South Indian Inscriptions

ARCHITECTURE SCULPTURE AND PAINTING

of the Vākāṭaka Emperor Harishēṇa. It is in some respects the most elegant of all caves. Its verandah, 65 ft. long by 10 ft. 8 in. wide, has six plain octagonal pillars and two beautifully carved pilasters.¹ The hall inside is entered by three doors, of which the middle one is larger than the two side ones. There is also a window on each side, between the middle and the side door. The pilaster on either side of the main door has the figure of the river goddess Gaṅgā standing on a crocodile.

... The maṇḍapa or hall inside is 66 ft. 3 in. long, by 65 ft. 3 in. deep and 15 ft. 3 in. high. It is supported by twenty pillars, sixteen of which are of plain octagonal shape, while the remaining four two in the middle of each of the front and back rows have square bases and change first to 8 and then to 16 sides, with square heads and bracket capitals. The front aisle is somewhat longer than the back one. Its roof is cut in imitation of beams and rafters, supported by brackets in the form of kinnaras and apsarases. There are six cells on each side, two in the back wall, and one at each end of the verandah. There is no antechamber, the chaitya-mandira (shrine) being entered from three doors in the back aisle. The latter contains a gigantic statue of the Buddha in the dharmachakra-pravartanamudrā, sitting in the pralambapāda posture on a lion seat. He is attended by Vajrapāṇī on the right and Padmapāṇi on the left, with chauris in their hands. There is space for pradakshiṇā round the image of the Buddha.

... The inscription at the left end of the verandah describes this cave in the following words :-² ‘This dwelling which is adorned with windows, doors, beautiful picture-galleries, ledges, statues of the nymphs of Indra and the like, is ornamented with beautiful pillars and stairs, and has a temple of the Buddha inside’.³ The picture-galleries referred to as su-vīthi in this verse covered the walls of the verandha and the hall inside, but many of them have now been very sadly mutilated.

... Both Cave XVI and XVII were excavated and decorated with paintings in the same period, viz., the reign of the Vākāṭaka king Harishēṇa. The artists appear to have done the work with a definite plan. The paintings in Cave XVI mostly describe the incidents in the last life of the Buddha, while those in Cave XVII generally illustrate the events of his past lives. There are indeed a few Jātaka scenes depicted in Cave XVI, but they are confined to the walls of its verandah and the front corridor. For instance, the story of the Sutasōma Jātaka, in which Sutasōma, by his spiritual power, compels the cannibal king Saudāsa to give up his evil habit, is painted on the architrave above the front pillars of the verandah. Similarly, the stories of the Hasti Jātaka, in which an elephant sacrifices himself in order to save the lives of hungry travellers, and the Mahā-Ummagga Jātaka, in which the child Mahōsadha solves difficult riddles, are painted on the walls of the front corridor.

... The incidents in the life of Gautama Buddha can be divided into two parts, viz., (i) those that happened before he turned the Wheel of the Law, i.e., preached his doctrine in the Deer park at Sārnāth and (ii) those that occurred subsequent to that event. As stated before, the chaitya-mandira or garbhagṛiha of Cave XVI has an image of the Buddha in the dharmachakra-pravartana-mudrā. It therefore furnishes the dividing point of the paintings in this cave. Those on the wall of the right corridor are chronologically arranged, commencing from the scene of Conception.⁴ In the painting above the first and second cell-doors
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¹ See Plate I.
² No. 25, v. 24.
³ Ajanta, Part III, pp. 44 f.
1 ⁴ The chronological sequence of the paintings becomes quite evident if we commence at the right end of the right corridor and walk round the hall from right to left. It also helps in the interpretaion of some of the frescoes. In his excellent work Ajanta Mr. Yazdani has, however, followed the opposite order in describing the paintings of this cave. It is, of course, the usual order of pradakshiṇa.