves 9 and 10 go
back to the 2nd century BC-AD. The second group of the paintings
started in about the fifth century AD and continued for the next
two centuries as, noticeable in later caves. The themes are
intensely religious in tone and centre round Buddha,
Bodhisattvas, incidents from the life of Buddha and the Jatakas.
The paintings are executed on a ground of mud-plaster in the
tempera technique.