Ajantâ

Ajantâ is a village of the Indian state of Maharashtra famous for its group of 29 artificial caves dug in hard Basalte, including three unfinished. In 1983, the site of Ajantâ was classified with the world heritage of humanity of UNESCO.

The caves located, in a timbered ravine, in the center of the mounts Indhyagiri to some 5 km of the village, were discovered in 1819 by British soldiers at the time of a shooting party. At the bottom of the short ravine the river Vaghorâ, a torrent of mountain which forms a series of water falls whose noise had to be constantly audible by the inhabitants of the caves. Those were excavated on the abrupt southern face of the ravine, and spread out of ten to forty meters above the bed the torrent. They were dug on the basis of the ceiling and going down to the floor, a technique used in a general way in India.

They are classified in two categories, those which were used as refuge to the monks during the rain season, the appeared first, and those which were used rather of meeting rooms and prayer. The first, comprised usually a broad porch, covered by a roof supported by pillars, disappeared today, and gives towards the interior on a hall of a size generally from approximately 10 to 11 m out of 7. On the left and on the right, and at the bottom, the cells are excavated and with the bottom, vis-a-vis the entry, an image of the Bouddha is usually held in a niche. The number of cells changes according to the size of the hall, and in largest, of the pillars support the roof of each of the three sides, forming a kind of cloister which surrounds the hall. The meeting rooms penetrate much more deeply in the rock, largest of them measuring up to thirty meters out of 14, cloister including.

Concerning their seniority, the caves are classified in three groups, the construction of oldest (n° 8,12,13 15a, 9 and 10) dating from the period of and first century BC, at time when the dynasty Shâtavâhana reigned on central India, the second group of the III^e at the end of the 5th century (dynasty of the Vâkâtaka) and the third of the end of the VI^e at the end of the 8th century (dynasty of the Châlukya of Vâtâpi). The majority of the interior walls of the caves are covered with paintings with Fresque, of very diverse qualities. None of these paintings is dated, but the analysis of the reasons makes it possible to have a rather precise idea of their period of design and thus to classify them chronologically.

At the time of their discovery, in 1817, they were in good state of conservation, but they since were degraded much in particular under the effect of tourism of mass. However, caves 1,2,16 and 17 still offer an outline of what they could offer to the time of their splendor and the work The painting in the Buddhist undermines off temples Ajanta (1896) of John Griffiths, then director of the Bombay School off Arts , allows to have an idea of their state before they start with its degrading. These copies are of a priceless value to know Indian pictorial art before the Counter-Reformation hindouist which made disappear the Bouddhisme from the Indian ground.

Ajantâ was a monastic center and academic. The monk and traveller Chinese Xuanzang teaches us that Dignâga, the famous Buddhist philosopher, author of famous books on logic, resided there. With its apogee, the site was to be able to provide housing for several hundreds of people, professors and pupils included/understood.

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