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| Home > Indian Sculptures > Hindu Sculptures > Ajanta Caves
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| | Ajanta Caves
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Not very earlier, it is in the 19th century that the Ajanta caves discovered. These are group of caves, lying deep within the series of Sahyadri hills & cut into the curved mountainside. The carvings in the caves depict the story of Buddhism, spanning a period from 200 BC to 650 AD.
There are total 29 caves at the Ajanta. All were built as secluded retreats of the Buddhist monks, who taught and performed rituals in the chaityas and viharas. It is concluded after research that with using simple tools like hammer and chisel, the monks had carved the impressive figures that helped in adorning the walls of these structures. Many of the caves were depicting stories from the Jatakas, which is a rich mine of tales of the several incarnations of the Buddha. Images of nymphs and princesses amongst others are also elaborately portrayed at inside of the caves.
From all the best of the sculptures & of architectural skills are the cave no. 10, the only chaitya, and the cave no. 12, a three-storied vihara. Ajanta caves are situated 166 kms from Aurangabad in the State of Maharashtra. During the monsoons, its beauty gets doubled, as the place is decorated naturally with lush greenery and very pretty waterfalls.
All the 29 caves of Ajanta are Buddhist and were built between 200 BC and 600 AD.  Caves of Ajanta are famous for its colourful paintings. Although the state of some of painting is very bad as some of them have faded out over the time. The caves are clearly engaged in depiction of the evolution of Buddhist architecture from the Hinayana period to the Mahayana period. In Hinayana period, Buddha was not represented in human form but in the Mahayana period, he was shown with the larger than life statues.
The main artistic instances are the image of Padmapani. The Padmapani image of Buddha - with holding the flower of lotus and standing besides his consort - is the marvelous image. From the caves, other famous paintings include the narrative flow about Buddha`s life. A relief sculpture comprising of four deer sharing a common head, the chaitya of cave no. 19 and the reclining statue of Buddha in cave no. 26 are also great. The main Buddha statue in the very first cave is supposed to depict three different moods depending upon in which direction the light is shown. It is also of an example of excellent sculpture in stone carving more precisely rock-cut carving.
Amongst rock cut Architecture of India- the Ajanta caves, which were excavated and painted by Buddhist monks are very famous. The paintings at Ajanta are decorated with remarkable murals & regarded universally as the artistic treasures of India. Though some of the paintings are referred as frescoes, the main technique used widely is tempera. If explained in technical context, a fresco is applied on the wet surface where some quantity of the colour is absorbed by the surface. And the rough walls of rocks were coated with thick layer of clay and cow dung mixed with rice husk. Usually this was a centimeter thick layer. Then the final coat was given with using lime and then applied to produce the finished surface for painting.
Above all, these paintings of Ajanta caves are one of the most valuable wealth of the art tradition of the world. These enshrine a sublime and compassionate view of towards life. The attitude that reflects from all sculptural paintings is of surrender to the harmony behind the creation and the recognition of a supernatural underlying divinity. The compassionate message of Ajanta caves related with Buddha & his life can be simply summarized as:
"The joy of giving & pleasure of spiritual attainment filled his heart so much that it left no space for the feeling of pain."
The artisans responsible for Ajanta did not just hack holes in the cliff, though. They carefully excavated carving stairs, benches, screens, columns, sculptures, and other furnishings and decorations as they went, so that these elements remained attached to the resulting floors, ceilings and walls.
 In India, the sculpture in painted form is available only at some of places in which Ajanta is one of the important ones. These artworks are painted employing pigments derived from natural, water-soluble substances. Created in several years before, the liveliness of colours is still felt .So, the achievements of the sculptors would seem incredible. Yet they worked only in the light of oil lamps and the amount of little sunshine that is penetrated from entrances of caves.
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