Many tourists planning a trip to India have no idea how many secrets this country hides. For those who do not want to limit themselves to the warm sand of the beaches and are ready to immerse themselves in history, a visit to the famous Ajanta caves will be interesting.
India - the land of cave temples
One of the Gupta-era UNESCO World Heritage Sites is located in the state of Maharashtra, in the Ajanta cliffs. To see the monastery, one has to reach the city of Aurangabad. This place is visited annually by tens of thousands of tourists and even more Indians, for whom it is not just a museum. By the way, for locals, a ticket to the temples costs only 10 rupees, while a tourist will have to pay 250.
As is often the case, the temple complex was discovered quite by accident. English officer John Smith, in pursuit of a tiger, went deep into the jungle. The dark stripes of the beast dissolved into the green of the trees, and before the astonished Englishmen opened an incredible view.
A huge statue of Buddha looked at the men. But the men, though they were followers of a different faith, were not confused and decided to look around. Thus, in the spring of 1819, one of the largest cave complexes in southern Asia was discovered.
So who built the cave temples in India
But let's go back many centuries, for the age of this unique find dates back to the first century BC. It was then that the first cave temples hollowed out directly into the rock appeared in the vicinity of the modern state of Maharashtra.
The followers of Buddha in India settled in the rock next to the Waghora River, which curves in a horseshoe, flowing at the foot of the cliffs. The flourishing of this religion in the early part of the century led to the creation of 30 caves over several centuries. Most of them, according to historians, were monasteries - chaitiyas, where monks lived, and only five were used for worship and various religious rituals (such temples are known as viharas). The last such temple dates from a later period, but as early as the 13th century the monks left Ajanta.
This is due to two reasons:
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the strengthening of Muslimism
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another cave complex called Ellora appeared nearby.
If you look at the frescoes adorning the temples, you will see images that show a mysterious intertwining of Buddhist beliefs and Hinduism. The latter religion has become the main religion in the country. Now Hinduism is professed by about 80% of the population, and the share of followers of Buddha got only 0.77%.
The cave paintings on the walls and ceiling illustrate the entire life of India. It depicts powerful lords as well as the last beggars. This has allowed historians to see firsthand the life of the people who lived in the area many centuries ago, during the Gupta era. That very distant and lost India appeared before their eyes.
And, of course, there are images of the Buddha himself, his entire life reflected here. His journey began long before his physical birth and is captured in the cycle of samsara, the endless alternation of life and death. The wheel of samsara, birth, enlightenment and reincarnation are all painted on the walls in colours that have not yet been replicated. And what is even more surprising, despite the passage of time, all the paintings have retained their brightness and clarity. Painting amazes by drawing details.
The huge columns in the great hall in the caves have been perfectly preserved. So is the ceiling with its intricate paintings.
Kneeling elephants stand in front of the entrance to the monastery, while the neighbouring Buddha caves are guarded by lions, clearly confirming that these animals were present in those distant times.
The mysterious and enigmatic Ajanta Caves
Photo: Dey.sandip. Source: wikipedia
After British officers discovered the Ajanta monastery complex, historians became interested in a similar discovery in India. To believe that an entire cave city was hidden somewhere in the jungles of the millennium was incredible. But it was the inaccessibility that made the difference. Plants, curling up, blocked the entrances to the caves, where in some incredible way paintings and statues have been preserved.
The first cave explorer was the Briton James Ferguson. It was through his labours that the world learnt that Ajanta existed. The Royal Asiatic Society then sent an artist, Robert Gill, to India. His task was to copy the frescoes for more detailed study. Gill spent over twenty years doing this, methodically copying everything that was discovered.
During this time, Gill became friends with many Indians who lived nearby and were also involved in the preservation of the cave. It should be noted that those worked reluctantly, fearing the wrath of the monks, and repeatedly warned Gill about this. But for the British artist, the caves at Ajanta became everything.
He did not return to England until 1866 to lend his work to an exhibition at the Crystal Palace. But a fire broke out and consumed his life's work, destroying 25 of his most interesting paintings of caves, leaving only ashes. And Gill, though he saw in the fire the revenge of the gods, set off again for India, intent on repeating what he had created in the caves over the past twenty years. But in 1879 he falls seriously ill and dies. The British buried the artist next to his favourite Ajanta caves.
But the mysterious events did not end there. Some of Gill's works were on display at the modern-day Victoria and Albert Museum, then called the South Kensington Museum. These, too, were destroyed by fire.
Today, only a few drawings of caves made by Gill's hand during his twenty years of labour in India remain, which are preserved in British museums.
Another attempt to redraw the cave murals was made by Indian artists. But after they sent their work from India to England, a fire broke out there too. And which room do you think burned to the ground? Yes, yes, the one where the copies of the Ajanta Buddhist frescoes were on display. All the other halls were spared.
Since then, no attempt has been made to completely repaint the murals on the walls. Perhaps people still fear the wrath of the ancient gods of India.
The paintings have not been repainted since.
Another question that scientists still have no answer to is the composition of the colours for the Ajanta cave paintings. It seems incredible that millennia ago, monks were able to come up with paints capable of luminescence.
Also, no one has been able to explain how the ancient painters were able to work in the total darkness of the cave. One theory is that they harnessed sunlight by conducting it through a system of polished plates, as the Egyptians did. But there is still no documentary proof that the monastery was designed in this way.
One way or the other, the magnificent frescoes, monumental statues and interior decoration of Ajanta temples are worth the drive, a visit to the monastery complex and a touch of India's centuries-old history.
