|
Carved out of a steep ravine in the Ajanta village of Maharashtra,
India, are thirty caves known as the Ajanta Caves.
The Ajanta Caves
were gradually forgotten until their rediscovery by a party of British
tiger-hunters 1819.
The Buddhist caves at Ajanta contain some of India's most magnificent
paintings. The 29 caves were excavated beginning around 200 BC, but were
abandoned in 650 AD in favor of the caves at Ellora.
The caves were painted between 2 and 7BC. Monks have made the rock faces
receptive to pigment by using the “coating technique,” where they coated
the caves with a clay mixture and covering them with moist lime. Hewn
painstakingly as monsoon retreats or varshavasas for Buddhist
monks, the cave complex was continuously lived in from 200 BC to about
AD650.
Five of the caves were styled as prayer
halls called chaityas while 24 were used as monasteries or
viharas, thought to have been home to some 200 monks and artisans.
 Thirty
chaityas and viharas have paintings that illustrate the life and
incarnation of Buddha. Intense creativity and vitality have been lent to
the beautiful frescoes that have survived through time. Tourists
visiting the caves can’t help but feel spellbound by the vibrant images
on the caves’ walls and the over-all spiritual atmosphere of the place.
Some caves contain rich tapestries that graphically describe places,
royalty, culture, and tales of everyday life of ancient India.
The frescoes illustrate Buddhist texts, date from before and during the
Gupta period of Indian history. Many panels of the caves hold depictions
of the Jatakas and numerous images of Buddha, Indian nymphs, and
princesses.
 The
flying Apsara in cave 17, the preaching Buddha in cave 16, and the
sculptured seated Nagaraja with his consort and a female attendant are
just a few things which continue to make the caves a popular tourist
draw.
The design styles of the caves themselves may best be described in two
phases. Separated by about 400 years, the architectural phases coincide
with the two schools of Buddhist thought: the older Hinayana
school where Buddha was represented through symbols like the stupa, a
set of footprints, or a throne.
The later Mahayana sect, on the other hand, portrayed Buddha in
human form.
Chaityas of caves number 9 and 10, and the viharas of caves 8, 12, 13,
and 15 focus mainly on the Hinayana style of architecture. Reminiscent
of the stupas at Sanchi and Barhut, the cave’s frescoes and sculpted
figures may be dated back to as early as the first or second century BC.
The Mahayana mon asteries
include 1, 2, 16 and 17, while the chaityas are in caves 19 and 26. The
caves, incidentally, are not numbered chronologically but in terms of
access from the entrance.
A terraced path of modern construction connects the caves. In ancients
times, each cave was accessed from the riverfront by individual
staircases.
The sculptures and paintings in the caves detail the Buddha's life as
well as the lives of the Buddha in his previous births, as related in
the Jataka tales.
Tourists will also find in the caves a sort of history of the times -
court scenes, street scenes, cameos of domestic life and even animal and
bird studies come alive on these unlit walls as the sunlight streams
through the cave’s openings.
|
