Situated about 106 kilometers from Aurangabad in Maharashtra, Ajanta rock cut caves are creations of about 700 years, roughly from 200 BC to AD 525. This glorious Buddhist art of the Deccan was discovered in 1819, and given a World Heritage status by UNESCO in 1983. The most striking characteristic of Ajanta art is that architecture, sculpture and painting--the three expressions of fine art--all articulate at one place. Ajanta paintings give us graphic insights into the history of Buddhism in India. The caves also help us reconstruct the interrelationship between such centers in Central Asia and China, as also those in Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, which have similar specimens, but from a later period.
Ajanta, A.P. Jamkhedkar, Oxford University Press, Hardcover, 2009, 112 Pages, $25.95

A.P. Jamkhedkar is currently Director, K.J. Somaiya Centre for South & South East Asian Studies, Mumbai. Earlier he also served as Director of State Archaeology and Museums, Maharashtra.