Chapter 1

1. INTRODUCTION
The magnificent group of rock-cut caves at Ajanta is situated in the
Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. These caves are world famous for the mural
paintings of both the Hinayana and Mahayana faiths of Buddhism. The complex of
monasteries at Ajanta, built in 2nd century B.C. and 5th century A.D., appears too
unique to us today because no other ancient Indian site has been as well preserved in
its paintings as well sculptures. Ajanta offers a wealth of pictorial expression, a way
of grasping the ideas and images that characterized an entire era. The devotional and
ornamental paintings make up the majority of murals at Ajanta and include both the
large scale murals depicting the mythical landscapes of Buddha Veneration, along
with purely ornamental paintings on the pillars and ceilings. Bodhisattva kinds
surrounded by landscapes were placed at main entrance, at the entrance to the
vestibules and to the shrines. The narrative paintings were positioned on the side walls
of the caves and in some cases side walls of verandas. Ceiling and pillars were
adorned with geometric, floral or figurative ornamentation. Despite these rigid
arrangements guidelines there are many, sometimes hundreds of Buddha depictions
indicating original plan was abandoned. In the terminology used by Walter Spink, the
Buddha paintings are intrusions while other paintings belong to painting programme.
Those individually donated scenes were inserted in places which has remained empty
in the initial decoration process. These intrusive paintings are often placed in rather
unsuitable locations.

1.1 The Discovery of Ajanta.

The cave temple of Ajanta, excavated out of living rock is true representative
of Buddhist art and culture in a land that gave birth to this religion. The monks
exploring their way to ravine of Ajanta some time in 2nd B.C began heavily blow
hacking out the basaltic rock by hand and heaving it down into the river below. Then
they set out decorating the wall, the doorways and the ceilings probably with the help
of large mirrors that reflected the sunshine from the ravine outside. The work was
subsidized by wealthy merchants and princes of surrounding country side. There is an

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inscription in one of the earliest-cave that reads “Meritorious gift of a dwelling with
cells and halls by the merchant Gahanna Dada”

No one knows why the monks abandoned Ajanta. Whether, it was because of
plague or persecutions or for some other occult reason. By 600 A.D Buddhism itself
was dying out in India (It has never succeeded in returning except in the Himalaya)
and it may simply have been that the rich merchants refused to subscribe anymore.
The monks vanished and the valley returned to its dislocation.

For the next 1500 years, the Ajanta cave appeared to have been effectively lost
and forgotten like Pompeii was after the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Perhaps
from time to time hermits or wandering tribes made home in them, but for outside
world Ajanta ceased to exist. Tigers and other wild animals prowled through the halls
of the caves and made their lairs under the paintings. Over the years, due to monsoon
rains, the doorways fell in and shrubs and creepers overgrow the entrance. Then at
last in 1819 the caves were discovered again.

The most important discovery of the nineteenth century was that of the Ajanta
caves and their paintings. Ajanta was discovered by a group of British officers
attached to the Madras army, who were taking a few days off from military
maneuvers in the Sahayadari hills, to the north of Ajanta, to hunt tigers. The men
arrived at the head of the gorge-Ajanta pass and there fell in with half wild boy who
was minding a group of buffaloes. The boy said, he knew some tiger lairs and led
them down over rocky ground towards the bed of the river. Then he pointed through
the trees to a part of the cliff that was thickly overgrown with creepers and bushes.
Hacking their way in through this under growth, the officers suddenly found
themselves confronted with the large doorways of carved stone. At the far end a huge
figure of Buddha sat quietly smiling in the darkness with the walls covered with
brilliant paintings.

It is pity that more is not known about these Army officers and what they did
at this first moment of discovery. Other caves, of course had been found in India but
none were so spectacular and none contained anything like this galaxy of paintings.

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There would certainly have been some dangers in such an exploration as no one knew
what snakes or other wild animal were lurking in the darkness.

In 1822, dull little references appeared in a paper read by Mr. William Erskine
to the Bombay Literary society “Very extensive excavation has recently been
discovered at the top and bottom of the Ajanta pass. They have been very little visited
on account of the difficulty of approaching them. The only information regarding
them I possess is contained in a memorandum of captain Morgan’s of Madras
Establishment, which states that they were described by the officers who visited them
in 1819 as having sitting Buddha figures with curled wings. No trace of Brahmanical
religion was discovered. The paintings were in a decent state of preservation”.

In 1824, a much livelier observer appeared on the scene. This was Lieutenant
James Edward Alexander of the 16 lancers and one is grateful to him for the first full
account of what Ajanta looked like in those days. Alexander reported in the journal of
the Royal Asiatic Society that he was travelling on leave from his regiment when he
reached the walled village of Ajanta, about four miles away from the caves and he
decided to visit them. He set off in the morning on horseback, dressed in a Muslim
costume, accompanied by a guide and servant and well armed with sabers, pistol and
hunting spears. As he left the village, he reported, one of the Muslim officials called
out to him. “La illah illi ah - there is but one God! You will never return. If you
escape the tigers, those strong hearted robbers, the Bhils - will destroy you”. The
Bheels or Bhils were half-savage tribe who were supposed to be particularly active
around the caves. “We had not advanced far up the glen’’. Alexander reported, “When
a low whistling was heard above us to the left and was quickly repeated from the
opposite cliff. This proved to be Bhils intimating to one another that strangers were
approaching. The guide evinced strong symptoms of fear and on being remonstrated
he proceeded onwards. Some of the Bhils showed themselves peeping out from
behind the rock. They were more savage looking race, perfectly black and nearly
naked. Our firearms prevented them attacking and we were allowed to proceed.”
Pistol cocked, Alexander advanced on the caves and found them full of danger of
every kind. Bats flew in his face, bees were buzzing from the hives that hang from the
ceiling and in the dust and debris on the floors be noticed the foot prints of tiger,
jackals & bears. Remains of cooking fire were lying and in one corner he came on a

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human skeleton. On the whole, the frescoes were still intact. He visited one cave after
another and discovered them to be in excellent state of preservation. Here & there the
monsoon rains have seeped through the cracks in the rocks, many pillars have
collapsed bringing down part of the ceiling with them. But somehow because of the
Indian climate, most of the paintings have survived with a freshness of colour.

The next man to write a description on the cave was Mr. Ralph, Who went
there in 1828. His description appeared in the journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of
Bengal and he is worth quoting as he manages to covey better than perhaps all the
experts. Mr. Ralph has a style that was entirely his own, a kind of dramatic dialogue,
as if he were having a conversation with some second person.

Now, Ralph, look here, can you see this figure? No, bring the torch nearer,
give me the torch; can you see it better now? Hardly, let us light-dry grasses, bring
grass now, and place it here. Now watch while the light is strongest you may now see
the whole figure. Yes, I can see it now, but throw water on it. Now, the colours are
more vivid. Here is lovely face-a Madonna face. These are all Hindu face-nothing
foreigner. What a lovely female. Here is another heavenly face. The last one we
discover seems always the greatest.

And so Mr. Ralph goes on from one fresco to another, the procession of
Buddha, the hunting scenes, an inexplicable white woman and it does not seem to
occurred to him that he himself with bundles of dry grass and water might be
contributing to the destruction of the paintings.

It happens that at the time Mr. Ralph was at Ajanta, a doctor James Bird
arrived. He is described in the journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal as “an
intelligent young medical man from Bombay,” and he has been sent by the Governor
of the province to make an examination of the caves and see what could be done to
preserve them. The Doctor’s method was peculiar. He proposed to scrape off with a
knife as many paintings as he could conveniently, carry and take them back to
Bombay. Mr. Ralph himself had been making a few little experiments of this nature,
and he assured Dr Bird that the plan would not work “As for carrying away the
paintings, you can do so in powder”, he warned him. Not deterred by this, the Doctor

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set to work peeling off a number of figures. Using great care he was able to get them
from the wall more or less intact, but when they arrived at Bombay all that was left
was powder.

Lieutenant Blake, also of Madras Army arrived at Ajanta in Jan 1839 as he

appears to have had some trouble with both Bhils & the bats. In the Bombay courier,
he described the “Bhils Raja” as rude, Jungle individual and he says that he was
nearly blinded by a heavy of bats that bore down towards the entrance on seeing his
flambeaux. He says that when the cave was discovered, it contained a great deal of
rubbish and mud that has worked its way inside. British soldiers has been sent to try
to drain a few of the caves, but the mud was still very thick everywhere.

Experts sent to decipher the inscriptions, retired defeated saying that they have
never seen the language before. Some scholars concluded that the caves are 3000
Years old; other thought that they were the work of a group of Greek artist left behind
by the Alexander, the great when he made his way down the Indus valley from the
north in 327 B.C. None of the scholars shown any interest in protecting the paintings
from the souvenir hunters and the weather until 1843, when James Fergusson, one of
the leading historian of the day, send a memorandum to the court of the Directors of
East India Company praying them to take steps to prevent further desecration and
destruction of this monument and to appoint someone to make drawing of fast
perishing fresco of Ajanta. The company responded by appointing a captain (later
Major) Robert-Gill, an artist attached to Madras Army. He was provided with an
elephant, a gang of coolies and body guard to protect him from Bhils and he arrived at
Ajanta in May, 1844.

There is supposed to be a curse upon Ajanta. It is said that anyone who tries to
deface the painting in any way or even to reproduce them will be over taken by
misfortune. Ajanta curse has not proved very violent (it claims only one case of
suicide and one of madness) but it has proved remarkably persistent. Major Gill’s
hardship alone is almost heart breaking. One large slab of painting was stolen off the
walls of the very cave in which he was working. In 1857 Indian mutiny drove him
away and on his return he nearly died of fever and dysentery. Then when he was
already well passed middle age, he was riding in a bullock cart and the animal bolted.

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He was spilled out on to some rock and his thigh was broken. Still he kept on at his
job taking stereoscopic photo with the aid of the magnesium lamp and making tracing
and colored drawing with care. Among all the people who worked at Ajanta, he was
perhaps the most devoted. He rejected the comfortable house that had been provided
for him in Ajanta Village and instead lived either in one of the caves or in a crude hut
just outside. There are surviving photographs showing the Major at the scene of his
work bearded, hermit like and not willing to accept defeat in difficult situation. For
months on end, while he painted by the light of the oil lamps, he never saw another
Whiteman and in all the twenty seven years there was hardly a time when he was not
in some danger either from the Bhils or from wild animals. Gill clearly was enchanted
by Ajanta. Having spent his life painting the extremely beautiful exquisite woman of
the frescos, he chooses just such a woman for his life. She was a native dancing girl
named Paru, from Ajanta Village. Gill was extremely fond of music and he loved to
watch her performing the same dances with the same costumes and same kind of
Jewels.

As Gill finished each of his paintings, he dispatched it by bullock cart and

sailing ship to London. At the end of twenty years, he had copied almost every one of
the most important frescoes in the caves, and all but five of his canvases were put on
exhibition in the crystal palace and while they were there in December 1866, fire
broke out. The entire collection was destroyed. On top of this, as if to complete the
destruction of Gills lifework, his stereoscopic photographs have yellowed and spotted
with age and the book that contained them has long been out of print.

Gill struggled on for five more years after the crystal palace fire, but
accomplished nothing very much. In the end he sold what was left of his drawings and
sketch book to the Bombay Government for two hundred pounds and soon afterwards
he fell ill and died. His tomb can be seen at Bhusawal and his wife Paru at Ajanta
village.

Nearly ten years went by after the Gill debacle; it was decided that a new
expedition should be sent to Ajanta. In 1870, it was understood that Ajanta reveal
data on a long period of Indian history about which very little was known. It was
agreed that 29 caves fell in two groups. The five earliest, the Hinayana group had

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been excavated and decorated over a period of two hundred years, starting soon after
the death of great Buddhist Emperor Ashoka in 232 B.C. or there about. It was easy to
fix these early caves from the nature of the carving and form inscriptions on the
columns and doorways and more particularly from the fact that Buddha who died
about 483 B.C was nowhere represented in them as a sculpture or painted image, as
that period if would have been sacrilege to represent him, for much the same reason
that early Christian artist refrained from depicting Christ as an actual man. Buddha
was simply indicated by a shrine, a stupa that was supposed to resemble one of the
urns containing his ashes. In the 24 other caves Buddha was represented as man
usually a large stone figure sitting cross legged in a shrine.

It was with the object of getting a full record of this civilization that an
expedition was organized with the Bombay school of arts and financed by a grant of
2000-3000 pound from some London banker in the year 1875. John Griffiths, the
principal of the school was put in charge of the work. He took with him a mixed team
of art students Zoroastrians, Brahmans, Jains & Christians and they spent four seasons
making detailed copies of the frescos. Griffiths urged his sponsors in London to
photograph each of his facsimiles as it was finished. But it was decided that the
expenses will be too great. This was much regretted later as the Ajanta curse was still
active. On June 12, 1885 fire broke out in the Victoria & Albert Museum where
Griffith’s collection was then housed. It began during lunch hour when burning soot
from the kitchen chimney lodged in the wooden rafters supporting the roof. Almost an
hour went by before the horses of the Kensington fire brigade came dashing to the
rescue. When the fire was put off at 3.30 PM, it was found that eighty five of the 125
paintings most of home large canvasses from 20-30 sq.ft has either damaged or totally
destroyed. It was a curious fact that although the fire burned for 3 hours, the only
object of any real value, it touched was Ajanta reproduction.

After the fire, Griffiths’ went back to Ajanta and managed to recopy enough of
the frescoes to enable him to bring out- “The paintings in the Buddhist caves at
Ajanta” in two volumes in 1896. These were the first volume of reproduction to
appear. Then in 1906, Lady Herriangham, wife of a London physician came to India
and in three season completed a volume of water colour reproduction called Ajanta
Frescoes. Ajanta was still a pretty wild place not much visited. Lady Herriangham

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reported that while she was working, green parrots, monkeys, boars and panther
roamed about the ravine outside the caves and that deadly snake were not uncommon.
Bee appears to be the worst menace. At the beginning of this century “Murrays Hand
book of travelers in India, Burma & Ceylon was still warning tourists of the danger
and hardship of the journey to the caves.

Nevertheless, Ajanta was gradually becoming the goal of Buddhist scholars

and art lovers. Mr. Mukul Dev, the Indian artist, relates that in 1918 he found a team
of Japanese copyists there, headed by Sentaro Sawamura, a professor of oriental art at
Kyoto University and the painter kampo Arai. They were working with extreme care,
using sheet of thin Japanese art paper which they dampened and pressed against the
carvings. They took off hundred of exact impression in this way and shipped them
back to Japan. The entire collection was destroyed by an earthquake few years later.

Since major Gills day, the chief damage to the frescoes has been done not by
bats (gates were put up to keep them out) but by enthusiastic visitors, eager copyists
and the restorer themselves. Griffith’s pupils, for example, resolutely smeared some
of the finest group with clean varnish in order to bring out the colour and in time this
varnish turned yellow, cracked and broke away from the wall, taking the paint with it.
Others helped to destroy the things by burning nacked lamps which darkened the
ceiling with the soot. Where insects had bored into the paints, some restorers filled
hole with plaster of Paris, smeared on thickly with palette knife. Then they washed the
walls down with dirty water. The visitors were free to cut their initials or full name
into the frescoes with pen knives or even to remove whole slabs of paintings from the
wall. In this way captain Williams of Hampstead, London cut a group of five male
heads about a foot square dating probably 5 A.D. The piece was put on auction of
Sotheby’s in London in 1922 and fetched a 1000 pound. It is now in the museum of
fine arts in Boston. But worse than all these people was a man named Narayan
Eknath, who really seems to have been the archfiend of Ajanta. He was appointed
curator of the cave for a time in 19th century and he was specially charged with
keeping the vandals at bay. Narayan was underpaid and badly in need of whatever tips
he can get from the passing tourists. If a visitor showed interest in some fragments of
paintings, the curator will be delighted to cut if off and offer it as present. His
specialty was removing faces and whole heads.

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 Introduction

It was largely as a result of strong protest made by lady Herriangham to the

Nizam of Hyderabad that at last in 1920 something was done to protect what has
come to be recognized as greatest collection of paintings in whole of India. Two
Italian experts, Count Orsini and Singor Lorenzo Cecconi were summoned and by
casein & other means they accomplished a great deal in fixing the frescoes to the wall.
At the same time arrangement was made to install electric light, to plug the cracks in
the ceiling with gunite and to establish an adequate guard. There have been two more
attempts to capture the frescoes in reproduction. The best of this is the monumental
work containing excellent colour photographs and outlines /drawings with
accompanying text jointly undertaken by Nizam of Hyderabad and Oxford University
press. It is the four volume work of Gulam Yazdani who was deputed to undertake
this monumental work. The other attempt to reproduce the frescoes was made by
Victor Goloubew with team of French expert. But he was not fortunate as he writes in
the preface to his volume of photographs, “He does not say what the accident was, but
one can guess negative are highly inflammable in the Indian heat”. When the Chinese
traveler Hiuen Tsang visited India in about 640 A.D, he was told that, somewhere
near the middle of horse shoe river bed one turned up a steep path between two stone
elephants that guarded the entrance of the caves. Now a days the approach through the
prosaic gateway look like entrance to a convention of public monument. The feeling
of the movement in the frescoes is the extraordinary thing. It is almost
cinematographic. Wherever you look, you see people in a state of continuous motion-
people gesticulating, dancing, stooping to kneel to Buddha, half turning the one
another as something they eagerly has to say. It is not at all like the Michelangelo
frescoes in the Sistine chapel where the figures are nobler than life. In the Ajanta
civilization, it was rich, the privileged and the beautiful that went naked often as we
see painting to the group of servants clothed drably from neck to knee. Finally, in the
year 1953 Ajanta came under the protection of Archaeological survey of India and the
survey gave utmost importance for the preservation of murals.

The Ajanta paintings are not just a milestone in the history of development of
world art; they also convey unique insight into the life of Ancient Indians and their
culture. The painted Buddhist legends proclaim ethics, in which help for being
distress is valued higher than one’s own personal welfare. About 2000 years have

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 Introduction

passed since the creation of oldest wall paintings and about 1500 years for more
recent one and the ravages of time have left their scares on the pictures. Many
paintings have fallen off the walls with layer of plaster on which they were painted
and have thus irretrievably lost; parts that are preserved are often faded or worn off,
darkened by soot from lamps or washed out by bat’s urine, badly scratched by
visitor’s graffiti or discolored by amateur attempts at restoration.

1.2 The plan and location of various caves at Ajanta

The Ajanta caves consist of two architectural phases devoted to two faiths of
Buddhism i.e. Hinayana and Mahayana. The early and inaugural phase at Ajanta is
dedicated to the Hinayana faith, the oldest form of Buddhism while the later
excavations are mostly dedicated to the Mahayana faith, which practiced the worship
of Buddha in his human form. The paintings that adorn the walls of the Mahayana
caves at Ajanta are almost complete in all respect, exhibiting the culmination of years
of practice of the art. Among the later excavations, the caves I, II, XVI and XVII have
paintings on large surfaces though fragmentary in some places. The walls, pillars and
ceilings of these caves have been painted with colorful Jataka stories and a vast range
of decorative as well as symbolic motifs. However, a number of small fragmentary
remains of the paintings are also seen in other caves (Caves IV, VI, VII, VIII, XI,
XIX, XX, XXI, XXII and XXVI).

According to Fergusson and Burgess, the Caves IX and X are chaitya caves,
the early Hinayāna excavations at the site. Among them, the cave IX is the earliest
chaitya in the Ajanta group as well as the earliest in the west of India. This chaitya
belongs to the 1st century B.C perhaps, even a few years earlier. Some of the paintings
in these caves belong to the later half of the 2nd century A.D.; however, a few
fragments depicting Buddha figures belong to the later date between 4th and 5th
centuries A.D. The paintings in the caves I, II, XVI and XVII are Mahāyāna caves.
These caves were excavated during the 4th century or 5th century A.D. The paintings
in these caves could be attributed to the 4th or 5th century A.D. The plan and location
of various caves of Ajanta is shown in Figure. 1.

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Figure 1: The plan and location of various caves of Ajanta.

Technically, the Ajanta paintings, a category of mural paintings, are

characterized by application of paint on a lime/mud plaster - thus ensuring long life of
colors. At Ajanta, murals were made in a specific way, involving several stages of
work. The walls and ceilings of the caves were specially prepared for paintings. The
rock surface was purposely kept rough with deep furrows of chisel-marks to hold
plaster. In addition to this, the compact volcanic trap-rock or basalt characterized by
vesicles and amygdaloidal cavities helped to hold thick layer of plaster. The rough
surface of the walls and ceilings was plastered with a mixture of clay, water and
organic matter containing vegetable fibers, paddy-husk, grass and rock-grit or sand.
The plastering was done in two layers: the first, thick and rough and the second, thin
and fine. This was further rendered smooth by the application of a thin layer of lime
wash. In some cases, a fine mesh cloth was pasted on the plaster over which a smooth
layer of lime wash was applied as in the cave XI. Plastering was done by really
skillful artisans-even some of sculptures were plastered to get effect of smoothness.
Unusual shining was achieved by adding powdered conches and seashells-such
polished plaster has glassy surface.

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 Introduction

The paintings were done in a range of pigments. Most of them were locally
available. Yellow-ocher, Orpiment-yellow, Indian-red, lapis lazuli (blue), Lime
(white), lamp black and terre-verte (green-earth), and their mix shades were used.
Lapis lazuli, which was used for blue shade, was imported. Excluding black, all colors
were of mineral origin. They were opaque or semi opaque in nature. They were easily
softened by water-soluble binding medium, such as gum and glue. The painters could
be working in batches, e.g. first batch would plaster the rough surface of walls where
as another batch would transfer the outlines of the drawings made on cloth. They
would begin with outlines in light red or black and then fill suitable colors in the line
drawings.

The techniques used in making Ajanta paintings still reflect much of their
original glory even after 1,500 years of abandonment in tropical climate. However,
time is relentless - some paintings miraculously have survived but many paintings
have deteriorated at varying degrees, at some places heavily due to several reasons.
They include deterioration of paint and varnish layers, water seepage, occurrence of
whitish incrustation, dark accretions and bats' excreta on painted portions,
unfavorable environmental conditions, and insect activity, etc. The discovery of
Ajanta cave is still a mystery and interesting to the public. After the demise of
Buddhism in this part of country, the place become abandoned and was in a condition
of total neglect for many centuries. The general condition of basalt rock, the plaster,
the pigments from that time onwards have important beating on its state of
conservation now. Many art lovers, historians, and copyist visited Ajanta caves after
its discovery and applied varnish layers for copying the painting that has now posed a
great challenge to the conservators.

1.3 Art and Architect of Ajanta.

The murals in the Buddhist monasteries of Ajanta (2nd B.C. to 4th A.D.) are of
same significance for the history of Ancient Indian culture as the fresco of Pompeii
for Greco-Roman antiquity. The development of art at Ajanta (WHS) influenced the
art and culture of Asia. India had a great cultural evolution called The Golden Age
[1]. The conventional view is that the Golden Age is specifically associated with great
Gupta dynasty [2,3] and that it gradually lost its luster with the Gupta’s decline in the
late 5th and 6th century A.D. [4]. But now the arguments have lead to quite different

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conclusion [5]: that it was the Vakataka emperor Harisena who brought the Golden
Age during his brief but dynamic reign over central India [6].

The great empire which Harisena created in central India, extending from the
eastern to the western sea, broke back into component parts when Harisena’s many
Vakataka feudatories rose up against his weak successor and shattered the empire [7].
The key to this conception can only be found at Ajanta [8], as it is Ajanta evolution
that unlocks and reveals the connections to epigraphy and literary evidence [9].
Ajanta with its related sites Bagh caves and Aurangabad caves [10] gives us hundreds
of architectural, sculptural, painted, technological and epigraphic features, which can
be used as spectrum of bench marks.

Many Buddhist cave created by the Vakatakas in a remote ravine near the
ancient town of Ajanta that form a devotional complex which ranks one of the world’s
most startling achievements. These caves are for more elaborate than earlier 2nd B.C.
caves (9, 10, 12, 13 & 15A) at Ajanta complex. More than 20 caves were excavated
by Vakataka dynasty who were allied and related to the Gupta thanks due to the
marriage of princes from the reigning house at the beginning of the fifth century [11].
All these later monuments are the result of dramatic burst of pious activity early in the
reign of Vakataka emperor, Harisena.

Harisena, with his power centered in ancient Vidharbha (eastern Maharashtra)

was the greatest king in India. His reign extended over the whole of central India from
western to eastern sea, as we know from the conquests recorded in an inscription of
his chief minister in cave no. 16, Ajanta [12]. Like the ancient province of Asmaka
just to the north, the Anupa to the south, ancient Risika in which Ajanta was included,
were parts of the extensive domains that Harisena inherited when he came to power,
he did not have to conquer it. That is the reason that after a year or two of Harisena’s
accession, it was possible for the ambitious undertaking of Ajanta to begin [13]. The
high powered courtly patrons who initiated Ajanta’s renaissance were surely
energized by interests political as well as pious. They included the imperial Chief
Minister, Varahdeva, donor of cave 16 as well as Ghatotkacha Vihar, around 12 miles
away from Ajanta; the local Risika king, Upendragupta, responsible for the adjacent
complex of Cave No. 17, 18, 19, 20 and short lived 29; as well as connected monk

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Buddhabhadra who drawing authority from his friendship with the great minister of
Asmaka; “who was attached to him (the monk) in friendship through many successive
birth” [14], sponsored the huge chaitya cave 26 and various related caves, and one
Mathuradasa, both rich and influential, who donated the largest of all caves at Ajanta,
the doom ridden cave 4. A number of other donors also participated in this inaugural
activity but their inscriptions have either been lost or (more probably) were never
written, as many of the Ajanta caves were still very incomplete.

The excavation of these caves represented an extraordinary renaissance in rock

architecture in the Western Deccan after a century of abandonment and decline in this
important artistic form. The main reason for this artistic following at Ajanta is due to
the fact that Harisena succeeded in creating a period of relative stability in the
territories he governed. The site benefited from its position along an important
caravan route, connecting the ports of Western India with the cities of the interiors
and therefore become a stopping place for itinerant pilgrims, monks and merchants as
testified by numerous pictures and sculptures of the Bodhisatva Avalokiteswara, in
the guise of protector of travelers.

Apart from the Brahmanical caves at Udayagiri near Vidisha in neighboring

Madya Pradesh, consisting of single quadrangular room, cut a little more than fifty
years earlier, no other sites have been excavated in the whole of the Western Deccan
for about three hundred years. Architects and workmen employed on the site therefore
had to recover a technique that had been partly lost to living memory. As a
consequence, the artists were totally unfamiliar with the procedures needed to both
laying out and for cutting the caves and had little awareness to the problems presented
by flawed basaltic scarp [15].

Thus, during the first few years of work, the excavators used many of the
features for the simple earlier (Hinayana) caves at Ajanta itself for models copying
the typical early octagonal pillar, the plain windows, the non-trabeated doorways and
pillar less and shrine less vihara interiors. It is to be mentioned that the most ancient
caves of the Vakataka phase appears to have a rather irregular structure as a result of
poor planning and numerous second thoughts, and furthermore has very simple
architectonic elements. However, year by year they incorporated more complex and

14
 Introduction

up to date forms. Now they were adding peristyles to their vihara and new vihara was
planned with the shrine at rear and those that had already been started without such
shrines being revised to include them. Moreover, due to rivalry among the artists as
well as among the proud donors, the sculptured decoration of the caves approached
the lavish norms clearly contemporary to wooden palace structures so often
represented in Ajanta murals themselves. A fine example of uncertainty during
excavation in initial year (462 A.D) can be noted in cave no.11, Ajanta [8]. The cave
was planned as vihara of a similar nature as cave no. 12 excavated before the
Christian era. The cave was cut between the ancient chaitya 10 and vihara 12 but the
architects did not calculate that chaitya 10 lay on a diagonal axis inside the hill, a
detail that is not apparent to the eye and having already started the excavation, they
had to modify the traditional vihara plan. The cave should have contained cells on all
three sides, but they were forced to abandon the excavation of the living quarters for
the monks on the right, the side directly connected with the vault of chaitya 10.
Instead of cells, a seat was cut in that portion. Immediately, after the first phase of
experimentation, the architects devised more ambitious plans with the excavation of
cave 16 and 17, a typical of vihara of Ajanta. In only a few years since the excavation
of the first area, the work force had already gained considerable experience and began
to develop increasing confidence in handling of the hard volcanic rock of Ajanta.

The addition of shrine completely transformed the concept of vihara that form
a simple place of residence for the monks, become the metaphor the paradise in which
Buddha preaches to Bodhisattvas. In this microcosmic reproduction of Buddhist
paradise, the monks who live in vihara symbolize a short of incarnation to the
Bodhisattvas themselves. In the inscription, vihara 16 is linked to the palaces of Indra
in the heaven of 33 Gods (verses 27).

The emperor Harisena, obviously approving the vast project, apparently did
not get directly involve himself until work at the site had already been underway for
four or five years. As a consequence, his ‘regal’ cave 1 had to be cut in less than ideal
location at the eastern extremity of the site, since the central area of the scrap had
already been taken during the first few years of excavation. However, in
compensation, Harisena’s splendid cave benefited greatly from the experiences that
the excavators have already gained by this time. Therefore, compared to relatively

15
 Introduction

clumsy cave 16 started by the Chief Minister, the highly elaborate and dignified cave
1 is truly a monument “fit for a King”. Figure-1 shows the plan and location of
various caves of Ajanta.

Looking at the mural paintings, on the other hand, we see no such struggle.
This is because painters could decorate the walls of the caves in essentially the same
way that they had always decorated the walls of structural palaces, temples, etc. [16].
The great variety of styles seen in the Vakataka period murals were done by many
different artists from many different regions, of course, judging from the analysis of
“hands” it is clear that there were at least few dozen of different painters working at
the site during the course of Vakataka patronage.

The Asmakas, who are mentioned in the inscription of cave 17, were supposed
to be responsible for another cave complex situated at the western end of rock face,
whose fulcrum is represented by chaitya 26 and dedicated to the monk Buddabhadra.
Probably, due to conflict between the Asmaka and local Risika, the excavation of this
complex was interrupted for a number of years. As a result of conflict, the activity of
the site came to complete halt between 472 to 474 A.D. This was why the
Upendragupta ambitious project of excavation was never resumed and Upendragupta
cave 19 had never been used for cult worship and was abandoned because of its
association with that sovereign. After the conquest of territory of Ajanta by Asmakas,
the excavation was instead resumed in the complex that developed around chaita 26,
an undertaking that lasted almost until the final phase of the site.

It appears that great number of artists, along with allied workers spent the
troubled years working on a new excavation at Bagh, in peaceful Anupa [17]. As we
know from the historical evidence, the Bagh caves were under the vicegerency of one
of Harisena’s son during this period. Indeed, the excavation of Bagh was probably
inaugurated at just this time, due to sudden availability of so many out of work and
highly skilled craftsmen. Many of Bagh’s features stylistic, iconographic and
technological-suggest such an immediate influence from the already started Vakataka
cave at Ajanta while in a significant turnabout; we can see a profound influence of
forms at Bagh upon post excavation at Ajanta. During the period of disruption, when
the administrative control so suddenly collapsed, dozens of anxious devotees, who

16
 Introduction

had never been able to make offering before, took advantages of the anarchic state
and added their own votive images whenever they wished at Ajanta. It is indeed
remarkable that deep in the ravine beneath, the unique record of India’s material and
spiritual culture still exists.

1.4 Painting Recipes and mural art technique of Ajanta.

The old view [18, 19], that Ajanta later development went for two-three
hundred years, under the succession of different dynasties, can no longer be sustained
and questioned by many art Historians. After meticulous research and gathering all
the scattered information, a short chronology has now been suggested [6] lasting
about 20 years. Such an approach to Ajanta’s dating has remarkably revealing
implications vis-à-vis considered view on longer chronology. It is obvious that
excavation of caves and carving out the decoration was quite time consuming, but the
entire mud plastering and painting would hardly have taken a year or so for a few
dozen artists. The short chronology theory is based on the famous Visrutacarita [2, 3]
that represents almost point to point recollection of fall of great Vakataka Empire. The
subject of the wall narratives at Ajanta are various Jatakas, spread out almost like
unrolled scroll [20]. As the short/long chronology at Ajanta is based on
archaeologists/art historian’s physical features and geometrical designs of paintings
and sculptures, necessity was felt to look the mud plaster and painted layer through
scientific investigation to explore any differences in material/painting techniques.
Hence, under Indo-Italian conservation programme, the components of the mud
plaster and paint layers were observed under stereo-microscope and through various
scientific instruments such as FTIR, SEM, Micro-Raman, XRF etc at the site as well
as micro grains in laboratory [21]. It is assumed that component materials or
technique of execution may undergo some modification in 200-300 years period.
Hence, it was necessary to investigate scientifically the components to fully
understand the Ajanta paintings for its future preservation as well as to gain some idea
in support to the chronology of Ajanta. Analysis was carried out for material
composition and additives of mud plaster of Ajanta. Further study of the micro-
structure of layers and its strata was carried through micro watch, XRF, SEM-EDX
etc.

17
 Introduction

The conservators of Ajanta are also supposed to be able to compare data

emerged from the analysis of mud plaster & pigments with what has been described in
ancient Indian literature written in Sanskrit language. Evidences of flowering artistic
tradition in Sanskrit literature are found in texts on mythological subjects. The main
ancient literature dedicated for artistic techniques in ancient India and technical
aspects of paintings are the Vastustras (treaties of habitat), Vastuoastras (treaties on
dwelling) and Silpaoastras (technical treaties). To be able to write a history of Indian
pictorial art, the technical treaties represent complementary instrument of study. The
narrative mastery and technical knowledge demonstrated by artists at Ajanta suggest
existence of several schools of arts already employed in decorated work of structural
buildings & temples. Among the aforesaid text, there are many works where painting
technique and procedures to be followed are described. The main Indian texts for
painting techniques are:-
th
• The Vishnudharmottara purana [22] composed in 6-7 A.D. shortly after the mural
works of Ajanta.
• The Samaraga sutradhara [23], a silpaoastra attributed to Bhoja king of the
Paramara dynasty of 11th century mainly dealing with pictorial and iconographic
art.
• The Manasollasa [24], the text of southern India paintings tradition attributed to
king Somesvara of early 12th century Chalukya dynasty.
• The Silparatna [25], written in 16th century- a section of which entitled
“characteristic of image” which contains lot of information on painting technique.
• The Aparajita peccha of Bhuvanadeva [26], probably composed after Silparatna
[25] that describe architecture and contains concepts on decorative design and
preparation of paint ground.

There are many other texts written in Sanskrit slokas in which instructions on
mural painting techniques are systematically stated. Some of the ancient painting texts
have not yet been translated and others have been translated in English, Hindi and
Tamil languages. Almost all the text describes the methods of preparation of paint
ground and its stages of application along with preparation of colors for painting
work.

18
 Introduction

Although Vishnudharmottara was composed one or two centuries after the

execution of Ajanta murals, it may be considered as true reference text for proper
understanding of painted procedure on site. The other text written at distant time from
Ajanta and pertains to various periods. In all the texts it seems figurative work
precedes the literacy both in iconographic and iconological field. The writing works
of silpas were allotted to the poets (and not artists) who grasp the basic concepts of
paintings during observation but lack first hand knowledge about the real technique
being followed. Due to this reason, the prescription supplied in the ancient text does
not dwell on the detailed technical processes. The other reason lies in the fact that the
main part is written in sutra forms, which simply serves as guiding principle for the
artists to recall the various passages of execution. Besides, there are diverse
interpretations and translations of sutras by various authors.

In fact there are many conflicting opinion among experts on particular points
regarding various procedures described in the texts. Out of many sutra’s the four most
important describe the method for preparation of paint ground. Among this the text
Vishnudharmottara and Samaraga Sutradhara describe the technique of preparation of
paint ground using clays earths. The text Manasollasa and Silpratna represents the
preparation of ground under southern traditions of the subcontinent where the basic
component is lime or burnt and powdered conch shells or white earth of calcareous
nature, available in south of India. Some of the important text showing basic
ingredients and procedure to be followed in the preparation of paint ground & colors
are elaborated.

1.4.1 Paint grounds & Binders according to ancient sutras.

(A) Vishnudharmottara Purana :-
For the preparation of paint ground this text prescribes three types of brick
dust and three parts of mud plaster to which Guggula (gum or resin), madhucchlliioa
(bee wax) are added in equal quantity. According to the text, all these must be mixed
with third of powdered burnt lime, pulp from bilva (Aegle Marmelos) in two to one
ratio along with necessary quantity of salt free sand. The text recommends storing this
mixture in water mixed with the bark of picchila (a legume, probably Dalbergia sisoo,
Bombax Heptaphyllum) for one month. An experienced artist removes this mixture
from the container and applies it to the wall and allows drying. Particular care has to

19
 Introduction

be observed that this layer is smooth & uniform and neither too thin nor too thick. If
the wall that is starting to dry does appear not properly done, then it must be carefully
polished to make it uniform with a layer of intonacco (lepna) made up of earth mixed
with a juice of oarja (Shorea Robusta). The surface is also polished with a fine lamp
black (anjana) and repeatedly spread with milk. The text confirms that the wall plaster
treated in this way will not deteriorate even after one hundred years. It also says that
the same procedures must be followed to prepare various paint grounds.

For the binder, the Vishnudharmottara prescribes the use of decoctin of skins
(Carmakvatha) which corresponds to famous Vajralepa glue, used in the mixture to
cover the surface and make it disintegration free. The text provides five different
recipes for the preparation of vajralepa. One of the recipes lists ox or buffalo horns
among the ingredients, a buffalo or cow or goat skin mixed with juice of bimbo
(Monordica Monadelpha) and kapittha (Feronia Elephantum). In Vishnudharmottara
use of binders of vegetable origin is also prescribed. One such recipe is the juice of
bakula (Minusops Elengi) and sindura (Grislea Tomentosa) which are mixed with
decoctin of skin.

For protective agent or fixative, the text recommend application of juice of

durva grass to the finished paintings with the help of cloth soaked in it.

(B) Samaragao Sutradhara:-

The Samaragao Sutradhara describes very clearly to Vishnudharmottara
between the first preparatory layer known as bhumibandhana and intonaco, known as
Lepkarma. It recommends that juice from various plants, namely Snuhivastuka
(Euphoria Antiquorum), kuimaoa (a cucurbit, Beninacasa Cerifera), kuddali (Bouhina
Variegata), Opamarga (Achyrantes Aspera) and Ikika(Sugarcane) are left to rest for a
week and then mixed with the juice of Siaoapa (Dalbergia Sisso), Ashoka tree,
Nimba (Azadirachta indica), Triphala (Myrobalan), kuooja (Wrightia
Antidysenterica) and kaiayaka (Acacia Catechu) together with sea salts. This mixture
is sprayed in previously leveled wall where the painting work has to be undertaken.
The juices of these plants are used to wash the wall surface that also probably works
as insecticides.

20
 Introduction

Some of the fine earth is mixed with double quantity of sand, to which juice of
kakubha (Terminlia Arjuna), Maia (seeds of beans or other legumes), oalmali
(Salmalia Malabarica) and oriphala ( Aegle marmelos, bilva or bel tree) in variable
proportions are added. The plaster thus prepared by mixing the ingredients are applied
to the wall in sufficient quantity to get what has been described as thickness of
elephant skin. When the wall is dry, it must be washed with care. Whitish lime stone
fine powder is mixed with boiled rice and starch in correct proportions and applied
three times to the prepared wall.

After the application of first preparatory layer ( bhumibandhana), a neutral

colored, red or brown clay collected from different places ( such as bank of lotus
pond, side of the wall under the roof of tree or along the bank of the river etc.) is
applied on the wall. For the third layer, the text says that earth from ant hill (free from
stone grains) should be added to the juice of Oalmali (Salmalia Malabarica), kakubha
(Ferninalia Arjuna ), triphala (Myrobalan), chopped beetal nuts (kramukha), bilva
pulp (Aegle Marmelos, bel tree), horse hair, ox hair, coconut fiber, a certain quantity
of rice husk, and double quantity of mud & sand in one to two ratio in respect to mud
is applied on the already prepared wall. A further mixture of mud slip and marble
dust, gypsum or sugar dust is applied to the plastered ground with a brush. Finally, the
mixture of lime putty & wax is applied.

(C) Silpratna:-
Silpratna is the southern Indian traditions of preparing paint ground with lime
based materials. The text prescribes that the mixture of first layer is prepared with
lime obtained from conch-shells burnt in wood fire and grounded into powder, mixed
with a quarter part of mudga juice (phaseolus Mungo), a quarter parts of sand and
molasses and a quarter part of paste of banana burnt in fire. After proper mixing these
are stored for three months, after which it is grounded in the form of a mortar with
molasses until it has the consistency of fresh butter. In the mean time, the wall is first
leveled and polished with coconut coir brush. It is then tampered with molasses water
to keep it wet for at least a day. The lime plaster prepared as above is slowly applied
layer by layer to the wall so that the surface becomes smooth and uniform. While
intanaco application is under progress, water must be sprayed on to the surface using
coconut coir brush. For the preparation of upper preparatory layer, powered shells or

21
 Introduction

white earth fine powder mixed with kapittha (Feronia Elephantum) and nimba
(Azardirachta Indica) is applied to the wall. This compound must be applied using the
bark of ookooa (Trophis Aspera) tree or with a brush made up with the stem of ketaki
(Pundunus Odoratissimus) plant until the wall becomes smooth & polished. The same
powdered lime having been moistened with the milk of a tender coconut is again
grounded and diluted with hot water and applied again to the intonaco as described
above.

Along with the primary knowledge of ancient Indian painting technique and
preparation of paint ground, identification of materials and their decay process are of
great significance. It is also essential to study micro-structures of the layers, their
strata and binding media for the paint layer and clay plaster. With the range of
scientific methods and experimental procedures, an attempt has been made to identify
the method of application of mud layer ground and painting technique followed for
Ajanta murals. During the course of studies material structure, composition and
additives used in the plasters were also investigated. Such study of ancient technology
in terms of materials and its application is essential for undertaking any conservation
activity aimed for preserving the painted plaster.

In India beautiful painted remains can be found from prehistoric period to

Mughal period of 16-17th century A.D. Most of the prehistoric paintings are found in
sand stone shelter of central India where roughness and porosity of sand stone was
utilized for painting. Later paintings are either on mud plaster or lime plaster ground.
Known as monument of paintings, clay plaster forms backing of lime layer coat and
basaltic stone support at Ajanta. The pigments identified at Ajanta are red ochre,
yellow ochre, green earth for green color, lapis lazuli for blue, carbon black and
shell/kaolin lime for white [27]. The pigments found used in India from prehistoric to
Mughal period have remained almost identical and same without much variations
[28]. The pigments identified at Ajanta also show close resemblance with Roman
painted works of fresco [29]. The outlines of the Ajanta paintings are mostly drawn
by carbon black or red ochre. The mud plaster thickness varies from few millimeters
to an inch [30] in some cases where basaltic stone is very roughly cut. Organic
matters such as rice husks, plant seeds and plant fibers are generally found admixed
within the mud plaster. The theme of the paintings is Buddhist Jataka tales with

22
 Introduction

beautiful human figures, geometrical designs and animal’s figures. Most of the
paintings show three dimensional appearances and highlights the artistic skill of
Indian painters in 3-4th A.D, known as Golden Age. The raw materials used for the
preparation of clay ground are mostly locally available materials collected from either
Waghura river in front of Ajanta caves or nearby places. Except blue, all the pigments
are locally available materials including green which is the product of basaltic rock
disintegration. It appears that aggregate used as fillers to the mud plaster at Ajanta are
also byproduct of weathered basalt collected from ravine of Waghura. The aggregates
mostly identified are quartz, zeolites and celandonite. It is observed that 8-10% lime
with organic additives was mixed in the low swelling clay to prepare the mud plaster
at Ajanta. The technique of paintings is purely tempera and animal glue has probably
been used [31] as binding agent to the pigments at Ajanta and related sites. Unlike
fresco painting [32], the painting technique in India is either tempera or secco and
binding medium identified at Ajanta is animal glue. An understanding of the
composition of ancient plaster and technology is necessary for creation of new mortar
for restoration [33] at Ajanta and other sites.

The Ajanta caves and their paintings have now been extensively explored by
art historians [6]. The unstable microclimatic condition is one of the factors that
always affect the state of conservation of mural paintings. In the environmental-
monument system, knowledge of the functional environment and climatic conditions
of the surroundings are necessary for the identification of causes of decay [34]. As
half of the Ajanta caves face the east and the other half the south, with 178 ft high
waterfall in seven stages just near the caves, the environmental condition plays an
important role in the survival of the Ajanta murals. The support of the mural paintings
is a Deccan trap defined by cleavages, faults and cracks in the body of the basaltic
rock for the rainwater to seep through [35]. The mud plaster used as ground contains
clay admixed with natural fibers such as rice husk, plant seeds and fibers. Pigment
layers have been applied on the dry mud plaster with colour which is inorganic in
nature. The painting is executed in tempera technique with binder which is certainly
of organic nature [36] and tentatively detected as animal glue. The binder being
organic in nature is also soluble in water. Hence, the nature of support and the
pigment layer are vulnerable to environmental conditions.

23
 Introduction

1.5 Causes of deterioration of Ajanta paintings.

As nature of support and the pigment layers are vulnerable to environmental
conditions, due to this reason the Italian conservators of 1920 applied thick protective
coating of unbleached shellac thus modifying the physical condition of the painted
surface, which in course of time altered the chromatic appearance of the paintings
[35]. Nearly two third of the paintings including the paintings in famous cave no
1,2,16 & 17 Ajanta have been applied with shellac varnishes. In ancient cave no 9
&10, we observed many different layers of varnishes applied in the past for copying
the painting in 19th century [28]. The Italian conservators have applied shellac resin
without removing the earlier varnishes that resulted a very thick varnish coatings on
some of the remains of most ancient (2nd BCE) painting of cave no 9 & 10, Ajanta.
Fortunately, it is observed that these ancient painting of cave 9 & 10 have been
executed on lime plaster ground. As the lime plaster is not as hygroscopic as the clay
of mud plaster, the painting of 2nd BCE still survived in spite of thick varnish layer
[36]. The ridges, gaps & lacuna observed on 2nd BCE murals are fewer in number as
compared to paintings on mud plaster. Since the entrapped moisture of clay particle in
mud plaster have to be driven out in hot season, it makes way through shellac coating
by making gaps, ridges and lacuna on the painted surface. Thus out of many factors
of deterioration of murals at Ajanta, the moisture plays one of the main reason of
deterioration for the paintings on earthen support. Hence, anything that causes
enhancement of moisture content inside the cave has to be properly regulated. The
painting survive better when the humidity inside the cave is 55-60% and temperature
around 250C.

Another factor that impacts the moisture content of cave interior, is the
visitors. The visitors have to climb the Ajanta hill to reach the cave. While climbing
everyone has to breathe fast and exhale more moisture and carbon dioxide as they
rush into the cave 1 & 2 at Ajanta. There is also particular mindset among the visitors
to start with cave no 1 & 2 and hence there is quite a rush to these caves. As the
sequence has nothing to do with the story of paintings at Ajanta, the guides also
follow the same trend with group of visitors at Ajanta. This mind set causes
considerably pressure in cave no 1& 2 thus disturbing the microclimatic condition
inside the cave [27].

24
 Introduction

Another way, some of the visitors impact the Ajanta murals is by eating
eatable inside the cave. It is estimated that ¼ of Ajanta murals has been lost due to
insect activity ever since the cave was abandoned by Buddhist-monks in 6th century
A.D. Although Archaeological Survey of India keeps strict vigil, the visitor’s were
found sometimes making use of cave for their eating. This process gives way to food
chain inside the cave which may cause long term impact on the paintings. On many
occasions some non-serious visitors to the cave were found talking loudly increasing
the noise level inside the cave. Even some guides in big group were found lecturing
loudly so that the voice reaches to all. The Archaeological Survey has put silence
board at the entry of cave, but many of the visitors are not aware about their pitch of
the voice vis-à-vis its impact on Ajanta murals. Attempt has also been made to
monitor all these parameters inside the Ajanta cave for taking appropriate measures
towards its long term conservation.

The problem of the conservation of Ajanta paintings varies from cave to cave,
as location, size; architectural features etc. have important bearing on the overall
environmental condition within the cave. Ajanta cave 10, located just to the right of
the centre of the caves, has one of the highest façades with good circulation of air
within the cave. The temperature in the cave remains static around 27-30 °C, but wide
fluctuations in humidity from around 80 % in the rainy season to 40 % in the summer
season have been recorded. This causes flaking of pigments, formation of cracks,
ridges, gaps etc. on the painted plaster. At some points, loss of the pigment layer is
also noticed.

From the physical condition of the basalt rock-cut pillars and the wall surface
of cave 10, it is observed that in the past muddy water has entered into the cave after
the place was abandoned by Buddhist monks [6]. Façade/Stone blocks probably fell in
front of the cave and the rain water, which is supposed to flow into the ravine of
Waghura river, has continuously entered into the cave carrying with it mud and dirt.
This has caused systematic damage to almost all the rock-cut pillars of the cave. In
some cases, whole pillars have collapsed. There is thus complete destruction of
paintings on the right and left wall around 4-5 feet from the floor level of the cave.
Paintings from the stupa of the cave are totally lost and only traces of them remained.
The wooden ribs from the dome of the ceiling have collapsed during the course of

25
 Introduction

time and only their impression on the stone remained. Bats were roosting on the
ceiling and back of the stupa leaving marks of their urine and excreta.

The Hinayana paintings still surviving on the right and left wall of cave 10 are
found to have thick accretions of varnishes applied in the past during the course of
copying the paintings. A thorough survey of the activities carried out at Ajanta after
its discovery in 1819 reveal that around fifteen groups of artists visited the Ajanta
caves and are responsible in some way for the damage of the paintings. Robert Gill
tirelessly worked at Ajanta for 27 years from 1844 to 1870 and made hundreds of
copies of the paintings by applying varnishes under a naked oil lamp [37] The next
major copying was done by John Griffith of Bombay School of arts along with his
students who resolutely smeared some of the finest group of paintings with cheap
varnish in order to bring out the colour and detail. With time this varnish turned
yellow, cracked and broke away from the wall, taking the pigment layer with it. The
Italian restorers of 1920 led by professor Cecconi and his team carried out extensive
application of shellac varnish at Ajanta without removing the previous varnish
coatings. Since Major Gill’s day the chief damage to the Ajanta paintings has been
done not by bats but by enthusiastic visitors, eager copyists and the restorers
themselves. The Hinayana paintings of cave 10 are also marked by extensive damage
due to visitors’ graffiti as shown in Figure2. In order to stop the human vandalism, in
the year 1970 the Archaeological Survey of India put the paintings under glass
protection.

Figure 2: Visitors graffiti on painted plaster of cave no. 10, Ajanta

26
 Introduction

There is supposed to be a curse upon Ajanta. It is said that anyone who tries to
deface the paintings in any way or even to reproduce them will be overtaken by
misfortune. Most of the copies of the Ajanta paintings that were carried out by various
artists in the past have been destroyed due to several reasons, and there is no worthy
record of the paintings. On the basis of copies that survived, archaeologists have been
helped in the identification of various Jataka tales at Ajanta [38].

Even more damage to the paintings is observed on the left wall of cave 10.
Measurements show that the left wall paintings have been damaged up to height of
180 cm from floor level compared to the right wall where damage up to the height of
170 cm is observed. The old watermarks observed on both walls are 65 cm and 50 cm
from floor level respectively; hence the excessive damage of the left wall paintings.
This is the reason for the difficult interpretation of the paintings of the left wall, as
only the upper parts of most of the painted figures remain. Whatever remains of the
painting is very difficult to interpret due to thick accretions of varnishes. Some
information can be gained only by looking at the paintings in strong light under a
magnifying lens. Due to this reason, the paintings on the left wall were falsely
interpreted. In one of the most important scenes, which is exclusively present in the
paintings at Ajanta (cave 10, left wall), Yazdani mistook the upper part of the wheel
for a stupa and labeled the scene [39] “The Royal Party Worshipping a Stupa” which
was widely accepted. It was only in 1981 that Schlingloff [40] identified the supposed
stupa as the “Wheel of Law.” However, none of these authors were able to see the
true color of the paintings under very thick accretionary deposits. The other important
task was to count the number of spokes in the wheel, which is very important from an
archaeological point of view. Extensive research has been done by Schlingloff [41]
and Monika Zin [42] about the number of spokes present at different archaeological
sites during that period. However, the need was felt not only to confirm the earlier
reports but also to verify the exact colour of the spokes. Hence scientific conservation
of paintings was taken up in the year 2001 for the 2.5 sq. mt. Wheel of Law part of the
paintings on the left wall of cave 10.

Paintings are layered structures that can be affected by external factors to

varying degrees depending on their intensity. Microscopic examination of the painted

27
 Introduction

plaster of cave 10 shows numerous cracks and fissures in the pigment layer due to
thick accretionary deposits as the varnish layer does not allow exchange of moisture.
At some places the pigment was found to be totally detached from the ground plaster
and at a number of points voids were observed between the plaster and the stone
surface. The grey color filleting material used in 1920 by Italian restorers was also
found detached at some places. Some of the pigments such as green and red had
disappeared from the surface along with the varnish coat, owing to its weaker
adherence. Intrusive 5th century A. D. paintings with particular floral design and a red
colour umbrella with a flag are found superimposed on the major portion of the Wheel
of Law. These paintings are of different artistic significance than the Hinayana
paintings. All the above reasons made the scientific conservation of the paintings very
complex and challenging.

1.6 Conservation of Ajanta paintings

The conservation of wall murals of Ajanta is based on proper understanding of
materials, technology and causes of deterioration that favors minimal intervention and
preventive conservation [36]. The research investigation so far undertaken at Ajanta is
based on the fact that murals are in their original state and no major restoration
interventions have been carried on them except filling of voids with Portland lime
and application of shellac varnish on some portion of the paintings by Italian
conservators of 1920[30]. The conservation studies so far carried at Ajanta includes
monitoring of macro and micro environment of the caves, engineering geological
surveys, rocks and minerals analysis [43] along with bio deterioration studies [34]. In
addition research investigations have also been conducted about pigments and
paintings technique at Ajanta [21]. As there is hardly a publication available on the
materials and techniques used by ancient Indians to create Ajanta wall paintings, a
dedicated investigation of material composition, structural support, plaster and paint
layer etc. is needed for better understanding.

Characterization of most industrialized conservation materials e.g. stone brick,

wood, concrete, steel etc. are very well established but it is not the case in respect of
earthen building materials despite notable progress in last decade. As many problems
of decorated architectural surfaces are connected with the structural and support layer,
diagnosis and treatment made directly impacts such surfaces as earthen support are

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 Introduction

the most vulnerable element in the building. Conservation of decorated surface

constitutes a specialized area within the field of earthen architecture and heritage
conservation. Published research on earthen architectural conservation is quite limited
as there is too small a body of researcher focused on conservation of decorated
surfaces [44, 45].

The investigation of wall painting technology is always restricted by limitation

of available resources as well as availability of required samples. Further,
compounding the problem of deterioration of earthen plaster is the complexity of
earthen system in which diverse materials may be used in different layers [46, 47].
The deterioration of earthen cultural heritage including wall painting on earthen
support is most often due to loss of cohesion of the base material. Laboratory
experiment show that earthen plasters form the cave begins to absorb moisture at
about 67% relative humidity. The principle mechanism by which pigment on earthen
plaster deteriorates is loss of mechanical strength as a result paint layer can lose
adhesion to the ground. In -situ fluctuating climatic condition, the addition of surface
coating etc. can be detrimental to the pigment, plaster and earth fabric because of
differential dimensional changes of the layers and difference in water vapor
permeability [48]. Barrier films may inhibit transmission of water vapor through
various substrate layers to the surface. Earthen based paintings are generally water
sensitive and therefore methodology developed for treating lime based painting are
often not suitable for decorated mud plaster. When there is active deterioration, repair
and strengthening of the material without understanding causes and mechanism of
deterioration are only temporary measures and often cause more damage in long run
[49]. Other factors of deterioration also affect previous interventions and hence there
is requirement for critical understanding and through identification of original clay
fabric and deterioration process.

Earth, a highly heterogeneous material has been used in construction of

shelters for the mankind for thousands of years [50] and about 30% of the world’s
present population still live in earthen dwelling [51]. Traditional mud plaster is made
with soil composed of sand, silt and clay with straw sometimes added to prevent
excessive cracking during drying. For earthen support to function well, an equal
distribution of silt, sand and clay is desirable. Too much silt is neither a good binder

29
 Introduction

nor an aggregate and produces a material that is prone to shrinkage and cracking.
Clays also called phyllosilicates a term related to grain size (<2 µm) and grain shape
in most cases is that of a sheet much thinner than wider and attracted to one another
by electrolytic forces [52]. The non- clays are of grain size greater than clays and are
generally divided into the grain size categories of silt (2-50 µm in diameter) and sand
(50 µm to 2 mm in diameter). Non-clays materials have relatively small attraction for
water because of their small surface as compared to their volume and are also non-
plastic. The non-clays grains are shaped in more irregular manner with grain to grain
contact surface area reduced and contact cohesion is much lower [53]. Incorporation
of water into the clay structure is quite reversible under atmospheric condition, being
directly related to ambient water vapor pressure and temperature. The clay minerals in
general consist of equal parts of expandable clays (smeitite and mixed layer
illite/smeitite) and non-expandable clays (Kaolinite or Chlorite) with minor quartz,
calcite and feldspar [54]. The expandable clay minerals are sticky than non-
expandable clay and are effective in binding silt and sand particles together. In order
to overcome the inadaptability of local resources, other materials are often added to
the earth such as vegetal matter [55, 56] or calcite or perhaps lime [57, 58]. In this
way shrinkage of the clay is significantly reduced as calcite or lime may also serve as
binder. However, possibility of using reactive fillers in earthen grouts has still not
been fully explored. It has been observed that materials such as calcite, silica, ferric
oxide etc. act like a cementing agent forming chemical bridges between clay micelles
that may reduce swelling of clays [59]. It has also been observed that some clay are
generally frequented by zeolites, gluconites or iron oxide minerals indicating the
existence of high silica activity in aqueous solution, affecting silicate crystallization.
Iron oxides are also very strong coloring agent for clays.

Besides, protein may react chemically by the process of exchange of inorganic

cations in the clays with organic one-a mechanism relating to the ability of amino
acids to encourage clay flocculation [60]. It has been observed that egg white used as
an additive in earthen grouts promote adhesion, increase plastic & liquid limit and
enhance uniaxial comprehensive strength and modulus of rupture [60]. Egg white has
a long tradition of use as an additive in lime plasters and mortars because of its
adhesive properties [61]. It is worth exploring addition of proteinaceous materials to

30
 Introduction

the mud plaster of Ajanta to enhance its binding properties in accordance to ancient
Indian paintings texts written in Sanskrit language [22].

About two third of Ajanta paintings have been applied with unbleached
shellac varnish in the past that has now oxidized to orange red color in tropical Indian
climate masking clear view of original paintings as well as inhibiting water vapor
permeability of painted mud plaster. Numerous gaps, ridges, lacuna can be observed
on those part of the painted surfaces, applied with shellac varnish. Besides, poly vinyl
acetate has also been applied for consolidation and fixing of painted surface including
application as preservative coating in modern conservation works. This film forming
material also resulted in lower water vapor permeability of the surface causing
deterioration to occur below. Enhanced flow of visitors, wide fluctuations in
humidity, insect activity within the mud plaster have further added to the deterioration
of Ajanta murals [62]. However, many preventive conservation steps have now been
undertaken by Archaeological Survey of India to undo the causes of deterioration of
Ajanta murals.

In this section, the focus is on in-situ examination of Ajanta painted plaster

along with scientific investigation on its nature and characteristics. The analytical
technique used for characterization are optical microscopy, laser light scattering,
polarized light microscope, scanning electron microscope, XRF, X-ray diffraction,
FTIR and sieve analysis etc. Some research was also carried at the site relating to
earthen plaster and paint layer which has provided base for conservation in this
specialized area of work.

1.7 Scope of the work

A detailed investigation about the discovery of Ajanta along with acts carried
by various art lovers that has direct bearing on survival of Ajanta murals is proposed.
It is also proposed to deliberate on art & architect of Ajanta and nearby sites with
scientific data in support of chronology of Ajanta. Mural art technique of Ajanta vis-
à-vis ancient Indian painting recipe has to be studied in detail. It is also proposed to
study impact of visitors on Ajanta murals for the first time along with variations of
temperature, humidity, noise level, insect activity, carbon dioxide, light etc. on the
painted plaster. A detailed investigation about the pigments and mud mortar have

31
 Introduction

been planned so as to prepare a matching repair mortar for restoration.

Characterization of materials & mural art technique helped in understanding Ajanta
murals for execution of restoration work with similar materials for posterity.

As obtaining samples from archaeological site is a major problem, the

investigative studies were carried both on site and analysis of micro grains in the
laboratory. On site analysis was carried with non-destructive technique to the
maximum possible extent. Destructive analysis was carried in Science branch
laboratory, Aurangabad as well as in other sophisticated laboratory for the micro
grains of the samples. Environmental parameters and other data’s were recorded on
site. Data on environmental parameters are based on long term measurement.

The cross sectional studies of the painted plaster were carried at the site as
well as in the laboratory with FTIR and SEM techniques. Portable XRF was used as
non-destructive technique for the analysis of pigments of Ajanta and few micro grains
were also investigated through FTIR, Raman & SEM methods. The mud plaster
samples were analyzed for particle size, petro-logical analysis, XRF, XRD, FTIR,
Raman and SEM. For monitoring environmental parameters and study on carrying
capacity of cave murals of Ajanta thermo-hygrograph, Lux meter, protimeter, carbon
dioxide analyzer, noise meter etc. were used. A detailed literature survey was carried
out about the past conservation treatment. Based on the feedback newer techniques
were developed for cleaning of paintings. Matching repair mud mortar mix was
prepared for filling the gapes, lacuna etc. in the painted plaster based on ancient
techniques and analytical data.

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