Discovered by a British hunting party in 1819 after being lost for a millennium, the Ajanta Caves are 30 Buddhist monasteries and prayer halls carved into a horseshoe-shaped cliff above the Waghora River.
They date from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE — and are famous less for their architecture than for their paintings.
The murals of Ajanta, glowing with pigments still fresh after 1,500 years, are the greatest surviving expression of ancient Buddhist art anywhere in the world.
Two Waves of Devotion
Ajanta was built in two phases. The first (2nd century BCE – 1st century CE) belongs to the Hinayana Buddhist tradition — five simple caves without figurative Buddha imagery.
The second phase (5th century CE) under Vakataka patronage is Mahayana Buddhist. It gave Ajanta its 25 additional caves and — crucially — its extraordinary murals.
The Murals
The paintings depict the Jataka Tales — stories of the Buddha’s previous incarnations — filled with kings, courtesans, animals, dancers, gods and everyday details of ancient Indian life.
Cave 1’s Padmapani Bodhisattva, with his half-closed contemplative eyes and lotus-in-hand, has become the iconic image of Indian classical painting.
The pigments — lapis lazuli, cinnabar, terre verte — were mixed with plant gum and applied on a plaster made of clay, cow dung and rice husk. That the paintings survive is a minor miracle of ancient chemistry.
Rediscovery
The last monks abandoned Ajanta by the 8th century as Buddhism declined in India. The caves were slowly reclaimed by jungle for a thousand years.
In April 1819, John Smith, an officer of the Madras Army, was chasing a tiger through the Sahyadri hills when he stumbled onto Cave 10. His name is still scratched into a pillar there.
Visiting
Ajanta is about 100 km from Aurangabad. Closed on Mondays. Photography inside is allowed but no flash — the pigments are extremely light-sensitive.
A viewpoint on the opposite cliff offers a spectacular panorama of the entire horseshoe — the classic Ajanta postcard shot.