Our entire day today is devoted to visiting the Buddhist caves of Ajanta. We drove 2 ½ hours (approx. 100 kms) to Ajanta. When we arrived, once again it was curious there were no other foreign visitors anywhere in sight. To reduce the amount of automobile and scooter fumes reaching the caves, all vehicles have to park at a central area and take a bus to the caves entry point. All of the other passengers were Indian. Where are tourists? Why aren’t they coming to see these incredible sights? I can’t figure it out.
The Ajanta cave site is along the walls of a horseshoe shaped bend in a river. The caves are carved into volcanic rock and below them is a drop descending 250 ft into a ravine. They are 30 caves in all created between 2nd c BC and 4th c AD (earlier than Ellora) and were created as retreats for Buddhist monks during the rainy season. These caves were completely lost for 100 years and rediscovered in 1819.
Although I’d seen pictures, I hadn’t expected the sight to be as beautiful as it was. We sat outside at the entrance for about an hour while Mamod gave us an orientation to Ajanta. Because of the fragility of the paintings inside each cave, you are only allowed a certain number of minutes to visit each. So getting a debrief beforehand is a good idea.
We learned about the 10 qualities that painting was expected to have at the time these paintings were created (form, proportion, similarity, emotion, etc.) and about the materials used to paint them (only six pigments in milk-based tempera).
Then we climbed a series of stairs to reach the caves themselves. Our first visit was to Cave #1, a Mahayana monastery that dates to the end of the 5th century. Our guide explained that this cave contained some of the most beautiful paintings at Ajanta and he spent time pointing out with his flashlight important scenes and interpreting them for us. Of course no photography with flash is permitted anywhere at Ajanta so we struggled to find settings that would enable us to capture the exquisitely painted figures.
Next to Cave #10, a Hinayana Buddhist Chaitya, dating to 2nd c BC. We saw paintings of royal personage with their soldiers, dancers and musicians. Women wore exquisite clothing and jewelry and coiffures. There were complicated scenes from the Jataka Tales that Mamod interpreted. Not only are the Jataka tales complicated to follow, but also the painters of these scenes did not follow any linear mode of storytelling, so scenes that are chronologically related are not shown near each other. Mamod explained that the viewer would have already known the story and would have looked around to locate the scenes.
In Cave #17, a Mahayana monastery, also called the zodiac cave dating from 5th c AD, we saw perhaps the most famous painting of all – the Flying Apsara – a beautiful woman with pearls and precious stones on her head and dripping from her neck. This cave is renowned for its magnificent paintings and again we spent time discussing stories and enjoying beautifully rendered scenes.
Cave #19, a small chaitya dating from 5th c AD, has been called a sculptor’s “treasure chest”. It reminded us somewhat of the wonderful chaitya at Ellora, but this one contained far more sculpture. The most famous sculpture at Ajanta is in this cave. It is the image of the reclining Buddha (the depiction of the Buddha at moment of his death, about to be released from the cycle of death and rebirth).
The afternoon was getting late and we all hated to leave this beautiful place. I followed Mamod down a different path than the one we’d entered on; we walked along the river and through trees on a much cooler route back to the entry point. He plucked leaves from a large ficus tree (aka the Bodhi Tree; the tree under which the Buddha sat to attain enlightenment) and gave one to each of us.
Our ride was again 2 ½ hours back to Aurangabad. We packed up to fly tomorrow to the beach resort of Goa. I'm so happy that we came to Ellora and Ajanta and would highly recommend this visit to anyone. It was magnificent.
