An Introduction to the Ajanta Caves: With Examples of Six Caves

80 Pages·2003·4.31 MB·English

by  Rajesh Kumar Singh

By the same author:
Anonymous (ed.), Ajanta: A Digital Encyclopaedia [CD-Rom] (New Delhi:
Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, 2004).
Rajesh Kumar Singh, ‘The Early Development of the Cave 26-Complex at
Ajanta,’ South Asian Studies 28.1 (London: BASAS and Routledge, March
2012), 37–68.
—‘Buddhabhadra’s Dedicatory Inscription at Ajanta: A Review’, in
Pratnakirti: Recent Studies in Indian Epigraphy, History, Archaeology,
and Art, 2 vols, Professor Shriniwas S. Ritti Felicitation volume, ed. by
Shriniwas V. Padigar and Shivanand V. (Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan,
2012), vol. 1, pp. 34–46).
—‘Ajanta Cave No. 26: Oriented to the Sunrise of Dhamma Day (Asadha
Purnima), and Inaugurated on 14 Asadha, 384 Shaka Era (27 June 462
CE)?’ in Buddhist Rock-cut Caves of India, ed. by Shrikant Ganvir, in
press).
—‘Numerating the Shailagrihas at Ajanta,’ Journal of the Asiatic Society of
Mumbai (2009) 82, 122–26.
—‘Ajanta Cave 8: Historiography and Fresh Look on the First Mahayana
Shailagriha,’ Jnana-Pravah Research Journal (2009) 12, 68–80.
—‘Some Problems in Fixing the Date of Ajanta Caves,’ Kala, the Journal of
Indian Art History Congress, ed. R. D. Choudhury (Guwahati and Delhi:
Indian Art History Congress and Sharda Publishing House), 14 (2009),
69–85.
—‘Role of Stella Kramrisch in Indian Art History,’ East & West (2003)
53.14, 127–48.
Copyright collective work © Rajesh Kumar Singh 2012
Copyright text © Rajesh Kumar Singh, except where indicated otherwise
Copyright photographs © Rajesh Kumar Singh
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, stored in a retrieval system, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from the
publisher and the author.
ISBN 978-81-925107-1-2
Text on the painted themes: Rajesh Kumar Singh (assisted by Sandeep Joshi and
Snehal Tambulwadikar), based on the descriptions of the painted themes as given in
the following publications, courtesy of Dieter Schlingloff and Monika Zin:
Dieter Schlingloff, Studies in the Ajanta Paintings, Identifications and
Interpretations (Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1988).
—A Guide to the Ajanta Paintings, vol. 1, Narrative Wall Paintings (Delhi:
Munshiram Manoharlal, 1999).
—Ajanta: Handbook of the Paintings, 3 vols (New Delhi: IGNCA, in press), vol.
1.
Monika Zin, A Guide to the Ajanta Paintings, vol. 2, Devotional and Ornamental
Paintings (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2003).
Photography: Rajesh Singh
Photo editor: Rajesh Singh
Text editor: Soma Bhattacharjee
Design: Rajesh Kumar Singh assisted by Kartikeya Singh
Design review: Purushottam Kumar
Printed and bound in India by
Concord Enterprise, Baroda (www.concordprinting.in)
Published by
Hari Sena Press Private Limited, Vadodara, India
[email protected]
eBook conversion: RS Technomedia, Delhi (www.rstechnomedia.com).
Cover: The Buddha handing over the alms bowl to son Rahula while
Yashodhara looks on in despair, Cave 17, Ajanta
Contents
Acknowledgements
General information
A note to the reader
INTRODUCTION
I
Introductory
What were the caves called by the makers of Ajanta?
Political background
Buddhism of Ajanta
The Samgha at the samgharama of Ajanta
The original layout of the fifth-century caves
CAVE 1
II
Sequence of excavation
Narrative wall paintings
CAVE 2
III
Sequence of excavation
Narrative wall paintings
Devotional wall paintings
CAVE 9
IV
Art and architectural features
Narrative wall paintings
CAVE 10
V
V
Art and architectural features
CAVE 16
VI
Sequence of excavation
Narrative wall paintings
CAVE 17
VII
Sequence of excavation
Narrative wall paintings

Spink’s research
Further readings
General plan of the caves
An Introduction To The
AJANTA CAVES
The site of the Ajanta caves
1 Waterfall at Ajanta
2 Saptakunda (Seven Tanks) at the source of the Ajanta waterfall
3 Map showing rock cut cave sites in India (source: Fergusson and Burgess 1880)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Primary research. Various permissions were availed by the author from the
Archaeological Survey of India for on-site research and photo documentation from
time to time. The author would like to thank the Director General’s office in New
Delhi and the Office of the Superintending Archaeologist, Aurangabad Circle; in
particular Dr V. N. Prabhakar, Dr Shivanand V., Dr D. Dayalan, Mr M.
Mahadevaiah, and Shri Vilas Jadhav.
Secondary research. Prof. Dieter Schlingloff of Germany and Prof. Monika Zin
of University of Munich permitted me to consult thier researches and
identifications of the themes of the Ajanta paintings from the following sources
inter alia: (1) Dieter Schlingloff, Studies in the Ajanta Paintings, Identifications and
Interpretations (Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1988); (2) A Guide to the Ajanta
Paintings, vol. 1, Narrative Wall Paintings (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1999);
(3) Ajanta: Handbook of the Paintings, vol. 1 (New Delhi: IGNCA, in press); and
(4) Monika Zin, A Guide to the Ajanta Paintings, vol. 2, Devotional and
Ornamental Paintings (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2003). When I sent the
final proof to Prof. Schlingloff he obliged me with numerous corrections, and also
provided critical comments and important suggestions, not all of which I have been
able to incorporate.
Prof. Emeritus Walter M. Spink of University of Michigan has shared a lot of
information with me in the last fifteen years of my association with him. He has
provided me with a lot of critical feedback, and also permitted me to reproduce his
revised time chart (September 2012), defining features, and door modes from
Ajanta: History and Development, 6 vols (Leiden: Brill, 2005–2012).
Map and ground plans. The maps and ground plans are reproduced or adapted
from James Fergusson and James Burgess, The Cave Temples of India (London: W.
H. Allen, 1880; repr. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2000).
Individuals. Shri Devendra Ingle, Asstt. Prof. M. J. College, Jalgaon has helped
in a number of ways. Sayyed Abid, Sayyed Asak, Sayyed Rajek, and Sayyed Azhar of
Hotel New K. P. Park, Phardapur, sponsored boarding and lodging during the
author’s three-month field tour in the summer of 2012. Soma Bhattacharjee has
edited the typescript. Sandeep Joshi and Snehal Tambulwadikar assisted in drafting