Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad : UNESCO World Heritage Site

I had always wondered why ancient Indian art was almost entirely sculpture and architecture and so little painting. An August trip to Ajanta Caves changed the belief completely.

Located 100km from Aurangabad, Ajanta Caves are one of the finest remains of ancient Buddhist art, and it is said these cave frescos influenced many later paintings and arts. The first caves date back to the 2nd and 1st Century AD. During the Gupta period (5th to 6th Century AD) many more caves were added to the original group. The Ajanta Caves are amongst the best places to visit in India.

On 18th April 1819, a British army officer John Smith, accidentally discovered one of the caves, the Cave 10. The locals were always aware of these caves.“In 1848, the Royal Asiatic Society established the “Bombay Cave Temple Commission” to clear, tidy and record the most important rock-cut sites in the Bombay Presidency, with John Wilson as president. In 1861 this became the nucleus of the new Archaeological Survey of India.”

We had clubbed a visit to Lonar, Aurangabad and Ajanta-Ellora around August 2016. The monsoons were just on their way out and the landscape was lush green and the weather still pleasant. We hadn’t anticipated how amazed we would be at Ajanta.

Why should you visit Ajanta Caves?

Only if you are interested in History, Art, Architecture, Culture and have tremendous patience. There are 30 caves, each extremely detailed, and the more you observe them the more you get involved in understanding them. We would say a minimum of one complete day here, but recommend two. Not a place for children too young to understand.

These 30 caves in Ajanta were built over about 4 centuries. The earliest caves (numbered 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15A, numbered only for convenience and no chronological theory here) belong to the Hinayana tradition of Buddhism, and hence do not carry any idols. Caves 9 and 10 are Stupas and contain prayer halls or the Chaitya Grihas. The caves numbered 13 and 15A were Viharas or place of stay for the monks.

The second phase of cave construction started in the 5th Century AD, in the reign of King Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty. These caves belong to the Mahayana Buddhism tradition and carry idols of Buddha. Since for centuries, these caves lie un-noticed, the locals often used it as a shelter while grazing their live stock or during the monsoons. And while here, they would light fires for themselves. The soot and dust from these fires and years of neglect has formed a thick coating on the original murals, making many of them almost impossible to see. The Archaeological Survey of India has done an excellent job of protecting these national monuments from further decay working on cleaning the murals. It’s a tough job to remove centuries of smoke, soot, dust, moisture etc from these delicate paintings without damaging them. But it’s a job that must be done. These cave frescoes are not only one of the most valuable arts from our ancient history, they also reveal to us a lot about the lives and society of those years. Many of the caves are incomplete. I wonder why? Whey were they abandoned after a few centuries of use?

If you observe the paintings, you notice multi cultural events and multi ethnic people depicted and also influences from around the globe. It is said these caves were close to ancient trade routes and the painters were exposed to global influences and people. Without any windows, the caves are extremely dark, and one wonders how they painted in such low light levels? We were told the artists used reflectors to bring light inside the caves. But if the caves were so dark, who would notice the elaborate art, the Jataka Tales narrated through beautiful frescoes?

We were lucky to get a fantastic guide in Ajanta, a Professor of History. You will definitely need one who can take you around and help you understand the paintings. If you want to visit these caves with him, drop us an email and we can pass you the number. More detailed descriptions of the caves here at Wikipedia and here at the ASI website.

Ajanta Caves
Entrance to one of the caves, this is probably Cave 1.
Ajanta Caves
Note the elaborately painted cave ceiling and walls.
Ajanta Caves
An unfinished cave. See how the ceiling is still un-carved.
Ajanta Caves
An idol of Buddha inside one of the caves.
Ajanta Caves
A stupa in one of the oldest cave, idol-less, which was used as a prayer hall.
Ajanta Caves
Another unfinished cave at Ajanta.
Ajanta Caves
A more ornate and elaborately design cave from the later times. Note the idol of Buddha, the elaborate carvings. The ceiling is ribbed to provide better acoustics while chanting.
Ajanta Caves
An outside view of the cave complex.
Ajangta Caves
The entrance to another grand but partly finished cave. Note the statues on the right but none on the left yet.
Ajangta Caves
Statues of Standing Budhdha…
Ajangta Caves
Elaborate pillars at the entrance of the Vihars. These were the caves the monks would stay in.
Ajangta Caves
Cave 26 was a Chaitya Griha or a Prayer Hall. Note the ribbed ceiling for better acoustics.
Ajangta Caves
Sleeping Buddha in Cave 26 depicts his Mahaparinirvana or the ultimate Nirvana of someone who as attained complete Nirvana.
Ajanta Caves.
Details of figurines around the feet of Buddha, Cave 26.
Ajanta Caves.
Sitting Buddha.
Ajanta Caves
Elaborately carved pillars depict life of thise times.
Ajanta Caves
Entrance to another cave. Note how the top pillar brackets are finished but the pillars themselves aren’t.
Ajanta Caves
Can’t get enough of these gorgeous caves.
Ajanta Caves
A smaller cave…
Ajanta Caves
Beautiful figurines, floral motifs… what do they all mean?
Ajanta Caves
Note on the right wall how some portions are sculpted and some yet un-touched.
Ajanta Caves
A simple entrance to a single cave.
Ajanta Caves
On top of this entrance you see motifs depicting the stupas.
Ajanta Caves
Life must have been wonderful with so much spirituality around you.
Ajanta Caves
The grand entrance to Cave 9.
Ajanta Caves
These caves were completely carved out of volcanic rock. You can almost see the flow of once molten rock.
Ajanta Caves
Old paintings, or dry frescoes inside the caves, depict the life of Buddha, the Bodhisattvas and images from the Jataka Tales.
Ajanta Caves
One of the more complete caves. The detailing is amazing!
Ajanta Caves
In these paintings you will observe people of various nationalities. We found people who looked Chinese, Persians, Africans… what a rich multi cultural world it was even then…
Ajanta Caves
Various Boddhisattvas.
Ajanta Caves
What look like Yakshas in this narrative…
Ajanta Caves
These wall frescoes are a rich source of life and society around 3000 years ago. Unfortunately a lot has been lost.
Ajanta Caves
The most iconic of the paintings, the Padmapani, The Lotus Holder.
Ajanta Caves
Yakshas are mischevious nature spirits or like angels and cupids. Only, in ancient Indian spirituality, there were some 8 kinds of them, mostly benevolent.
Ajanta Caves
I see these floral motis and patterns find resonance in contemporary Indian block prints.
Ajanta Caves
Richly detailed pillar motifs. Every figure, every pillar, every sculpture has a story to tell.
Ajanta Caves
Absolutely amazing amount of detail and elaborate storytelling here.
Ajanta Caves
The Waghora river meanders around the steep cliffs of ancient lava rocks which form the hills into which these 30 caves were carved, lovingly and painstakingly over a few hundred years.
Ajanta Caves
The drive towards Ajanta caves has a small stretch of beautiful meandering road through the Ghats, or hills. I hope this natural beauty is saved forever.
Ajanta Caves
The restaurant at the base of the Ajanta caves serves a decent vegetarian meal. Fill up here, its a lot of walking up there.
Ajanta Caves
View from the caves. The monsoons have made this beautiful hills bloom with lush vegetation. Once monks and tigers walked these hills. Now only tourists with smartphone cameras.
Ajanta Caves, Waghola River
The Waghola river seems to have reduced in size, despite the recent monsoons. Loss of catchment area?
Ajanta Caves
The Archaeological Society Of India runs an amazing book store here. Do pick up something. These are good books.
Ajanta Caves
Another view where one can see more of the caves. It gives me goose pimples to imagine how once these hills must be resonating with synchronised chants, and how the monks would go about their lives.

[box type=”success” width=”100%” ]When to visit: We went right after the monsoons in August so it was lush green and the weather pleasant. Try that or the winters. November till March.

What to do: Nothing. Just deep observation of these gorgeous 1000s of year old paintings, sculptures and caves that depict life of that era. Gives you a lot of context about our own culture. And art is always welcome.

Where to stay: The Taj has a very good property at Aurangabad, 100 km from Ajanta. There are MTDC properties nearby as well. We also recommend the Ellora Homestay.

How to experience: We highly recommend a good guide who can take you around and help you understand these complex paintings and motifs with a historical and cultural knowledge. We were lucky to find someone, a Professor of History. If you want to visit these caves with him, shoot us an email and we can share his number.

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16 thoughts on “Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad : UNESCO World Heritage Site”

  1. Ajanta caves, along with Ellora, are among the places I want to see the most when I return to India one day. I’ve seen images of the caves before, but oh my! Your photos, especially those of the elaborately-painted cave ceiling and walls, are a revelation! I have a question, though. Does the light in all of the caves natural? or were there artificial light sources inside?

    Reply
  2. Hi Bama! Nice to hear from you again! The caves with the paintings do not have natural light as it can make the colours fade away. There are special lights outside the caves which are channeled inside using some fibre optic cables. For the Chaitya Viharas the lights are mostly natural with a few artificial sources, which are also scientifically controlled. One isn’t allowed to use the flash inside.

    And yes, you must visit this area! Its awesome!

    Reply
  3. I visited only Ellora caves and perhaps it was a mistake. I should have included Ajanta as well, but I guess it would have been to strenuous f for a one day journey. Thanks for sharing these beautiful photos, I’m sure they’ll inspire more travelers to visit the place.

    Reply
  4. Very informative with wonderful photographs. I’ve made plans so many times to visit the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, but Mr Hubby is not so interested in history. I’ll make a solo trip (feeling determined after reading your post) 😀

    Reply

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