Part - 1
Now, we will briefly tour those important caves in Ajanta to understand the subjects' species in Ajanta's paintings. Before entering caves 9 and 10, glance at the exterior views of the caves.
As I stated, caves 9 and 10 were the oldest paintings in Ajanta cave so that we will start from here. The time of excavation of this cave was 2nd to 1st century AD. Here, you will find a masterpiece painting of a girl sitting on the ground opposite the viewers with her folded knees. Probably, she is praying to God. The girl with a well-formed body structure is wearing beautiful ornaments that flamboyantly demonstrate her. The painting bears a fantastic sense of human anatomy. Dr. Griffiths astonishingly revealed this painting by scrubbing a damaged painting laid over this painting. Unlike this painting, all the other parts of this cave are amazingly composed of various flowers, creepers, geometric forms, and many of the faces of Yakshas ( a mythological community of artists or creators). If you look concentrically, you will discover all the faces are the same with different emotions, and they all look at you. That secluded cave will suddenly start whispering to you, and you will be thrilled to observe it.
It is a beautiful experience to think that this cave was painted with an excellent composition created by some unknown artists before Christ. Those who are now alive again from the earlier pages of history are attempting to say something to you.
In cave number 10, most of the paintings were demolished by the assault of curious visitors;
However, the cave still conveys shreds of evidence of excellent work in the frame of residual line drawing, which is outstanding, too. Nowadays, we find some drawings of a group of elephants on the right side of this cave, which was conveyed as a complete painting less than 150 years ago. On the left side, a gorgeous procession of men is deployed on the horse, and a small group of women is marching on the road behind the procession. Although all are now damaged paintings, there are only some remaining drawings; fortunately, replicating those paintings is still available in the Commonwealth Office of London.
There is another remarkable painting in cave number 10; a king stands with his eight attendants around him. It's probably the crest composition in Ajanta cave, which has an outstanding sense of perspective and emotional manifestation. The expression in each hand gesture nicely represents the character's inner side. Another fantastic painting of Lord Buddha, depicted on a pillar, indicates the impression of Gandhara art in Indian traditional proficiency. Although the paintings are damaged, they still bear the evidence of said impression that is recognizable.
Now, we will move towards the 16 and 17 number cave. Here are the exterior views of 16 and 17; click and enlarge the images.
In 1874, Dr. Griffiths reproduced a painting from this cave, and he named this masterpiece, - "Princess About to Die." A girl is lying on her bed, supporting her left hand on the pillow, and an attendant holds her from the backside. At the far back, another young girl looks at the princess by meeting her two hands on the breast. Another female attendant is blowing air to the princess—an older man with a white hat is peeping at the princess from the door, and another is seated beside the pillar. A curved-haired man is asking for something from a man wearing a Persian hat and holding an earthen jar. This painting is about a young princess's death and all the characters around her immersed in a non-linguistic condolence. The expression of such feelings is marvelous. It touches your soul and takes you to an unknown, sorrowful history chapter.
In this cave, we will find a few more paintings of men with Persian hats, which indicates the relationship with those countries of the territory. Before leaving away from this cave of 17, I would like to introduce you to an outstanding painting of Lord Buddha in an empathetic moment.
Buddha is walking on a road begging and asking ordinary people by attending each door of the inhabitants. His wife, Yasodhara, and his son, Rahul, came from the palace to give something to the Lord. Rahul is asking his mom,- "Who is the mendicant"? His mom is trying to avoid his question and insisting that his son serve that beggar. Finally, Buddha appeared to his wife and son and requested to give something. Rahul provided some rice to his father without knowing about the mendicant. Lord Buddha knew very well that both were his wife and son, but according to the principle of the mendicant, they must disregard the past husbandly relations of domestic life at any cost. What a dogmatic, impassioned moment conveying the sacrifice of a mendicant. The onslaught of incompetent visitors demolished this painting; however, it has recovered again with the kindest efforts of Lady Haring Hum. Look at the image on the left side, first the damaged painting, and next, the same painting recovered by Lady Haring Hum.
We are on the way and will be visiting caves 1 and 2 in our next tour.
Image Resource ( ALL) - Wikipedia
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