When Captain John Smith, a British army officer of the 28th Cavalry, Madras Presidency, accidentally stumbled upon a cave while hunting for tigers in present Aurangabad district of Maharashtra in 1819, he was astonished to find ancient paintings all over the walls of the cave. The whole terrain at that time was covered in dense forest and had no significant population living in the vicinity. It was brought to the notice of the colonial government and soon more caves were discovered when the forests were cleared along the ridge on which the first discovery was made.

There were twenty eight caves in all at Ajanta, with rich colourful paintings inside each of them. The Royal Asiatic Society acknowledged it as a historical site and built a commission to study the paintings. Almost 200 years have passed since then, and the Ajanta Caves, as this site is now known as, stands as one of the most brilliant sites of Indian ancient culture, arts and architecture. It has been acclaimed by the Archaeological Survey of India as ‘œthe finest surviving examples of Indian art…’

The caves have been recognized as parts of a Buddhist monastery which probably existed between 2nd century B.C.E and 7th century C.E. Since their discovery, the Ajanta Caves have been held in high regard. But there are some lesser known facts about these caves that the common people are not aware of.

Some of these interesting facts about Ajanta Caves are as follows:

The Ajanta Caves were mentioned in a Chinese chronicle written by Xuanzang in the 7th century C.E. The author asserted that Dinnaga, a celebrated Buddhist Scholar of the 5th century C.E, lived for some period of time in Ajanta.

The earliest paintings in some of the caves are believed to be as old as 3rd century B.C.E, of the Satavahana times.

Characteristically, the Ajanta cave paintings are in dry frescos. This implies that they were painted on a dry plaster surface.

The paintings are of religious nature, with most of them depicting crucial periods of the Jataka Tales.

The period of time over which these paintings were done is astonishing. Later caves give an impression that the Vakataka kings also extended royal patronage for the Ajanta monasteries.

In 1863, Major Robert Gill, under the instruction of the Royal Asiatic Society, replicated 27 large murals in the Ajanta Caves which were badly damaged by then. Four of these replicas are still present the museum of Crystal Palace in London.

The construction of the caves in Ajanta had undergone a change since the earliest times. The later phase had depictions of images of the Buddha, a palatable impact of Mahayanism which prevailed over Hinayanist style of architecture.

The paintings were done in three phases. In the first, the base surface was prepared with ferruginous earth fibrous materials. On a second coat of sand, a coat of lime wash was applied. Finally, the pictures were drawn on this coat of lime wash.

The Ajanta Caves reaches a height of 76 metres at places.

UNESCO classified the Ajanta Caves a World Heritage Site in the year 1983.

No wonder then, that these caves are one of the most prized possessions of Indian architecture. They are one of the natural marvels of the world.