VognoDuut750
2006-03-12 02:51:45 UTC
Great Lives, Great Places
Ajanta Caves
The cave temples of Ajanta are situated about sixty two miles north of
Aurangabad in western India. The caves are first mentioned in the writings
of the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang who visited India between A.D 629 and
645. The caves were "discovered" dramatically during the course of military
manouevres being undertaken by British officers in 1819. Public attention
was roused and the East India company instructed the Viceroy to procure good
copies of the paintings. Publicity, however, was nearly fatal to the
original paintings, as many archaeologists and officials cut out the heads
to be presented to museums. Therefore, in 1903, wire screens were fixed in
all the important caves.
The thirty temples at Ajanta are set into the rocky sides of a
crescent shaped gorge in the Inhyadri hills of the Sahyadri ranges. At the
head of the gorge is a natural pool fed by a waterfall. Though this pristine
spot was chosen to enable the Buddhist monks to meditate undisturbed, it
should be noted that all sites of Buddhist excavations were situated close
to the main trade routes.
Way back in1819, a party of British army officers on a tiger hunt in
the forest of western Deccan, suddenly spotted their prey, on the far side
of a loop in the Waghora river. High up on the horseshoe- shaped cliff, the
hunting party saw the tiger, silhouetted against the carved façade of a
cave.
On investigating, the officers discovered a series of carved caves,
each more dramatic than the other. Hewn painstakingly as monsoon retreats or
varshavasas for Buddhist monks, the cave complex was continuously lived in
from 200 BC to about AD650. There are thirty caves, including some
unfinished ones. Of the Ajanta caves, five are chaityas or prayer halls and
the rest are viharas or monasteries.
Hinayana and Mahayana
The Ajanta caves resolve themselves into two phases, separated from
each other by a good four hundred years. These architectural phases coincide
with the two schools of Buddhist thought, the older Hinayana school where
the Buddha was represented only in symbols like the stupa, a set of
footprints or a throne, and the later Mahayana sect which did not shy away
from giving the Lord a human form.
Hinayana
Among the more prominent Hinayana caves are those numbered 9, 10 (both
chaityas), 8, 12, 13 and 15 (all viharas). The sculpted figures in these
caves are dressed and coiffed in a manner reminiscent of the stupas at
Sanchi and Barhut, indicating that they date back to the first or second
century BC.
Mahayana
The Mahayana monasteries include 1, 2, 16 and 17, while the chaityas
are in caves 19 and 26. The caves, incidentally, are not numbered
chronologically but in terms of access from the entrance. A terrqaced path
of modern construction connects the caves, but in ancients times, each cave
was accessed from the riverfront by individual staircases.
The sculptures and paintings in the caves detail the Buddha's life as
well as the lives of the Buddha in his previous births, as related in the
allegorical Jataka tales. You will also find in the caves a sort of
illuminated history of the times - court scenes, street scenes, cameos of
domestic life and even animal and bird studies come alive on these unlit
walls.
The caves including the unfinished ones are thirty in number, of which
five (9, 10, 19, 26 and 29) are chaitya-grihas and the rest are sangharamas
or viharas (monasteries). After centuries of oblivion, these caves were
discovered in AD 1819.They fall into two distinct phases with a break of
nearly four centuries between them. All the caves of the earlier phase date
between 2nd century BC-AD. The caves of the second phase were excavated
during the supremacy of the Vakatakas and Guptas. According to inscriptions,
Varahadeva, the minister of the Vakataka king, Harishena (c. 475-500 AD),
dedicated Cave 16 to the Buddhist sangha while Cave 17 was the gift of the
prince, a feudatory. An inscription records that- Buddha image in Cave 4 was
the gift of some Abhayanandi who hailed from Mathura.
A few paintings which survive on the walls of Caves 9 and 10 go back
to the 2nd century BC-AD. The second group of the paintings started in about
the fifth century AD and continued for the next two centuries as, noticeable
in later caves. The themes are intensely religious in tone and centre round
Buddha, Bodhisattvas, incidents from the life of Buddha and the Jatakas. The
paintings are executed on a ground of mud-plaster in the tempera technique.
Ajanta Caves
The cave temples of Ajanta are situated about sixty two miles north of
Aurangabad in western India. The caves are first mentioned in the writings
of the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang who visited India between A.D 629 and
645. The caves were "discovered" dramatically during the course of military
manouevres being undertaken by British officers in 1819. Public attention
was roused and the East India company instructed the Viceroy to procure good
copies of the paintings. Publicity, however, was nearly fatal to the
original paintings, as many archaeologists and officials cut out the heads
to be presented to museums. Therefore, in 1903, wire screens were fixed in
all the important caves.
The thirty temples at Ajanta are set into the rocky sides of a
crescent shaped gorge in the Inhyadri hills of the Sahyadri ranges. At the
head of the gorge is a natural pool fed by a waterfall. Though this pristine
spot was chosen to enable the Buddhist monks to meditate undisturbed, it
should be noted that all sites of Buddhist excavations were situated close
to the main trade routes.
Way back in1819, a party of British army officers on a tiger hunt in
the forest of western Deccan, suddenly spotted their prey, on the far side
of a loop in the Waghora river. High up on the horseshoe- shaped cliff, the
hunting party saw the tiger, silhouetted against the carved façade of a
cave.
On investigating, the officers discovered a series of carved caves,
each more dramatic than the other. Hewn painstakingly as monsoon retreats or
varshavasas for Buddhist monks, the cave complex was continuously lived in
from 200 BC to about AD650. There are thirty caves, including some
unfinished ones. Of the Ajanta caves, five are chaityas or prayer halls and
the rest are viharas or monasteries.
Hinayana and Mahayana
The Ajanta caves resolve themselves into two phases, separated from
each other by a good four hundred years. These architectural phases coincide
with the two schools of Buddhist thought, the older Hinayana school where
the Buddha was represented only in symbols like the stupa, a set of
footprints or a throne, and the later Mahayana sect which did not shy away
from giving the Lord a human form.
Hinayana
Among the more prominent Hinayana caves are those numbered 9, 10 (both
chaityas), 8, 12, 13 and 15 (all viharas). The sculpted figures in these
caves are dressed and coiffed in a manner reminiscent of the stupas at
Sanchi and Barhut, indicating that they date back to the first or second
century BC.
Mahayana
The Mahayana monasteries include 1, 2, 16 and 17, while the chaityas
are in caves 19 and 26. The caves, incidentally, are not numbered
chronologically but in terms of access from the entrance. A terrqaced path
of modern construction connects the caves, but in ancients times, each cave
was accessed from the riverfront by individual staircases.
The sculptures and paintings in the caves detail the Buddha's life as
well as the lives of the Buddha in his previous births, as related in the
allegorical Jataka tales. You will also find in the caves a sort of
illuminated history of the times - court scenes, street scenes, cameos of
domestic life and even animal and bird studies come alive on these unlit
walls.
The caves including the unfinished ones are thirty in number, of which
five (9, 10, 19, 26 and 29) are chaitya-grihas and the rest are sangharamas
or viharas (monasteries). After centuries of oblivion, these caves were
discovered in AD 1819.They fall into two distinct phases with a break of
nearly four centuries between them. All the caves of the earlier phase date
between 2nd century BC-AD. The caves of the second phase were excavated
during the supremacy of the Vakatakas and Guptas. According to inscriptions,
Varahadeva, the minister of the Vakataka king, Harishena (c. 475-500 AD),
dedicated Cave 16 to the Buddhist sangha while Cave 17 was the gift of the
prince, a feudatory. An inscription records that- Buddha image in Cave 4 was
the gift of some Abhayanandi who hailed from Mathura.
A few paintings which survive on the walls of Caves 9 and 10 go back
to the 2nd century BC-AD. The second group of the paintings started in about
the fifth century AD and continued for the next two centuries as, noticeable
in later caves. The themes are intensely religious in tone and centre round
Buddha, Bodhisattvas, incidents from the life of Buddha and the Jatakas. The
paintings are executed on a ground of mud-plaster in the tempera technique.