Posted on: 20 October 2010

Ajanta - Interior of Vihara No 17 - 1839.

This is plate 6 in James Fergusson's 'Illustrations of the Rock Cut Temples of India' by Thomas Colman Dibdin. The wonderful paintings that decorate the Ajanta caves are unique in Indian art and provide an illustration of early Buddhist traditions in the country. Cave 17 in Ajanta is a vihara (monastery) dating from the late fifth century. It houses a large number of mural paintings illustrating Jataka legends, which relate stories of the lives of the Buddha. Fine frescoes decorate the cave's verandah and the colonnaded interior is filled with sumptuous paintings narrating dramatic tales such as the Sutasoma Jataka which tells of cannibalism.

Source : British Library


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Dear Subbaiah - Any book by Fergusson on Hoysala architectue? Wonder there is one because he is quoted while referring to Hoysala temple architecture.

Thanks to Amita Roy...the roving encyclopaedia ! : )

Thanks Amita Roy. Will search for it.

@ Amita Roy I think I will have to beg to differ with you here. Why do you call it ' successor' to the Gandhara and Mathura school? The helenistic theory is very much discredited now as another product of the imperialist desire to source everything in Greece and Rome. Do you really see a correspondence between the Gandhara Buddhas, with their Greek faces, Greek hair styles and trademark thin drapery, and the Ajanta paintings and sculptures?