Loading…
A UNESCO-listed group of 30 rock-cut Buddhist caves in Maharashtra, holding the finest surviving paintings of ancient India.
The Ajanta Caves are a group of thirty rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments carved into a horseshoe-shaped cliff about 76 metres high overlooking the Waghora river, in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) district of Maharashtra. They were excavated in two distinct phases — an earlier Hinayana phase from around the 2nd century BCE under Satavahana patronage, and a later Mahayana phase between roughly the 5th and 6th centuries CE under the Vakatakas. Of the thirty caves, five are chaityagrihas (prayer halls with a stupa) and the rest are viharas (monasteries). Ajanta was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983 and is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. Its murals are the largest surviving body of ancient Indian painting.
Type: InstitutionThirty caves cut into a 76-metre horseshoe escarpment above the Waghora ('tiger') river, on its left bank
Five chaityagrihas — Caves 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29 — and the remainder viharas or monastic residences
Two phases of excavation: Hinayana (Satavahana, from about the 2nd century BCE, aniconic — the Buddha shown by symbols) and Mahayana (Vakataka, roughly 5th-6th century CE, with the Buddha in human form)
Cave 1 holds the most celebrated murals — the Bodhisattvas Padmapani and Vajrapani — and a seated Buddha in the dharmachakra pravartana mudra in its sanctum
Cave 26 is a chaitya famous for its sculpted Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha on the left aisle wall, and the Assault of Mara during the Buddha's penance
The paintings use the fresco-secco technique — pigment applied to a dry, prepared mud-and-plaster surface, not to wet plaster as in true fresco
Subjects drawn largely from the Jataka tales, the stories of the Buddha's previous births, alongside courtly and everyday scenes
Frequency: Very high — Ajanta is among the most frequently asked topics in UPSC Prelims art and culture, and appears in almost every SSC and state PSC general studies paper
Ajanta lay on an ancient trade route linking the Deccan interior to the western ports, and monasteries along such routes depended on merchant and royal patronage. The first excavations began under the Satavahanas around the 2nd century BCE, when Buddhist art was still aniconic and the Buddha was represented only through symbols — the footprint, the empty throne, the stupa. Work stopped for centuries and resumed in the 5th century CE under the Vakataka ruler Harishena, when Mahayana Buddhism had established the image of the Buddha himself, and it is to this second burst that almost all the surviving paintings belong. With the decline of Vakataka power the caves were abandoned to the forest, and they remained unknown to the outside world for over a thousand years until a British officer stumbled into them while hunting.
First phase of excavation under Satavahana patronage — Hinayana, aniconic
Second phase under the Vakatakas, notably Harishena — Mahayana, with images of the Buddha and most of the surviving murals
Site abandoned as Buddhist patronage declines; caves overgrown by forest
Captain John Smith of the 28th Cavalry, Madras Presidency, is led to Cave 10 by a local boy during a tiger hunt; he inscribes his name inside
Archaeological Survey of India begins systematic conservation of the paintings and structures
Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, in the same year as the Ellora Caves
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) district, Maharashtra
Waghora, meaning 'tiger'
30
Caves 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29
About 76 metres, horseshoe-shaped
Satavahana (early phase), Vakataka (later phase)
Buddhist only
28 April 1819, by Captain John Smith
1983
Archaeological Survey of India
| Aspect | Ajanta | Ellora |
|---|---|---|
| Number of caves | 30 | 34 |
| Religions | Buddhist only | Buddhist, Hindu and Jain |
| Period | c. 2nd century BCE to 6th century CE | c. 6th to 11th century CE |
| Chief attraction | Murals — the finest surviving ancient Indian paintings | Sculpture and architecture, above all the monolithic Kailasa temple (Cave 16) |
| Patrons | Satavahanas, then Vakatakas | Rashtrakutas, Kalachuris, Yadavas |
| River / setting | Horseshoe cliff above the Waghora river | Basalt escarpment of the Charanandri hills |
| UNESCO inscription | 1983 | 1983 |
Almost nothing survives of ancient Indian painting on cloth, palm leaf or wood; the dry, sheltered interiors of Ajanta preserved what everywhere else perished. What survives is not only religious art but a visual record of an entire society — its textiles, jewellery, hairstyles, musical instruments, ships, architecture and court life — recoverable nowhere else in comparable detail. The Padmapani of Cave 1 became, through 20th-century reproduction, one of the defining images of Indian art, and the Ajanta style travelled with Buddhism to Sri Lanka's Sigiriya, to Central Asia and to the cave temples of China. The site also illustrates the economics of ancient religion: monasteries clustered on trade routes because merchants funded them, and when the routes and the patronage shifted, the caves emptied. Conservation remains a live problem — humidity, earlier restoration using varnishes that darkened, smoke from oil lamps and sheer visitor pressure have all damaged the pigment, which is why the ASI now restricts lighting and footfall.
Ajanta: 30 Buddhist rock-cut caves, Maharashtra, on a horseshoe cliff above the Waghora river
Two phases — Satavahana/Hinayana from about the 2nd century BCE; Vakataka/Mahayana in the 5th-6th century CE
5 chaityas (9, 10, 19, 26, 29); the rest viharas
Cave 1 = Padmapani and Vajrapani murals; Cave 26 = Mahaparinirvana and Assault of Mara
Technique: fresco-secco on dry plaster; themes largely from the Jataka tales
Rediscovered 28 April 1819 by Captain John Smith, 28th Cavalry, Madras Presidency
UNESCO World Heritage Site 1983; protected by the ASI
Contrast to memorise: Ajanta is Buddhist only; Ellora is Buddhist, Hindu and Jain
There are thirty caves, cut into a horseshoe-shaped cliff above the Waghora river in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) district of Maharashtra.
The earlier Hinayana phase, from around the 2nd century BCE, was built under Satavahana patronage. The later Mahayana phase of the 5th-6th century CE, to which almost all the surviving paintings belong, was built under the Vakatakas.
Ajanta has 30 caves and is exclusively Buddhist, and is celebrated chiefly for its paintings. Ellora has 34 caves representing Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, and is celebrated for sculpture and for the monolithic Kailasa temple. Both were inscribed by UNESCO in 1983.
Captain John Smith of the 28th Cavalry, Madras Presidency, on 28 April 1819, while on a hunting expedition. A local boy led him to Cave 10, where his inscription can still be seen.
Fresco-secco — pigments were applied to a dry, prepared surface of mud plaster finished with lime, rather than onto wet plaster as in true fresco.