Ajanta Caves
The Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut Buddhist monuments carved into a 75-metre wall of rock in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India. They date from the second century BCE to around 480 CE, a span of roughly six centuries, yet many of the most breathtaking paintings were completed in a window as short as twenty years. What could drive an entire civilization to carve halls, shrines, and dormitory cells directly into volcanic basalt, then cover the walls with paintings so vivid and sensuous that the first Western observers thought they were shockingly out of place in a religious setting? Who were the patrons, the monks, and the kings behind these caves, and why did it all stop so suddenly? The story of Ajanta traces royal ambition, competing empires, geological accident, and the quiet devotion of individual merchants and pilgrims who found shelter here on the monsoon road between cities.
The River Waghur carved a U-shaped gorge through the Deccan Plateau, and the northern wall of that gorge held the secret of Ajanta for centuries. The caves sit in the rocky cliff above the river, and when the water runs high, waterfalls inside the gorge are audible from within the caves themselves. The rock is flood basalt and granite formed by volcanic eruptions at the end of the Cretaceous period, laid down in horizontal layers of variable quality. That variability shaped every decision the builders made. Where the rock proved weak or faulted, caves were abandoned mid-excavation, as with the partially built viharas numbered 21 through 24 and the entirely abandoned cave 28. Where the rock was sound, artists cut grand colonnaded halls with pillars, shrine rooms, and sleeping cells, all from the living stone. Excavation began by cutting a narrow tunnel at roof level, which was then expanded downward and outward. The cliff above cave 1 is steeper than at other sites, which forced architects to cut far back into the slope to achieve a tall facade, creating the large courtyard that visitors now see. The site was a monsoon retreat for monks and a resting stop for merchants and pilgrims, according to textual records from ancient India.
Cave 10, a vast prayer hall, is dated to about the 1st century BCE, and it is one of the earliest structures at Ajanta. The first phase of building, carried out broadly between the 2nd century BCE and the 1st century CE, produced caves 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15A. These early caves were sponsored by different patrons each contributing to a single cave, as inscriptions recording individual donations make plain. Cave 10 itself bears a Sanskrit inscription in Brahmi script paleographically dated to circa the 2nd century BCE, reading: "The gift of a cave-facade by Vasisthiputra Katahadi." This first phase reflected Hinayana Buddhism, the older tradition in which the stupa, not any carved image of the Buddha, stood at the centre of worship. The caves of this period accordingly lacked figurative sculpture. After the Satavahana dynasty's patronage ended, the site fell dormant for what scholar Walter Spink estimates as over three centuries. Chinese pilgrim Faxian left records of visiting the early caves around 400 CE, confirming they remained in use during the long pause between phases. Then, in the 5th century, everything changed. The second phase produced the majority of what visitors see today: the elaborate vihara monasteries, the chaitya worship halls with ribbed vaulted ceilings carved to imitate timber, and almost all of the surviving mural paintings.
Hindu Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty reigned from 460 to his death in 477 CE, and it was during those seventeen years that the site was transformed. Walter Spink, the leading expert on the caves, argues that most of the second-phase construction took place in the narrow window of 460 to 480 CE, a view now broadly accepted by most authors of general books on Indian art, including Huntington and Harle. Harishena encouraged a circle of associates to each commission a cave: his prime minister Varahadeva sponsored caves 16 and 17, among others; the local sub-king Upendragupta commissioned at least five caves including 17 and 20. Harishena himself is credited with cave 1. Work across many caves began simultaneously around 462, but was mostly suspended in 468 because of threats from the neighbouring Asmaka kings. After a period Spink calls "the Hiatus", work resumed around 475, only to be disrupted again by Harishena's death in 477. The Asmakas then launched a revolt against Harishena's son, ending the Vakataka dynasty. In the years 478 to 480, the grand commissions of rulers and courtiers gave way to a rash of smaller intrusions: individual monks and minor donors added statues and shrines wherever space remained. Cave 10 alone received what was probably over 300 such votive Buddha images in those final years. Spink states plainly that after 480, not a single image was ever made again at the site, though a Rashtrakuta inscription outside cave 26 datable to the end of the 7th or early 8th century suggests the caves remained visited well beyond that point.
Caves 1, 2, 16, and 17 together form the largest surviving corpus of ancient Indian wall paintings. The murals are painted in dry fresco, applied to a dry plaster surface rather than into wet plaster, which is why so many fragments have survived at all. James Harle wrote that the four later caves with large, relatively well-preserved paintings have come to represent Indian mural painting for the non-specialist, and represent the great glories not only of Gupta but of all Indian art. The compositions differ from much Indian mural work in that they do not arrange scenes in horizontal bands like a frieze. Instead, large scenes spread in all directions from a single figure or group at the centre, and the ceilings carry elaborate decorative motifs derived from sculpture. Cave 1, sponsored by Harishena himself, concentrates on Jataka tales in which the Buddha's previous life was royal, showing him about to renounce worldly power. The two most famous individual painted images at Ajanta are the over-lifesize bodhisattvas Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the shrine entrance in cave 1. Cave 2, started in the 460s but mostly carved between 475 and 477 CE, is thought to have been sponsored by a woman closely related to Harishena; its paintings consistently foreground noble and powerful women in prominent roles. One fresco in cave 2 shows children at a school, with those in the front rows attentive to the teacher and those in the back row distracted. The paintings of cave 17, which Stella Kramrisch described as showing "lavish elegance" by efficient craftsmen, span thirty major murals including an attempt to show wind passing over crops by depicting grain bending in waves.
Varahadeva, who sponsored cave 16, proclaimed his Hindu heritage in an inscription at the nearby Ghatotkacha Cave, yet dedicated cave 16 to the community of Buddhist monks. His inscription there expresses the wish that "the entire world (...) enter that peaceful and noble state free from sorrow and disease", and affirms his devotion to the Buddha as "the teacher of the world". Emperor Harishena was himself Hindu by the scholarly consensus, yet commissioned the most elaborate cave at the site. Spink suggests that the ability to simultaneously revere both the Buddha and Hindu gods may account for this pattern. A terracotta plaque of Mahishasuramardini, the goddess also known as Durga, was found in a burnt-brick vihara monastery facing the caves on the right bank of the Waghora river, suggesting the deity may have been worshipped by the artisans building the Buddhist caves. The Alchon Huns of Toramana were ruling the neighbouring area of Malwa at the very time the Ajanta caves were being decorated, and through their control of northwestern India they may have served as a cultural bridge between Gandhara and the Western Deccan. Some cave designs, including Buddhas dressed in robes with abundant folds, show Gandharan inspiration.
On the 28th of April 1819, a British officer named John Smith of the 28th Cavalry was hunting tigers when a local shepherd boy guided him to the entrance of cave 10. The caves were already well known to local people. Smith asked villagers from a nearby settlement to come with axes, spears, torches, and drums to cut away the jungle growth blocking the entrance. He first saw ceilings covered with artistically drawn faces, then noticed the monastic halls that helped him identify the Buddhist origin of the site. He then scratched his name and the date over the painting of a bodhisattva, a deliberate act of defacement. Because he stood on a five-foot pile of rubble, his inscription now sits well above the eye-level of an adult visitor. A paper by William Erskine was read to the Bombay Literary Society in 1822, and within a few decades the caves became famous for their paintings. In 1848 the Royal Asiatic Society established the Bombay Cave Temple Commission to record rock-cut sites across the Bombay Presidency, with John Wilson as president; by 1861 that body became the nucleus of the new Archaeological Survey of India. During the colonial era, the site lay within the territory of the princely state of Hyderabad. In the early 1920s, Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad, appointed restorers, converted the site into a museum, and built a road for paying tourists. The Nizam's Director of Archaeology brought in Professor Lorenzo Cecconi, assisted by Count Orsini from Italy, to carry out the restoration work. The Director praised their efforts as carried out on "such sound principles" that the monuments had found "a fresh lease of life for at least a couple of centuries". Despite that optimism, later neglect caused the paintings to degrade again. Since 1983, Ajanta has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Cave 16 holds a special place in the chronology because the 7th-century Chinese traveler Xuanzang described it as the entrance to the entire site, suggesting its central position was recognised long after construction ended. Caves 16 and 17 together feature two great stone elephants at their entrance. Cave 26 contains a sleeping Buddha and was among the last caves that the Asmakas were still sponsoring when the Vakataka dynasty collapsed; the Rashtrakuta inscription outside it, datable to the end of the 7th or early 8th century, is one of the latest datable signs of occupation at Ajanta. The 17th-century text Ain-i-Akbari, written by Abu al-Fazl, records twenty four rock-cut cave temples each with remarkable idols, confirming the site remained known to literate travellers through the Mughal period. In 2012, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation announced plans to build complete replicas of caves 1, 2, 16, and 17 at the visitor centre entrance, to reduce crowding in the originals and give visitors a clearer view of paintings that are dimly lit in the original rock.
Common questions
When were the Ajanta Caves built?
The Ajanta Caves were built in two phases. The first phase ran from roughly the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE, producing caves 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15A. The second, far more prolific phase took place largely between 460 and 480 CE, according to the chronology developed by scholar Walter Spink.
Who discovered the Ajanta Caves in modern times?
British officer John Smith of the 28th Cavalry is credited with bringing the caves to Western attention on the 28th of April 1819, when a local shepherd boy guided him to the entrance of cave 10 during a tiger-hunting expedition. The caves were already well known to local people before Smith's visit.
What religion do the Ajanta Caves represent?
The Ajanta Caves are Buddhist monuments, encompassing both the early Hinayana tradition and the later Mahayana tradition. The earlier phase of caves emphasised the stupa over figurative sculpture, while the second phase, linked to Mahayana Buddhism, featured large Buddha statues and elaborate painted Jataka tales.
Who were the main patrons of the Ajanta Caves?
The second phase of construction was primarily funded by associates of Hindu Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty, who reigned from 460 to 477 CE. Key patrons included his prime minister Varahadeva, who sponsored caves 16 and 17, and the sub-king Upendragupta, who sponsored at least five caves. Harishena himself commissioned cave 1.
What makes the Ajanta Caves paintings significant?
Caves 1, 2, 16, and 17 form the largest surviving corpus of ancient Indian wall paintings. The murals are painted in dry fresco on plaster surfaces rather than wet plaster, and their compositions spread scenes in all directions from a central figure rather than in horizontal bands. Scholar James Harle described the best-preserved caves as representing the great glories not only of Gupta but of all Indian art.
Why was construction at the Ajanta Caves abandoned?
Walter Spink argues that patronage collapsed around 480 CE following the death of Emperor Harishena in 477 CE and the subsequent revolt by the Asmaka kings, which ended the Vakataka dynasty. After 480 CE, according to Spink, no new images were created at the site, though a Rashtrakuta inscription outside cave 26 suggests the caves remained in use into the 7th or early 8th century.
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