Ajanta- The mirror of Indian cultural History By Indulekha Ghosh
- Jana Ajana
- Jun 12, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 14, 2021
The Ajanta caves were named after Ajintha, a nearby village in Aurangabad district of the western state of Maharashtra in India. Ajanta directly reflects Buddhism. There are sculptural pieces of this period from northern plains of India which take us to rare heights of aesthetic expression. The characteristic gaze of these figures, convey a sense of sublime harmony. In paintings, it is the murals of the canvas of Ajanta which bring to the great vision in the art of India. How Ajanta became the mirror of Indian cultural history is discussed in this essay.
At that time Buddhists were divided into two sects namely Hinayana and Mahayana. All the paintings in Ajanta belonged to these two sects. Hinayana follows the original teaching of Buddha. It emphasizes individual salvation through self -discipline and meditation. The Mahayana believes in the heavenliness of Buddha and believes in Idol Worship. Cave numbered 1-29, all belonging to the Buddhist faith. The earlier phase caves Ajanta date from around second century BC. During the earlier phase the region fell in the kingdom of the powerful Satavahana rulers and later the region governed by the powerful Vakataka dynasty. In Hinayana phase Buddha was not represented in human form. He was worshipped through symbols such as ‘wheel’ and ‘foot-prints’. Two of these earliest caves are Chaityas - numbered 9 and 10 in the sequence and Viharas- numbers 8, 12, 13 and 15a.
Reason behind this rock-cut cave
This rock-cut cave was carved for the rest place of Buddhist monks. According geographical location this was near ancient trade routes and so far from locality- just because the place should quite. It makes for religious purpose. It classified in two categories : Chaityagrah and Vihara . Chaitya was the place for worship. Chaitya contained a Stupa, Stupa placed in the centre that monks can circumambulation to it. Vihara is the resting room for monks or Buddhist monastery.
Six century after the Hinayana phase _ Ajanta witnessed of creative activity. Viharas with beautiful murals- caves 1, 2, 16 and 17. Two Chaityas 19, 26 are also exquisitely sculpted (6th century AD under Hindu Vakataka kings). In this phase Buddha’s statues were made depicting him posing in various distinctive mudras (teaching and blessing). The walls of cave 17 are decorated with beautiful depictions of many Jataka stories which are truly magnificent murals, conceived on vast and impressive scale.
Ajanta Murals from Jataka
From Buddhist Jataka stories (the birth stories of Lord Buddha) we can get an idea about Buddhism and that society. The Shaddanta Jataka is a tale concerned with the quality of boundless generosity, the Visvantara Jataka deals with the quality of charity and the Vidhurapandita Jataka deals with the quality of wisdom. The variety of subject matter in stories gave the painters freedom to the entire canvas of life on earth. The walls are peopled by men, women and children, rich-poor, town-village engaged with all kind of daily activities. They paint men and women with the essence of nature, even they include humble ants, which are depicted on the branch of the tree in the Shaddanta Jataka.
Ajanta painter painted flower, fruits and plants in composition with highly developed sense of design which is admired by modern artist and scholars over the world. Ajanta painting is highly famous in India for the murals also the written description in Chitrasutra of the Vishndharamottara Purana which includes thousands of guidelines on how to paint. From that artist can know three different ways of carrying out shading techniques of the paintings and so on.
In ancient time, the painter was expected to be knowledgeable about dance, music and sculpture. The treatise on theatre called Natya- Shastra, the painter was also expected to infuse his work with different rasa or emotions. These are Shringara (erotic or beautiful), Hasya(humorous), karuna(pathos), Vira (heroic), Rudra (anger), Bhayankar(fearful), Vibhatsa(loathsome), Adbhuta(strange and supernatural) and Shanta(peace). From Ajanta paintings we get an idea about Nabarasa. Artist use all natural colour to paint. They use white, red, yellow, black and green but in second phase they add blue of lapis lazuli brought from north- west frontiers of India.
Throughout Ajanta murals the men and women not only depicted physical anatomy, but to represent through the painted figures the messages of life brings with Buddhist message of peace and serenity. This unique narrative style of Ajanta murals results in some very interesting composition, very skilled painted noes, lips and the chin. The brush strokes are long and bold- that make Ajanta painting a unique place in art.
In this introduction to Ajanta by Ghulam Yazdani, published in 1930, Laurence Binyon, a leading authority on Asian art wrote:
“ In the art of Asia what a supreme and central position Ajanta owns!... whoever studies the art of China and Japan, at whatever time he begins, starts on a long road, which will lead him ultimately to Ajanta.”
While artist working at Ajanta probably guided by Buddhist monk. Who had an intimate knowledge of religious texts of their times. All illustrations according Jataka stories (some are right to left and some are up to down) - from that we get an idea about their times. This way Ajanta brings all the evidence of Indian cultural history.
Bibliography
1. Behl, Benoy k, ‘The Ajanta caves- ancient paintings of Buddhist India’, London WCIV7QX, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 181A High Holborn, Introduction and photograps©1998 and 2005.
2. Singh, Rajesh k, ‘Ajanta paintings- 86 panels of Jatakas and other themes’ Baroda , India, Harisena press private limited, 2013.
3. Mitter, Partha, ‘Indian Art’ Oxford New york, Oxford University Press, 2001.
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