Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta caves are located near the town of Ajanta ( Marathi अजिंठा, Ajantha ), in northeastern Indian state of Maharashtra, about 100 km north of the city of Aurangabad.

In a steeply incised by the river Waghora into the rock, U-shaped valley you will find many driven into the rock, large cave temple. In a mahayanischen cave you can visit well-preserved murals depicting scenes from the life of Buddha. The entire facility has been declared in December 1983, a World Heritage Site.

History

From the 2nd century BC to the end of the 5th century after the turn of time, the valley was inhabited by Buddhists. During the Vakataka dynasty in the fifth century, most caves were built, although the representatives of Vakataka as followers of Brahmanism itself is not docked hand. The builder driven into the rock according to the official count of the Archaeological Survey of India 29 large caves that are up to 30 meters wide, 15 meters deep and four meters high. The construction phases and chisel times should have identified about 30 years per cavity. In the 5th century, a wave of hostility against Buddhists reached this secluded valley in India. The Buddhists were driven out. The caves were forgotten and were obscured over time by weathering debris overlying rock walls.

In April 1819 passed members of the British Madras Army, the Ajanta Ghat. During a tiger hunt, the British cavalry officer John Smith fathomed the virtually inaccessible gorge and discovered the orphaned centuries cave temples ( in cave 10 he left a short inscription ). Other caves were gradually exposed.

Cultural-historical importance

In addition to the astonishing performance of erosion of rocks, the artistic decoration of individual caves is unique. The entrance to the cave is usually only a small gap or a door. The rooms are usually wider than deep. When you enter the caves one can see an opposite niche with a rock-hewn Buddha figure.

The most important cave was fitted with wall plaster, on the scenes from the life of Buddha are very splendidly illustrated. Here you already mastered the trompe- l'oeil painting at an early period so well that the viewer a painted balcony seems constantly entgegenzuragen. The scenes are presented with an amazing level of detail. These murals are now partly protected by Plexiglas covers since the early portraits were damaged by doodles.

In another cave two warriors pay homage to the Buddha, one in Chinese and the other in Roman soldiers' uniforms. So there must have existed around the time of cultural exchanges between central India and the Mediterranean. Since the Roman Empire at its maximum expansion also included the area of present-day Iraq ( Mesopotamia ), possibly filed a connection to it for the knowledge of Roman uniforms. Another Ajanta cave contains a Stupa.

The walls of the entrances to all caves are repeatedly decorated with the same motif as a desire of Buddhist art is fuel to create a perfect copy of a template as possible. The higher the copy quality, the higher quality the new work of art.

Tourism

Because of the remoteness of the Ajantahöhlen, the mass tourism yet not a problem foreigners pay significantly higher entrance fees than Indian. You can Ajanta Aurangabad via Ellora with Mumbai during a weekend trip to visit (Mumbai - Aurangabad, about 1 hour flight time )

Pictures of Ajanta Caves

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