I. The Art of Ajanta: Sculpture I am beholden to Denjong Chogyal and Dr. A. M. D Rozario. re~pec­ tively President and the Director of the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, for having invited me to deliver Sir Tashi Namgyal Memorial Lectures at the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology. The late Denjong Chogyal Chempo Tashi Namgyal was known as a distinguished persona lity in many fields of human activity. He will be long remembered on account of his intellectual and scholarly pursuits. I, therefore, feel honoured for being called upon to deliver these three lectures instituted in his memory. I do not profess to be a scholar in Buddhism but have studied, during the course of my long service in tht: Archaeological Survey of India, the Buddhist Art of India, including that of the remarkable ((;ntre of Indian art namely Ajanta, which is well-known for its mural paintings. During the course of my work in north India I was fortunate to visit the monasteries in the Lahul and Spiti District of Himachal Pradesh and to study the paintings at T abo. I thought that it would be appropriate to talk on Ajanta (fil!,. I) and Tabo during the course cf my lectures. The first two lectures would be devoted to Ajanta while the third will deal with Tabo which can be aply described as the 'Himalayan Ajanta'. I shall try to bring home to the learned audience the importance of these monuments in the history of world art. * India has a great art tradition traceable through the centuries in her literature and archaeological remains. Of the latter. Ajanta occupies a place unique in the history of world art as the foremost art-centre of ancient India. Though well-known as a rich repository of mural pain tings. it has architectural splendour and sculptural beauty rarely matched by any other centre of art in the country. The art of Ajanta owes its inspiration to those early Buddhist bhikshus who came to western India in the wake of the spread of Buddhism under the patronage of Asoka (273-36 B.C.). Among many cultural emissaries who went to different parts of India and Ceylon to preach Dhamma. the name of (Yavana) Dharmarakshita stands out for he appears to be respon sible also for starting a new architectural activity in the Deccan, COI1- nected with the propagation of Dhamma· It is believed that he commenced his work from slirparaka (modern Sopara, District Thana). H flourishing port-town and a find-spot of the edicts of Asoka. The rerpendicular clifIs of the amagdaloidal trap formation of the Sahyadri with horizontal beddings must have caught the imagination of the Buddhist monks as being ideal for the excavation of monasteries and ~ The photographs illustrating the talk I!;J\c heen rcplOducect here by the COllIIS':Y of the Arrhacologi(al SUI'\Cj of India. 1 prayer halls. It is very likely that the inspiration for such experiment might have evidently come fIOm the early Asokan caves attempted in the quartzose gneissic rock of the Barabar and Nagarjuni hills in District Gaya, South Bihar. These early caves, excavated by Asoka and his grandson Dasaratha, appear to have set the new style for carving out, in the more permanent medium of rock, monastic centres meant for quiet contemplation and religious study by the monks. Such caves are un doubtedly in the tradition of the ancient Indian custom vouched in the Svetiisvatara Upanishaa' which describes a place a monk should use for quiet meditation. It says 'sabda-jal--iisraY .. iidibhih mana' nu-ki1le na lU chakshu-pidane guhii-niviitasrayal.'e prayojayet.' The serene grandeur of a mountain abode always attracted the recluses and the bhikshus found the hillside of the Sahyadri suitable for the establishment of sailghariimas (vih(/ra) and chaitya-grihas. It appears from the available evidence that structures in the rock-cut form were brought into existence in western India some decades after the arrival of (Yavana) Dharmarakshita. Examples conforming to HInayana have been located at Bhaja (District Poona), Kondane (District Colaba), Pitalkhora and Ajanta (District Aurangabad) and many other places. These early excavations were patronized by merchant-princes who lived and prospered under the benign rule of the Siitavahana kings with their capital at Pratishthana (identifierl with Paithan in District Aurangabad). Although these rulers professed Brahmanism, they were also tolerant towards Buddhism. The country was rich, prosperous and peaceful under their rule. Trade and commerce within the country and with the Mediterranean world brought in enormous riches. The early stage of rock-cut activity belonged to the HInayana faith as the other school~ Mahayana~was non-existent at that time. The excavations of this period can be placed in two centuries before and after the Christian era. In this context it will be worthwhile examining the location of different Buddhist rock-cut caves in the Deccan. This study at once reveals that most of these Buddhist establishments were situated on the ancient Siirthaviihapathas or caravan-routes. Ajanta was no exception. The situation of Ajanta is significant in more than one ways. It is about 130 kilometres north of Paithan (ancient Pratishthana), the capital of the early Sata vahanas and lies on the ancient arterial trade-routes connecting north India, through Ujjain and Mahishmati, with Pratishthana in Dakshi'Qapatha and further with ports on the south-eastern coast, through Ter (ancient Tagara), Kondapur, Amaravati (ancient Dhanyakataka), Guntapalli, etc. Half-way between Ajanta and Pratishthana is a place called Bhokardan which can be identified with Bhogavardhana of the early Sanchi inscriptions. The last-mentioned place, which has recentlv been excavated by the Universities at Nagpur and Aurangabad. has yield ed remains of the Siitavahana period including a very fine ivory figurine showing affinity with the ivory figure of LakshmI of Indian origin found 2 at Pompeii in Italy. Ajanta also lies near another trade-route connecting Broach (ancient Bharukachcnha, Barygaza of the Periplus and Po· lu-ka chep'o of Hiuen Tsang) with Pratishthana through ancient townships like Frakash and Rahal lecently brought to light by excavation. As already mentioned, the selection of the site was conditioned by the chief conside ration of quietude and scenic teauty. At Ajanta, the serene grandeur of nature is at once in evidence and the words of the Upanishadic seer (see above, p. 2) that an ideal place for the contemplation of the Divine is a hidden cave protected from wind, situated in surroundings made favour able to the mind by the sound of water and other features and not offen sive to the eye, are amply borne out by the selection of the site. The stream Waghora, rushing down from the high grcunds, takes seven leaps at the head of the semi-circular end of the gorge: the resultant water falls, pools of water (Siit-kul)d) as also the melody of running water add charm to the place. In an inscription in Cave 16, the valley is described as resonant with chirping of birds and chattering of monkeys and the monastery as inhabited by great yogins. It is not known what was the ancient name of Ajanta. However, about less than half a kilometre from the cave group is a place called Lenapur (cave town). It is not unlikely that this small hamlet came into exist ence about the time the first group of workers came and settled down at Lenapur for the purpose of excavating a monolithic cave-establishment. The name Ajanta, however, can perhaps be the ancient Ajitafijaya, a place mentioned in the Mahiimiiyilr/, with the yaksha Kutac,tamshtra ('one with peak-like teeth') as its patron deity. The caves have obtained their present name of Ajanta from a neighbouring village, the usual local pro nunciation of which is Ajinthii. It would thus be seen that the words Ajitafijaya and Ajanta seem to be very closely related. It is also likely that the full ancient name of this monastic establishment was Ajitafijaya sthiina from which the word Ajintha could be an easy derivative. Ajita is also the lay-name of Maitreya or the Future Buddha. The caves, now famous throughout the world, were once lost into obli vion and were re-discovered in the first quarter of the last century. A recently discovered inscription engraved in the plaster over a pillar in Cave 10 gives the name of a British officer with the date 1819. It ap pears that this first recorded visit took place immediately after the caves were noticed by the officers of the Madras Army in 1819. The caves, however, find mention in the travel accounts of Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim who stayed in India for about fifteen years in the first half of the seventh century. It appears that he did not visit the caves and his description is mainly tased on hearsay. He says 'In the east of this country (Mo-ha-Ia-ch'a = Mahiirashtra) was a mountain range .. ridf}es one above another in succession. tiers of peaks and sheer summits. Here was a monastery the base of which was in a dark defile, and its lofty halls ... and storeyed terraces had the cliff on their back and 3 faced the ravine. This monastery had been built by A-che-Io at West India .. Within the establishment was a large temple above 100 feet high in which was a stone image of the Buddha above seventy feet high; the image was surrounded by a tier of seven canopies unattached and unsupf,'orted, each canopy separated from the one above it by the space of three feet. The walls of this temple bad depicted on them the in cidents of Buddha's career as Bodhisattva, including the circumstances of his attaining bodhi and the omens attending his final passing away, all great and small were here delineated. Outside the gate of the monastery, on either side north and south was a stone elephant.' At the outset it must be made clear that the thirty caves at Ajanta were excavated over a long period when the country was being ruled by the Sataviihanas and the Vakatakas. The Vakatakas hailed from Basim (ancient Vatsagulma, District Akola), atout 130 kilometres ncrth east of Ajanta. The later caves, containinJ! inscrirtions, testify that a minister and a subordinate vassal of Vakataka king, Harishena, were res ponsitle for the excavation of Caves 16 and 17. The Vakatakas, besides being contemporary of the Imperial Guptas of north India, were matrimoni ally connected with them and thus this royal house came to represent the classical artistic tradition in the Deccan. In fact, Ajanta caves symbolize the high water-mark of ancient Indian tradition and the paintings assume great interest as giving a vivid picture of the social life and customs of ancient India. As already stated, the eaIliest caves at Ajanta belong to the Hinayana tradition. An inscription on the fa<;ade of the oldest chaitya p~'ihu, Cave 10, mentions that the r;hara-mukha (fa<;ade) was the gift of one Vasithiputa Katahadi, and that vihiira, Cave 12 Was the gift of a merchant Ghanamadada. Recently two new inscriptions have come to light (A. Ghosh, £pigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXVI, Part VI, pp. 241-244) in Cave 10 and these 1:.elonJ! to the second century B.C. One men tions a donation of a bhiti (wall) by Kanhaka of Bahada while the other mentions the gift of piisiida by Dhamadeva. The work at Ajanta began in the midole of the second century B.C. whero Caves 10 and 12 were excavated. Almost about a century later waS excavated Cave 9 which is a cJwitya-?~'iha with a closed fa<;arle. To the same reriod belong the Caves 8, 13 and 15A. However, the second phase of activity at Ajanta is of great importance. Almost after an in terval of about 600 years, very ambitious excavations were planned at Ajanta to encompass the entire crescentic valley in order to meet the chan?ing and P"TOwing Deeds of the faith, namely the broad-baseo Mahayana Buddhism. Accordingly, two magnificent chaitya-[n'ihas, Caves 19 and 26 (the third one, Cave 29, was left unfinished) and commodious vihiiras, Caves 1, 2. 4, 6, 7. 11. 15, 16, 17 and 20-24, each of the latter type, almost invariably with a shrine of Buddha and some with sub shrines for minor deities e.g. yakshas and niches for Buddha and 4 AJANTA PLAN OF VAKATAKA PERIOD VIHARA (CAVE NO. (7) y#) ~W AJANTA PLAN OF CHAITYA CAVE NO. 10 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .. ... • • Fig. 2 5 Plate /. Ajanta, Cave 9: interior of the chaitya-griha Bodhisattvas, were excavated. Almost all the excavations were completed in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. under the patronage of the Vakataka rulers. An interesting inscription in Cave 16 in Ajanta mentions the dedication of a dwelling which was fUlly adorned with windows, doors, beautiful picture gallery and stairs and had a temple of Buddha inside. by one Varahadeva, the minister of the last of the Vakaraka rulers, 6 Harishena, of about A.D. 475-500. Another inscription, in Cave 17. tells us of a chief of a family subordinate to Harishel)a. It describes how under his patronage was excavated a gem-like monolithic malJdapa, Cave 17 itself, with a shrine for Buddha and an adjacent water-reservoir and a gandha-ku{i (,perfumed-chamber'), which evidenlly is the chaitya Cave 19. Rock-cut activity at Ajanta commcnced, as already stated, from the middle of the second ccntury R.C. and continued till almost the end of the sixth century A.D. During this long period, the artistic and archi tectural activity underwent development and the caves excavated in different periods beautifully illustrate such a development. Before we examine this process, it will be appropriate to understand the significant features of the two principal types of caves, namely the chaitya-g'rihas and the vihiiras· A chait)a-griha, sometimes called simply a chaitya, was a prayer hall, apsidal or rectangular on plan, with a nave and side aisles marked out from each other by a row of pillars and a stupa (often called chaitya) at the remote end of the nave (fig. 2 and plate 1). A s~hgh(Jriima. often called vihiira, is a monastic abode and had as its nucleus a central hall with flanking residential cells (fig. 3). At Ajanta. the progressive architectural development in the chaitya-g~'ihas excavated during the Sataviihana rule under the Hlnayana influence and those exca vated under Vakiilaka patronage with Mahayana influence can be clearly detected. The early chaitya-R,!,ihas closely imitate contemporary buildings built in timber, the vaulted ceiling thereof ~till retaining the original attached wooden ribs. The later chaitya-griha.I' excavated under the Vakatakas, although following in a ~eneral way the plan of the typical chaitya-g'tiha, were more elaborate in structural and sculptural treatment. Caves 19 and 26 exemplify the later efforts. Both these cave temples have received the highest attention by the addition of elegant pilIareo porticoes, ch&.rming fa~ade and skilful integration of architectural and sculptural details. These two chaitya-gl:ihas have fore courts with attached pillared rooms to provide for the accommodation of priest monks. The later vih(Jras of Ajanta, of which Cave I or 17 may be taken to be the most representative examples, presuppose a long development from the pillarless and rather austere examples of the earlier period. The vihliras of the later period had a pillared porch or a verandah supported by elegantly decorated pillars, the sculptured capitals of which carry spectacular entablatures with friezes or panels of sculptures includ ing scenes from the life of Buddha (plate II). The interior hall was supported by pillars arranged in a square and cells for monks pierced into the walls. An antechamber leads the visitor to the sanctum enshrin ing a colossal image of Buddha through well relieved door-frames. In the fifth century and perhaps a few decades later, activity at Ajanta was so brisk that the work r,rogressed simultaneously in different sectors. The vihiira:<,', Caves 1, 2. 4. 6 and 7, together with smaller intervening 7 Plate Ii. Ajanta. Cave 1: panel showing the four events which led the Buddha to renounce the world caves. were excavated at the outer end of the valley and Caves 11. 16. 17 and 20 in the central sector. The other vi/u{ras, Caves 21 to 24, together with the chaitya-grilw. Cave 26, at the inner end. were com menced a little later but were executed during the early part of sixth century and some were left unfinished. The Sculpture of Ajallta The splendour of the paintings of Ajanta has overshadowed the cle gan(;e and serene dignity of its sculpture, as a result of which the latter has not received its due attention. The study of Ajanta ~culpture is of utmost importance for the understand ing of plastic art in the Deccan. The sculptural activity in Buddhist caves in the Deccan is broadly divisible into two main periods. Ajanta does not. however, contain any 8 sculpture of the earlier period, covering about four centuries, from the second century B.C. to the second century A.D., when the caves asso ciated with Hjnayana at Ajanta, the chaitya-gtihas, Caves 10 and 9, and vihiiras, Caves 8, 12, 13 and 15A, were excavated. The lacuna is now tilled by the fortunate discovery of a large number of early sculptures in the cave-group of Pitalkhora in District Aurangabad, about 70 km. to the west-south-west of Ajanta. Sculptures in the caves at Bhaja, Kondane, Nasik, Bedsa, Karla and Kanheri further help in showing an almost un broken tradition of sculptural art of the earlier period. Thereafter, there was a comparatively unproductive period in the northern Deccan, the cen tre having shifted to Andhradesa, where, under the patronage of the later Satavahana and Ikshvaku rulers, the existing art-tradition blossomed forth as exemplified in the Buddhist monuments at Amaravati and Nagarjuna konda. The discovery of sculptured limestone slabs of the Amaravati type at Ter (ancient Tagara) in the Deccan attests to the synthesis of these art-traditions. The northern Deccan came into prominence once more with the rise of the Vakataka power, when an all-round development of fine arts like sculpture, painting and architecture was witnessed. Under the new impact of iconic Buddhism, figures of Buddha and the Bodhi sattvas came to be carved as the chief objects of worship in the Caves. Vakataka inscriptions in the Ajanta and Ghatotkacha caves would indi cate that this second phase was ushered in the last quarter of the fifth century A.D. Onve a beginning had been made, side by side with the excavation of new caves, the existing Hinayana ones were suitably modi fied and sculptures or paintings of Buddha and the Bodhisattvas added thereto as at Pitalkhora, Karla, Nasik and Kanheri, while enitrely new groups of caves were excavated at places like Aurangabad, EBora and Ajanta itself. Ajanta imbibed artistic influences which penetrated into the Deccan from both the north and the south. The figure-sculpture of Ajanta thus reflects the best in the art-tradition of contemporary India, generally drawing its inspiration from the artistic movement set afoot under the aegis of the Guptas and the Vaka!akas yet retaining fundamentally autoch thonous elements. The basic character of Ajanta sculpture is unconsci ously but quite naturally related to the indigenous school of the Deccan sculpture which flourished under the Satavahanas and was later nurtured in the Krishna and the Godavari valleys. Indirect influences also travel led from north India. A recently-noticed inscription on the pedestal of a Buddha-image in the sanctum of Cave 4 of Ajanta states that the image was the deya-dharma or religious gift of a person named Mathura who was the son of Abhayanandin and the owner of the monastery (vihiira sviiml). The name of the person may suggest that he hailed from Ma thura, an important centre of Buddhism and Buddhist art in northern India. The influence of Sarnath is apparent on the sculptured decoration introduced during the fifth and the sixth centuries at several centres in 9