A number of styles of painting may be discerned in the caves, demonstrating that a variety of techniques and methods were employed by the artists. Rather than indicating that the painting was done at differ- ent periods, however, the variety of styles suggests individual hands of artists.
In general, significant differences exist between ceiling paintings and wall paintings in format, col- oration and even technique. The central spaces of the vihara ceilings that have survived are painted in grid-like patterns containing floral and abstract motifs as well as some animal and human scenes. The styl- ized format is probably a reference to the paradisiacal realms, laid out in garden-like divisions.
White is abundantly used in the ceilings, although not on the walls, and this may have been to help reflect light in the dim interiors. In contrast to the predominance of earth tones used in the wall paint- ings, the ceilings are more brightly coloured. The animal and plant forms depicted on the ceilings are frequently painted in a flat manner, with little mod- eling or shading, and the forms thus appear almost as silhouettes against the background. Directly above important images, in antechambers, and at certain other specified locations round mandalic patterns with concentric bands of foliated and floriated patterns are found. An especially fine example from Cave 2 bears pairs of vidyadharas at the four corners.
The programs of wall paintings include, in various caves, scenes of Buddhas, attendants and jataka tales. In general Buddhas are represented in or near the ante-chamber to the shrines, while Jatakas occur in the main hall. A scene showing Buddhas with groups of devotees located in the antechamber to the shrine in Cave 17 suggests a strict hierarchic arrangement created by the use of three registers like divisions.
The Buddhas may be identified as forms of Maitreya: in the top register, he is shown preaching in his heavenly paradise, Tushita, in the centre, he is depicted descending from Tushita and welcoming his devotees into his earthly paradise, Ketumati; below, he is seen preaching in Ketumati. As in other ante-chamber paintings, this composition appears more formal than those of the more free-flowing Jataka scenes of the main cave area, a feature that may relate to their greater iconic rather than narrative function.
Light coloured figures are silhouetted against the dark background and a separation between the Buddha’s space and that of the attendant figures is maintained. An interesting feature visible here and in numerous other painting at Ajanta is the treatment of landscape, especially mountain forms, in crystalline, cubical shapes similar to those seen approximately contemporaneously in sculpture. These, however, seem to project into the viewer’s space rather than recede behind the picture plane, creating a dynamic relation- ship between the viewer and the painted world.
In contrast to the more formal arrangement of the ceilings and antechambers, the walls of the main halls are alive with very free flowing compositions and figures arranged in asymmetrical, crowded groupings. Earth tones, many of which were derived from local minerals found in the region around Ajanta, harmonize the forms and provide the main totality.
Several means of creating form seem to have been available to the Ajanta artist. For example, the body of the bodhisattva to the right of the entrance to the antechamber to the main shrine in Cave I, is created primarily by the use of modulation of colours rather than through use of line. Highlighting of certain areas, such as the nose or brow, helps to bring forth the form of the dim interior although light and shadow are not used in what might be called a scientific manner or to elucidate three-dimensionality. That is, shading and highlighting were used at will by the artists to enhance their creations without regard for light as a phenomenon of the physical world, subject to certain empirical laws.
Even the forms of the bodhisattva’s body are beyond the rules of the material world, and indeed, by freeing the figures from such regulation, the artists seem to capture the essence of the Buddhist religion, with its skepticism toward phenomenal existence. While clearly human in inspiration, the part of the bodhisattva’s body are likened to other objects; his brow, for example, takes the shape of the archer’s bow, his eyes are like lotus petals, and his torso is shaped like that of a lion. Such metaphors appear in textual descriptions and were often quite literally translated into visual terms. Similar metaphors are sometimes used in the creation of parts of the body of Buddha figures.
Numerous Jataka tales are represented on the walls of the Ajanta caves. Some, which must have been important in the specific sectarian beliefs of the monks in residence, are repeated a number of times in the various caves and many of them treat human rather than animal incarnations of Shakyamuni Buddha. Often, several episodes from specific stories are shown, although these are generally not arranged in sequence on the walls.
A detail from the Mahajanaka Jataka depicted in Cave I shows Prince Mahajanka surrounded by a bevy of beautiful women, crowned and bejewelled and thus representing the epitome of princely life and possibly reflecting contemporary patterns of dress and life during Gupta and Vakataka times. However, the Buddhist message of the story is clear, since Mahajanaka relinquishes his princely life in favour of the life of a recluse. With his hands in gesture of discourse similar to Dharma-Chakara mudra, he is depicted announcing his intention to give up his kingdom.
The facial features of the figures, with the highly arched brows and elongated loti form eyes, resemble the treatment of the bodhisattva at the rear of the cave and may reflect an ideal based on contemporaneous concepts of beauty. The forms of the body are out- lined with a darker chroma of the same hue as the body itself. The animated positions and stances of the figures lend liveliness to the composition, typical of the Jataka representations at Ajanta in general.
Often, scenes at Ajanta take on an almost secular character, although all may be justified as being part of a Jataka or other Buddhist context.
A woman on a swing in Cave 2 belongs to a depiction of the Vidurpundita Jataka and may be identified as Irandati, the Naga princess central to the story. Here, the highlighting technique used freely at Ajanta creates the impression of a glow over the surface of her skin. The narrow waists, full breast and hips of the women in the composition display the same feminine ideal that is found throughout most periods and styles of Indic art. As is true through- out most of the Ajanta paintings, the three quarter facial view is preferred in this composition, creating a suggestion of depth and volume for the forms. The brownish red back ground strewn with flowers serves as a conventionalized landscape in this and other scenes, but as in most of South Asian art, the artist depends on the figures to tell the story, to create a sense of life, and to carry the mood; architectural and landscape elements are employed only to add a setting or structure to the scene, not to create an ambience or to stimulate the physical world.
In addition to walls and ceilings, virtually every portion of the caves was painted, including door- frames and pillars. Flat surface without carving were often completed in paint, which, when lost, leads us to forget that these portions were important parts of the decorative scheme.
A Pillar from Cave 17 shows a pair of music making dwarves inhabiting the square base. Different in treatment from the figures already discussed, these dwarves are created by the use of a prominent black outline that defines the contours and details of their forms. Such line drawings are found throughout the Ajanta paintings, sometimes appearing in compositions that make use of the shading and highlighting techniques and thus it seems that such a method was simply one of the techniques available to artists to use as they chose. The skill of the Ajanta artist as draftsmen is evident in compositions such as this.
As vital documents of Buddhist art, the Ajanta caves can hardly be overestimated. In a short burst of incredible artistic activity, the patrons, together with the sculptors, painters and iconographers, pro- vided a concise illustration of the general tendency in Indic art towards embellishment and elaboration of the highest quality.
Bagh Caves
A closely related and contemporaneous group of cave at Bagh provides further evidence of Mahayana cave architecture. Although some distance away in the Narmada Valley, architectural, sculptural, and painting affinities, with the caves at Ajanta are probably much more than purely coincidental since, according to the Dasakumarcharitam (the ten princes) written by Dandin in the seventh century, the Vakataka King Harisena had a son who ruled over the Bagh region. Spink claims that this son must have ruled prior to 480 A.D., for by that time, one Maharaja Subandhu, who is known from a copper plate inscription found at Bagh, was ruling the region and the Vakataka line had collapsed. Spink estimates period of florescence at Bagh to have occurred between 470 & 480 A.D.
Much ruined due to water seepage and rock falls affecting the soft, friable sandstone, the caves preserve little of their former beauty. In plan, Cave 2 greatly resembles Mahayana viharas at Ajanta, although four central pillars are present, undoubtedly included for structural purposes due to the weakness of the rock. The central pillars, much more massive appearing than pillars at Ajanta, are treated differently from others in the cave, having a spiraled fluting and being round rather than being square or consisting of square and round sections.
The specious antechamber to the shrine bears sculptures of Buddhas and bodhisattvas on the side and rear walls. In style, these figures are part of the broadly defined Gupta mode, but differ from their Ajanta counterparts in their more slender bodies and more attenuated appearance. Instead, they seem more closely allied to northern and north-central Indian styles of the Gupta period. This is not surprising considering Bagh’s location nearer to the epicentre of the Gupta art traditions.
A very important characteristic of this and other caves at Bagh is the presence of a stupa rather than a Buddha image as the main object of veneration in the shrine. This feature has led some scholars to conclude that the Bagh excavations predated those at Ajanta and that they represent a state of transition between the use of a stupa and that of a Buddha image as an object of veneration.
However, it is clear from images such as that in the shrine of Cave II at Ajanta, where a representation of the Buddha is part of a stupa, that the symbols are identical and interchangeable and do not necessarily have chronological implications, at least by this date, when both Buddhas and sputa’s abundantly survive as part of the standard, artistic vocabulary.
The paintings at Bagh, known today only in fragments and from copies, bear a great deal of resem blance to their contemporary counterparts at Ajanta. Indeed, Subandhu’s inscription found in the debris of Cave 2 calls the monastery Kalayana (Abode of Art), suggesting something of the original splendour of the site.
Kanheri Caves
During the late fifth and sixth centuries, artistic activity at Kanheri was resumed. A number of old caves were modified and many new excavations were begun, bringing the total number of caves at the site to over one hundred and making Kanheri the most extensive caves site in India. It is likely that the resurgence of artistic activity was initiated due to patronage by the Traikutakas, who came into control of the region upon the collapse of their former overlords, the Vakatakas, as a copper plate inscription found in front of Cave 3 and datable to around 494 A.D. suggests.
A pair of colossal Buddhas, one at either end of the verandah of this great second century chaitya hall, was part of the refurbishing of that cave during the late fifth century, a date suggested by the style of the images as well as the paleography of an associated inscription referring to one such dedication. More than seven meters in height, each figures stands in an arch with vidyadharas bearing garlands above, and each displays veranda mudra, the gesture of gift bestowal or offering, which may be interpreted as an invitation to enlightenment.
Stylistically, the figures reflect the massive, full form of Ajanta representations and it is possible that artists who had worked at Ajanta or their descendants had moved to Kanheri to begin work there.
While architecturally many of the new caves excavated during this phase at Kanheri are rather plain, a number of extremely important images were produced, serving as vital documents of developments in the Buddhist religion. Cave 90, a monument of perhaps the early to middle sixth century is a simple, single; chamber abundantly carved with sculptures and could have been donated for merit rather than as a hall for initiations or rituals.
The original shrine images are lost, but on the side walls two important sculptures show in graphic form arrangements that had been developing for a long time. On the viewer’s left wall is a Buddha scene; while on the right wall is a depiction of Avalokitesvara as protector of the faithful. As an iconographic statement, each marks a significant departure from earlier examples.
Properly speaking the composition of the Buddha scene is a specific schematization through which the religious practitioner achieves both understanding and reintegration with the Universal. In this case, the central figures demonstrates the dharmakaya aspect of Buddhahood, the Universal, and is perhaps properly called Sarva vid (universal knowledge) Vairocana. This identification does not negate the interpretation of this figures as the historical Buddha Shakyamuni as well, since the two are identical in the ultimate sense.
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