Ajanata - Cave 1
Ajanta is all about rock-cut caves located amidst the Sahyadri’s dense foliage. The caves are situated 103 km away from Aurangabad, where I stayed during my visit in 2010.
The Ajanta caves are celebrated for their world famous paintings (a phenomenon of earlier period-BCE) that exhibit the skill and imagination of consummate visual artists. The sculptures (a phenomenon of later period - CE), mostly dating from the 5th-6th centuries CE, are remarkable for their classic qualities and exuding graceful elegance, restraint, and serenity that a Buddhist life is about.
Ajanta caves are more famous for its murals (not frescos), i.e. coloured wall paintings, although some of the caves have graceful sculptures depicting the Buddha’s tapas, teaching life, and his final departure. Cave 1, 2, 16, and 17 are famous for their murals.
There are 30 Buddhist caves (unlike in Ellora where there are Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu caves) in Ajanta including the unfinished ones, of which 4 (or 5?) are ‘Chaityagrhas’ (Prayer Halls), and the rest 25 (26?) are ‘Sangha-āramas’, or ‘Vihāras’ (monasteries). Caves 9, 10, 16 and 19 are ‘Chaityagrhas’. Of these four, 9 and 10 belonged to Hinayāna, and 16 and 19 to Mahāyāna.
Again out of these 30 caves, only cave numbers 1-26 can be visited. There is no proper access for caves 27-30. Caves 3, 5, 8, 23, 24, 25, 27 to 30 are unfinished.
The earliest excavation at Ajanta dates fro 2nd century BCE. Excavation was revived on a much more ambitious scale after about four centuries. The most vigorous period of architectural and artistic activity seems to have coincided with the second half of the fifth century CE, and the first half of the sixth century CE (550-650 CE).
It is interesting to note that in Ajanta, the Hinayāna (the original Buddhism - Therāvāda), and Mahāyāna (who labeled the Theravādis as Hinayāna, since they pursued their own Nibbāna) had separate caves. Thus, caves 9, 10, 11 and 12 are older Hinayāna caves that were the earliest caves excavated between 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE - Mahāyāna had not born during that period….). The caves for the Mahāyānis were excavated later during the Common Era.
There is no practice of image-worship in Hinayāna (Therāvāda). Only emblems (lotus, elephant, the wheel of dharma, royal insignia) represented the Buddha. In Mahāyāna, image-worship is prevalent (They started image worship…..The Hindus apparently took from them…I am not aware of any temple before the Common Era). Hence, the Mahāyāna caves are full of stone-images of the Buddha. Sculpted stone images and paintings of the Buddha found in the Hinayāna caves are later additions.
The second phase of excavation (of Mahāyāna caves, departs from the earlier one with the introduction of new pattern in layout as well as the centrality of Buddha image, both in sculpture as well as in paintings.
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The Ajanta Caves - view from the beginning of the tour | ‘Ajanta View Point’ from where John Smith first glimpsed Ajanta | Ajanta Caves - view from the last caves |
Cave-1 (a Mahāyāna Vihāra)
This is a Vihāra (monastery) cave, and is one of the most recent (contemporary of Ghatotkacha cave at Gulwada, 18 km from Ajanta, based on the inscription of Varāhadeva, minister of Harishena, 475-500 CE, because of the similarity of these caves), and a fully developed of the Ajanta caves. It has a verandah at the front (not in the photographs), leading to a large square hall which has elaborate sculptures, richly carved pillars, paintings, and a huge sculpted stone-image of the Buddha, and some of the famous murals.
Every inch of this cave was originally painted, including the pillars and the sculptures. The variety of subjects is also astounding. As one enters, the world famous painting of Bodhisattva Padmapāni is on the left of this cave, with Vajrapāni (aka Avalokiteswara) complementing on the right. To his right is a king richly dressed with fine silk and jewels, offering him lilies in a tray.
The ceiling of all this cave (as well as of caves 2, 16, 17) are full of coloured paintings designed very artistically appearing like a canopy.
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Bodhisattva Padm- apāni on the left - Cave 1 | A Royal figure offering lilies to Bodhisattva Vajrapāni - Cave 1 | Bodhisattva Vajrāpani on the right - Cave 1 |
At the left side of the verandah, there is a sculpture – a panel showing Prince Siddhartha on the way to garden. During the ride, for the first time he came across three sorrowful sights in which he saw a sick person, an old person and a corpse, an experience that changed the future course of his life.
i. Mahājanaka Jātaka
King Mahājanaka, having heard the wise words of the sage and returned to the palace, decides to renounce the worldly life. Here, he is announcing his decision in the palace, his mother standing behind him.
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Mahājanaka Jataka - Reluctant Prince Mahajanaka being attempted to lure away from monastic life - Cave 1 | Mahājanaka Jātaka Lus- tration of the Prince Mahājanaka - Cave 1 | Mahājanaka Jātaka - Lustration of the Prince Mahājanaka - Cave 1 |
ii. Champeya Jataka: Champeya, a Bodhisattva born as the Serpant Lord, in a repentant mood.
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Palace Scene showing a Prince relaxing with his consort - Cave 1 |
| Champeya Jataka - Champeya,a Bodhisattva born as the Serpant Lord in a repentant mood - Cave 1 | Champeya Jataka -Champeyya with his 5-hooded cobra on his head sermoning Varanasi-King, Sumana and attendants listen - Cave 1
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Other coloured stories of Cave 1:
There are many paintings of women, some remarkably similar to the paintings at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka. Notable paintings include those of the ‘black prince’ and the ‘dying princess’ (Sundarānanda).
ii. Saundarananda - The plight of Nanda’s wife after she heard the news of his renunciation. Nanda was the step-brother of the Buddha. Then there is the conversion of Nanda, the Buddha’s step-brother. The Buddha converted Nanda, who was extremely unwilling to take to the monastic life imposed upon him, as he was enamoured of his wife Sundari.
iii. Temptation of Mārā – Before enlightenment, Mārā a demoness employed many tactics to distract Siddhartha while he was meditating.
iv. Miracle of Srāvasti – In Srāvasti, a miracle happened. The Buddha appeared in thousand forms simultaneously.
Four Jataka Kathas: Two more Jātaka-kathās are these in this cae, besides Mahājanaka and Chāmpeya Jataka.
i. Sibi Jātaka – During one of his previous births, Siddhārtha was born as Prince Sibi, he happily gave the pigeon’s body weight of flesh from his body to the hawk and saved the life of the pigeon.
ii. Sankhapāl Jātaka.
Amongst the famous sculptures is one of four deer sharing a common head. Such styles were subsequently adapted in many Hindu temples to exhibit the skill in imagination and sculpting.
Inside the sanctum, there is a colossal image of the Buddha seated in 'Vajra-paryankāsana' posture in teaching mudrā (dhrama-chakra-pravartana mudrā). This figure is rather heavy, lacking the delicateness of contemporary images of Buddha from Sarnath (so we do not know finally how he looked like.) On either side is a standing chāmara (fly-whisk)-bearer. Below the centre at the pedestal there is a wheel flanked by two deer. The wheel represents ‘dhamma-chakra’ and the two deer symbolize the Deer Park at Sarnath, where he preached his first sermon. At that time some deer were present. So there is an eminent place for deer in all the caves of Ajanta. The Buddha’s first five disciples are near left side of the deer. There are some human figures on the right of the deer also. The scene having ‘dhamma chakra’ and deer is found in almost all the Ajanta caves.
“After his enlightenment, the Buddha went to the Deer Park at Rshipatana (present day Sarnath), where he preached his First Sermon to five ascetics of his previous acquaintance. This is known as dhrama-chakra-pravartana (setting the Wheel of Law in motion), which is symbolically represented by a wheel flanked by two deer…….”
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Some other disciples of the Buddha on the right of the deer - Cave 1 | The Buddha in teaching mudra with two deer at the bottom - Cave 1 | The Buddha's first five disciples on the left of the deer - Cave 1 |
The Ajanta Caves were declared as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1985, along with the Ellora Caves.
***Dedicated to Ashish Arora and Pankaj Saxena***
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Swāmini Ātmaprajnānanda Saraswati is a Dasanāmi Sannyāsini of Śankara Bhagavatpāda Order. She has visited (by flight, train, car, on mules, on foot) more than 100 temples/holy sites in India, has extensively photographed them, has studied their legends, and architectural history. They include 4 temples of Elements, 5 Jyotirlingas, almost all Buddhist and Jain Pilgrim sites, and all famous Indo-Islamic architecture. Out of these, 12 places are listed as World Heritage by UNESCO.
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