THE AJANTA CAVES

Liiilc morc ihan iwo hours rom ihc old ciiy o

Aurangabad arc ihc amous Cacs o A[ania, 1hiriy-
iwo groiios ihai arc noi naiural bui had bccn cui in
hills or ihousands o ycars by workcrs who had only
uscd cinzcis and hammcrs. Sculpiurcd in ihc olcanic
basali rock, ihc craismcn had bccn mciiculously
cinzclando` ihc rock liiilc by liiilc, cuiiing ihc
columns in siraicgic placcs and crcaiing somc rooms
insidc o ihc rock. 1hc walls and ccilings had bccn
wondcrully dccoraicd and had crcaicd colorul
painiings wiih plasicr applicaiions .
General view of the place
The ma|orty of pantngs are more than
1500 years od . Ten centures before the
brth of Mcheangeo, Leonardo da Vnc and
the European renassance, these unknown
artsts aready knew how to use perspectve,
depth and reasm n ther pantngs. The
expressons and emotons captured n the
faces of the pantng are so rea that today,
after some centures, they can st be
admred.
The odest cave traces to the second
century before Chrst. Some of them
are Vharas (convents) or
monasteres, great chambers wth
sma rooms that ead off the man
room and t was where they ved as
monks. Some of these rooms have
beds of cut rock, wth a cushon n
whch monks coud rest ther heads.

1hc rcmaining poriion o ihc cacs arc Chaiiyas or

icmplcs, cry similar io Chrisiian caihcdrals, wiih
ccilings abobodados` wiih cross-ribbcd woodcn bcams,
and wiih dccoraicd pillars o rocks. In ihc ccniral
scciion (whcrc a Chrisiian church would hac iis aliar)
mighi bc a grcai siaiuc o Buddha. Rcmcmbcr ihai
ihcsc icmplcs o rock had bccn cui many ccniurics
bcorc ihc Chrisiian caihcdrals, which can lcad us io
spcculaic whcihcr ihcy had bccn ihc inspiraiion or ihc
grcai archiiccis o ihc Mcdical Agc, and noi ihc
Grcck and Roman classic icmplcs.
t is surprising to think that the great
masters who had created these wonders
used only small tools of work Still they
had thus bequeathed us something
universal and magical that we can
contemplate today The centuries seem
like small water drops in the Walls of
these caves
!late in the entrance of
the caves
Thc cavcs of anta
nc of thc cntranccs of thc cavcs
cavcs arc ccavatcd in thc rock
One of the entrances One of the entrances
%o eIephants in one
of the doors
%o eIephants in one
of the doors
Rio Vugloru
$omc cavcs arc monastcrics
ntcrior ntcrior
grcat rccIincd Buddha grcat rccIincd Buddha
A Hindu lamilv
admircs |hc
work ol i|s
anccs|or
eII conserved aII eII conserved aII
frescos in the walls
uard who takcs carc of of thc cntrancc uard who takcs carc of of thc cntrancc