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This is a copy of a painting in cave 16 at Ajanta. These cave paintings are the oldest surviving examples of painting in India. They date from the 1st century BC to about AD 480 and depict stories from the lives of the Buddha (the Jatakas). This painting depicts a scene from the Bhagavan Jataka in which the Bodhisattva is shown going to school and having archery lessons.
The cave complex was discovered in 1819 and attempts were made to document the paintings inside them. In 1844 Major Robert Gill was commissioned to make copies. Unfortunately most of the paintings he completed were destroyed in a fire in 1866. To make up for this loss, from 1872 to 1885 John Griffiths from the Bombay School of Art and seven Indian students spent every winter at the caves. This is one of the approximately 300 paintings they produced.
Copyright: © V&A Images. All Rights Reserved
Also see Dunhuang China for another wall cave combo explosion
Which of the 530+ Buddha's Caste/Jat Stories is "Bhagavan Jataka" ? Some V&A error likely here. Cave 16 has 3 Jatakas - Susotama, Maha-Ummagga & Hasti/Elephant Jatakas . Please see later day books on Ajanta including Benoy Behl's wonderful - Ajanta Caves ( Thames & Hudson). The above scene is likely to be from Maha-Ummagga. Its interesting to note the selection & location of Jataka stories in the Ajanta horse-shoe caves complex. In Thai/other South-East traditions, there is certainty of the importance of the last 10 boddhisattvas i.e. the 10 most important Jatakas leading upto the birth of historical Buddha. However, if you look at the ancient Indian tradition, the selection of the 10 , is not so certain. The 4 in common between the 18th century Thailand Temple Walls and the 2nd century BC Ajanta Caves in India are – 1. Mahajanaka Jataka 2. Sama/ Shyama Jataka 3. Vidhura-Pandita Jataka 4. Vessantara/ Visvantara Jataka Jatakas in the Ajanta Caves in India are as follows - 1. Sutasama Jataka – Cave 16 & 17 2. Shada-Danta/ Shaddanta Jataka – Cave 17 3. Visvantara Jataka – Cave 17 4. Shama/Syama/Sama Jataka – Cave 17 5. Simhala Avadana – Cave 17 6. Sibi Jataka – Cave 1 & 17 7. Sankhapala Jataka – Cave 1 8. Mahajanaka Jataka – Cave 1 9. Maha-Ummagga Jataka – Cave 1 & 16 10. Campeya Jataka – Cave 1 11. Hamsa Jataka – Cave 2 & 17 12. Vidhura-pandita Jataka – Cave 2 13. Purna-Avadana – Cave 2 14. Hasti Jataka – Cave 16 & 17 15. Mahakapi Jataka – Cave 17 16. Kapi Jataka – Cave 17 17. Sarabha Jataka – Cave 17 18. Matriposhaka Jataka – Cave 17 19. Matsya Jataka – Cave 17 20. Mahisha Jataka – Cave 17 21. Mriga/ Ruru Jataka – Cave 17 22. Nigrodhamiga Jataka – Cave 17 The values taught in each of the above Jatakas (all available free online & easily googled) & their cave location need to be seen in context of the entire complex. For eg. Cave 19 & Cave 26 have revealed their beauty & mathematical precision as built for Summer Solstice & Winter Solstice ( see http://forums.higherconsciousnessforum.com/topic/754-ajanta-caves-in-india-solstice-alignment/ ). May be when you put all those values of the 22 Ajanta Jatakas together, you get to change your Jat/caste & turn into the fortunate-one/Bhagavan/God ....
another good sighting for paintings are the Bagh Caves.