Ancient Whispers, Timeless Art

In 1819, John Smith, a young British cavalry officer, on a tiger hunt, spotted a cave high above the Waghora (Tiger) River. Scrambling up with his hunting party and entering the cave with a flaming grass torch, Smith encountered a great vaulted and colonnaded hall with its stone walls covered in faded paintings. Beneath a dome, a timeless praying Buddha fronted a mound-like shrine, or stupa. Smith carved his name on a statue of a Bodhisattva.

News of Smith’s find spread quickly. In 1844, Major Robert Gill was commissioned by the Royal Asiatic Society to create reproductions on canvas of the wall paintings. Twenty-seven of Gill’s canvases were displayed in the Indian Court of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, south London; in 1866, 23 were destroyed by fire. Newly armed with a camera as well as brushes, Gill set to work again. Meanwhile, the Royal Cave Temple Commission, founded by the Royal Asiatic Society in 1848 had led to the foundation in 1861 of the Archaeological Survey of India. Over the years the Archaeological Survey of India has done tremendous work in preserving this wonderful piece of art and the place got a further boost when, in 1983, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built between 2^nd century BC to 5^th century AD during the Satavahanas and the Vakatakas , it continued upto the Gupta period of ancient Indian history.

This was my third visit. The first was with my father almost half a century ago and then one about twenty years ago with my daughter. This time I came with S, for whom it was the first visit, to this wonderland where art, devotion and history come together. Since no amount of words can describe this hidden gem shrouded in natural beauty, I will try and share some pictures in this photo-essay and hope you, too, go there in person to see these caves and paintings before they are lost and get faded in the relentless march of time.

Ajanta caves are a cluster of 30 rock-cut caves in the shape of a horse-shoe overlooking the River Waghora (Tiger). The caves were used as prayer halls and monasteries for monks and carry images, emblems, paintings depicting stories on the past lives and rebirth of the Buddha from the Jatakas and other Buddhist texts.

Cave 1: Mahayana monastery

Buddha in Dharmachakrapravartana mudra

Bodhisattava Padmapani 

Bodhisattva Vajrapani

Cave 2: Mahayana monastery 6th-7th Century AD

Lord Buddha is enshrined in the sanctum flanked by celestial nymphs and Bodhisattvas with elaborately carved door frames and painted ceiling.

Hariti- Panchinka- symbol of motherhood

Cave 4: Vihara or living quarters for monks

Bare cells can be found all around the periphery where the monks would meditate.

Cave 10: Hinayana Chaitya 2nd Century BC

The chaitya is apsidal on plan consisting of a nave flanked by two aisles with a colonnade of 39 pillars. The stupa is the biggest at Ajanta. 

The octagonal pillars, ceilings and walls are filled with Buddhist themes and tales from the Jatakas, stories of the Buddha’s previous lives, painted between 2^nd C BC and 4^th C AD.

Cave 16: This is largest of the monasteries and contains some of the finest paintings. This was patronized by Varahadeva, a minister of the Vakataka King Harisena (475-500 AD). 

The entrance to the cave is through a tunnel stairwell flanked by sculptures of two elephants and Nagaraja, the serpent king worshipped by the local tribes, guarding the same.

This cave houses Buddha on a lion throne in preaching posture. Lord Buddha is flanked by Bodhisattvas and celestial nymphs. 

Cave 17: Mahayana monastery with greatest number of Jataka tales. A Brahmi inscription on the wall of the courtyard attributes its patronage to a feudatory prince under Vakataka King, Harisena.

This cave is also called the zodiac cave from the image of a circular piece of gigantic wheel (wheel of life) . It contains some well-preserved paintings of  the Vakataka Age. The lintel of the main door to the shrine portrays seven mortal Buddhas along with the future Buddha Maitreya. The doorframe is lavishly carved.

Cave 19-  Attributed to King Upendragupta and full of stories from the lives of Buddha

The entrance facade of the Cave 19 worship hall is very ornate. Two round pillars with fluted floral patterns , inverted lotus capitals, carved garlands support the arch above the doorway. Sculptures of  Buddha  and his son Rahul, story of Dipankara , Yaksha guardians on either side and images of Nagaraja and Naginis can be seen here. 

Standing image of Buddha carved into a stupa is a major departure from the earlier Hinayana tradition where the Buddha was depicted through emblems and a bare stupa. There is a three-tiered umbrella protecting the Buddha.

Cave 26 

This is a Chaitya-griha or prayer hall attributed to 5^th-6^th C AD in which you can see the ribbed rock-cut roof and an elaborately carved circumambulatory path around the shrine. 

It houses the sculpture of Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana (the dying Buddha)

Mara Vijay sculpture: A meditating Buddha is being distracted with temptations by the demon Mara and his daughters; and the Buddha is in bhumisparsan mudra, as part of his enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree.

There is no limit to the number of pictures and so I wish to close the piece now by quoting a few lines from the UNESCO website that reads, “Ajanta Caves exemplifies one of the greatest achievements in ancient Buddhist rock-cut architecture. The artistic traditions at Ajanta present an important and rare specimen of art, architecture, painting, and socio-cultural, religious and political history of contemporary society in India. The development of Buddhism manifested through the architecture, sculptures, and paintings is unique and bears testimony to the importance of Ajanta as a major hub of such activities. Further, the epigraphic records found at Ajanta provide good information on the contemporary civilization.”

DS