HISTORY &

CIVICSPRESENTATION

A BRIEF HISTORY OF

BUDDHIST CAVES AT AJANTA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I take this opportunity to

express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my guide Miss. Sanjul Mam for her exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the course of this project. The blessing, help and guidance given by her, time to time shall carry me a long way in the journey of life on which I am going to embark on. Lastly, I would thank almighty God, my parents, sister and all my friends for their constant encouragement without which this assignment would not be possible.

The site is a protected monumentin the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO  WorldHeritage Site. The Ajanta caves are cut into the side of a cliff that is on the south side of a U-shaped gorge on the small river Waghur, and although they are now along and above a modern pathway running across the cliff . The elaborate architectural carving in many caves is also very rare, and the style of the many figure sculptures is highly local, found.

 

INTRODUCTION

Ajanta Caves

LOCATIONThe Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad district  of Maharashtra just outside the village of Ajintha about 59 kilometers from Jalgaonrailway station on the Delhi– Mumbai line and Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line of the Central Railway zone. They are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE.  

 

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HISTORYLike the other ancient Buddhist monasteries, Ajanta had a large emphasis on teaching, and was divided into several different caves for living, education and worship, under a central direction. Monks were probably assigned to specific caves for living. The layout reflects this organizational structure, with most of the caves only connected through the exterior.

Stupa in Cave 10

The 7th-century travelling Chinese scholar Xuanzang informs us that Dinnaga, a celebrated Buddhist philosopher and controversialist, author of well-known books on logic, lived at Ajanta in the 5th century. In its prime the settlement would have accommodated several hundred teachers and pupils. Many monks who had finished their first training may have returned to Ajanta during the monsoon season from an itinerant lifestyle.

Entrance of Cave 9.

CAVES OF FIRST OR SATAVAHANA PERIOD

The earliest group of caves consists of caves 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15A, probably under the patronage of the  Satavahana dynasty (230 Wide view of Cave 26 BCE – c. 220 CE) who ruledthe region. Other dating prefer the period 300 BCE to 100 BCE, though the grouping of the earlier caves is generally agreed.

Of these, caves 9 and 10 are stupa halls ofchaitya-griha form, and caves 12, 13, and 15A are vihāras. The first phase is still often called the Hinayāna phase, as it originated when, using traditional terminology, the Hinayāna or Lesser Vehicle tradition of Buddhism was dominant, when the Buddha was revered symbolically. The first Satavahana period caves lacked f figurative sculpture and e emphasizing the stupa ste instead.

Cave 10

CAVES OF THE LATER OR VAKATAKA PERIOD

The caves of the second period a are now mostly dated too early t to be properly called Mahayana.I In the caves of the second period t the overwhelming majority of images represent the Buddha alone, or narrative scenes of his lives. The second phase began in the 5th century. Some 20 cave temples were simultaneously created, for the most partviharas with a sanctuary at the back.

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Reclining Buddha

In recent decades a series of studies by the leading expert on the caves, Walter M. Spink, have argued that most of the work took place over the very brief period from 460 to 480 CE,during the reign of Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty . The most elaborate caves were produced in this period, which included some "modernization" of earlier caves. Caves of the second period are 1–8, 11, 14–29, some possibly extension of earlier caves. Caves 19, 26, and 29 are chaitya-grihas.

Cave 7

REDISCOVERYOn 28 April 1819, a British officer for the Madras Presidency, John Smith, of the 28th Cavalry, while hunting tiger, accidentally discovered the entrance to Cave No. 10 deep within the tangled undergrowth. There were local people already using the caves for prayers with a small fire, when he arrived. Captain Smith vandalized the wall by scratching his name and the date, April 1819.

Scene from Cave 1

Within a few decades, the caves became famous for their exotic setting, impressive architecture, and above all their exceptional, all but unique paintings. A number of large projects to copy the paintings were made in the century after rediscovery, covered below. In 1848 the Royal Asiatic Society established the "Bombay Cave Temple Commission" to clear, tidy and record the most important rock-cut sites in the Bombay Presidency, with John Wilson, as president.

Beautiful Carvings

PAINTINGSM Mural paintings survive from both t the earlier and later groups of cave caves. Several fragments of murals p preserved from the earlier caves are are effectively unique survivals of c court-led painting in India from this period, and "show that by Satavahana times, if not earlier, the Indian painter had mastered an easy and fluent naturalistic style, dealing with large groups of people in a manner comparable to the reliefs.

Painting of Padmapani

Four of the later caves have large and relatively well-preserved mural paintings which "have come to represent Indian mural painting to the non-specialist", and fall into two stylistic groups, with the most famous in Caves 16 and 17, and apparently later paintings in Caves 1 and 2. The latter group were thought to be a century or more later than the others, but the revised chronology place them much closer to the earlier group, perhaps contemporary with it in a more progressive style, or one reflecting a team from a different region.

Painting of Cave 1

Painting was widely practiced and appreciated in the courts of the Gupta period. Unlike much Indian painting, compositions are not laid out in horizontal compartments like a frieze, but show large scenes spreading in all directions from a single figure or group at the centre. The ceilings are also painted with sophistic sophisticated and elaborate dec decorative motifs, many derived f from sculpture. The paintings in incave 1,concentrate on those Jata Jataka tales which show lives o of the Buddha as a king.

Mural Paintings

ARCHITECTUREThe monasteries mostly consist of vihara halls for prayer and living, which are typically rectangular with small square dormitory cells. The higher chaitya hall with a stupa as the focus at the far end, and a narrow aisle around the walls, behind a range of pillars placed close together. Other plainer rooms were for sleeping and other activities. Some of the caves have elaborate carved entrances, some with large windows over the door to admit light.

Sanctuary of Cave 1

The viharas of the earlier period are much simpler, and lack shrines. Cave 1 shows one of the largest viharas, but is fairly typical of the later group. Many others, such as Cave 16, lack the vestibule . Cave 6 is two viharas, one above the other, connected by internal stairs, with sanctuaries on both levels. The form of columns in the work of the first period is very plain and un-embellished. In the second period columns were far more varied and inventive, often changing profile over their height, and with elaborate carved capitals.

Porch of cave 1

E Excavation began by cutting a narr narrow tunnel at roof level, which w was expanded downwards and out outwards. Spink believes that the e excavators had to relearn skills and techniques that had been lost in the centuries since the first period, which were then transmitted to be used at later rock-cut sites in the region, such as Ellora, the Elephanta, Bagh, Badami and Aurangabad Caves.The caves have been paid for by a number of different patrons, with several inscriptions recording the donation of particular portions of a single cave.

Porch of cave 2

BIBLIOGRAPHYI have referred to the following sites for the matter of my project :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_Buddhist caveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_Buddhist caveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Location_Buddhist caveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist Caves of the Satavahana Periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist Caves of the Vakataka Periodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rediscovery_Buddhist caveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_Buddhist caves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paintings_Buddhist caves