Ajanta Caves

Ajanta Caves

Location: Maharashtra State Map

 

Description of Ajanta Caves

Ajanta Caves

Ajanta Caves is a massive religious complex carved in the solid rock near a village of Adzhinta in Maharashtra State in India. Ajanta Caves consists of 30 caves cut in the cliffs of Vaghora canyons in a shape of a horseshoe. Inside the caves is  a labyrinth covered by wall paintings, frescoes with many sculptures. Paintings represent scenes from Buddhist mythology, images of various gods as well as scenes from the everyday life of people who lived here. According to historians they were created from between 2nd century BC and 600 AD by Buddhist monks who came here seek solitude and quiet nature for meditation. First caves of this Buddhist monastery were created under patronage of Satavahana dynasty, while subsequent caves were carved with the help of monarchs from the Harish Vakataka dynasty.

 

For reasons that were not entirely clear and still debatable Buddhist monks left their homes at Ajanta Caves and soon they were abandoned and forgotten by subsequent generations. First Europeans saw these magnificent caves only in 1819 when British officer John Smith re- discovered them, while hunting tigers in the region. You still can see graffiti that he left on a column "John Smith, April 1819". In 1983 Ajanta Caves were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

 

Position

The caves are located in a basin about 4 km (as the crow flies) west of the small town of Ajanta in the north of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The nearest town with a train station, Jalgaon, is around 77 km away, but the caves are usually visited as part of a day tour together with those of Ellora from the city of Aurangabad, which is almost 100 km to the south. Public buses and taxis also run from there.

In a U-shaped valley cut steeply into the rock by the Waghora river, which only carries water during and after the monsoon season, you will find numerous large cave temples driven into the rock.

 

History

From the 2nd century BC to the end of the 7th century AD the valley was inhabited by Buddhist monks. Most of the caves were built during the Vakataka dynasty in the 5th century, although the representatives of the Vakataka, as followers of Brahmanism, did not lend a hand themselves. The builders were initially the monks themselves; later, the simple, but perhaps also some of the more complicated work was done by trained and paid stonemasons. According to the official census of the Archaeological Survey of India, 29 large caves were dug into the rock; these were up to 30 m wide and deep (cave 4) and about 4 to 8 m high. For various reasons (undecorated supports and architrave, aniconic stupa) it can be assumed that cave 10 is the oldest of all caves of Ajanta and was built in the 2nd century BC. was created. The construction phases and chiseling times vary between 1 and 5 years per cave, depending on the size and decoration. In the 7th/8th In the 19th century, a wave of anti-Buddhist hostility across India also reached this remote valley. The monks were expelled; the caves fell into oblivion and over time were covered by the weathering debris of the rock walls above.

In April 1819 a unit of British Madras Army troops passed through the Ajanta Ghat. During a tiger hunt, British cavalry officer John Smith explored the almost inaccessible gorge and discovered the cave temples that had been deserted for centuries (he left a short inscription in cave 10). More caves were gradually uncovered.

 

Architecture

Of the total of 29 caves, only four (Nos. 9, 10, 19 and 26) are purely cult caves (chaityas) as elongated halls. Most of the other caves are dwelling caves (viharas) with a cult image space for a Buddha figure, or even purely dwelling caves. The mixed dwelling caves with cult image space often consist of a transversal vestibule with columns and an adjoining columned hall with a gallery from which the cells branch off. The entrance side usually has a few windows. In the axis of the entrance there is a space for a floor-to-ceiling Buddha figure, separated by a support position, in some caves also with an anteroom. The square but also rectangular dwelling caves are often wider than deep, whereas the three-aisled, purely cult cave halls rounded in the rear area are rather narrow overall, but both deeper and higher than the dwelling caves - with them references to the older, but not preserved wooden construction are clear (e.g. in the rafters). When entering the mixed vihara caves, the eye is usually drawn to an opposite niche with a seated Buddha statue carved out of the rock; the eye-catcher in the chaitiya caves, on the other hand, is a stupa with a Buddha statue sometimes in front of it.

 

Paintings

The most important caves were plastered with wall plaster depicting scenes from the life of Buddha in mineral paints, which are most likely based on court life at the time of their creation - the hairstyles, clothes and jewelry of the women are particularly interesting here. In a cave, two warriors pay homage to the Buddha, one in Chinese and the other in Roman soldier's clothing - so there must have been a cultural exchange between India and the Mediterranean at that time. Since the Roman Empire also included the area of Mesopotamia at the time of its maximum expansion, a connection there was possibly sufficient for knowledge of Roman uniforms.

The painters mastered trompe-l'oeil painting so well that in another scene a painted balcony seems to loom towards the viewer.

 

The individual caves

cave 1
Cave No. 1 is a vihara with a forecourt, a front porch, a main rectangular room of 35.7 × 27.6 m with a colonnade of 20 sculpted supports, a cult image room with a front small front room in the central axis. The 12 cell rooms lead off the side walls. The ceiling and side walls are richly painted, with scenes from the life of the Buddha on the side walls.

cave 2
Cave No. 2 is a vihara with a front porch, a rectangular main room of 35.7 × 21.6 m with a portico of 12 columns, from which 10 monks' cells branch off, a cult image room with a front, small antechamber in the middle of the front. The cult image room for the Buddha is flanked by two chapels, also separated by double columns. One is dedicated to Shankhanidhiti-Padmanidhi, a deity who bestows prosperity, the other Hariti-Panchika, who personifies motherhood. The cave is already richly painted in the veranda.

cave 4
Cave 4 is a vihara, with a front porch, richly sculpted entrance, portico with 28 octagonal supports, 15 cells, left rough chapel and rough ceiling with hanging rock. The anteroom to the cult image room with a Buddha figure and Bodhisattvas on the side is furnished with large Bodhisattva figures in half-relief. Cave 4 has no paintings.

cave 5
Cave 5 is unfinished and was supposed to be a vihara. Beyond the low porch, a sculpted doorway leads to a rough-hewn room where the beginning of a portico can be seen. The cave is also interesting because knowledge about the technique of the builders can be gained here.

cave 6
Cave 6 is a double storey vihara. The ground floor directly behind a relatively unadorned rock facade forms a pillar hall with 16 supports on a T-shaped floor plan, 17 monk cells, anteroom to the cult image room with a Buddha figure. A staircase leads to the upper floor to the right of the entrance.

In contrast to the ground floor, the upper floor has a veranda with side rooms opening onto the valley. Behind it is a columned room with 12 pillars, a cult image room on the front side with an anteroom and side chapels, each of which is marked by a double column position.

cave 7
Cave No. 7 is a vihara, has two risalit-like projections on columns instead of the gallery-like veranda, a transversal vestibule with raised side rooms. The anteroom and the cult image room with a central Buddha figure, lateral Bodhisattvas and apsaras branch off directly from this transverse hall. The vihara offers eight monastic cells.

cave 9
Cave No. 9 is a Chaitya hall, i.e. a cult and worship building without residential functions. It forms an elongated hall with a semicircular end and a barrel-shaped ceiling. A flat-ceiling gallery is separated from the central hall by 22 octagonal supports. The center and goal of the hall is a stupa in the rear end zone.

cave 10
Cave No. 10 is a chaitya hall with octagonal pillars to the half-barrel vaulted perimeter. It is higher and deeper than the neighboring Chaitya Cave 9.

cave 11
Cave No. 11 is a vihara located higher up, accessed by a staircase. Behind the 4-post porch is the colonnade with four elegantly concave octagonal pillars and cushion capitals. Six cells emanate from it. The Buddha figure can be walked around in its cult image space.

cave 12
Cave No. 12 is purely a dwelling cave with an unsupported, low central room from which 12 cells branch off. The cells and spaces between cells are decorated with kudus.

cave 14
Cave No. 14 forms a double room, which is divided into a front room and a back room by two supports. There is a fountain in the back room.

cave 15
Cave No. 15 is a pillarless room vihara with cult image room and nine cells. It is also used as a visitor information office.

cave 16
Cave No. 16 is a vihara accessible via a staircase flanked by two elephant reliefs. The monastery is the largest of the Ajanta cave monasteries, measuring 19.5 × 22.25 × 4.6 m. It has a porch, a transversal porch and a colonnade with 20 supports, a cult image room without an antechamber, other chapels on either side and 14 cells.

cave 17
Cave No. 17 is a vihara with a porch, a colonnade with 20 octagonal columns and rich sculptural decoration, a cult image room with anteroom. In cave no. 17 particularly rich paintings have been preserved.

cave 19
Cave #19 is a chaitya hall. The rock walls, which form a kind of forecourt in front of the façade, are also richly sculpted. Inside, the capitals and the architrave are decorated with reliefs. The vault imitates the rafters of a wooden structure. A relief with a standing Buddha figure is presented to the stupa.

cave 20
Cave No. 20 into a vihara with veranda, central room, cult image room with anteroom and additional side Buddha image on the front wall and four cells.

cave 21
Cave No. 21 is a vihara with a porch, a colonnade with 12 supports, a cult image room with anteroom and side antechambers to cells.

cave 23
Cave No. 23 is a vihara with a porch, 12-pillared ambulatory room, empty cult-image room with antechamber, side chapels and 12 cells.

cave 24
Cave No. 24 was to be a vihara with a porch (completed), colonnade room and cult image room with anteroom. The complex remained unfinished and gives an idea of how the master builders proceeded.

cave 26
Cave No. 26 is a chaitya hall with a richly worked facade. A Buddha figure is presented to the stupa. Capitals and architrave are richly sculpted, large-format reliefs from the life of Buddha carved out of the rock are on the side walls. The vault has a rafter structure that is not functionally necessary, which refers to (non-preserved) wooden buildings and causes a dramatic alternation of light and dark.

 

Tourism

Despite the seclusion of Ajanta, tourism is increasingly threatening the paintings, some of which are around 2100 years old; in some caves, therefore, solid barriers were installed to protect the paintings from frequent, wanton destruction - in addition, many paintings were secured with plexiglass panes. Temporary high levels of humidity, caused by large numbers of visitors in the temples, have already irreversibly damaged the ceiling paintings in some caves. Flash photography is now prohibited in the dimly lit caves to protect the paintings from further deterioration. Photography with a tripod is also prohibited.