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The Mahayana Ajanta cave paintings under Vakataka patronage

c. 460–480 CE·Culture, arts & philosophy·Deccan, western India (Maharashtra)·
c. 460–480 CEDate
Culture, arts & philosophyCategory
13Empires active
Date
c. 460–480 CE
Category
Culture, arts & philosophy
Region
Deccan, western India (Maharashtra)
Era
Classical Antiquity
Significance

During the second half of the 5th century CE a burst of excavation and mural painting transformed the rock-cut Buddhist caves of Ajanta in the Deccan into one of the supreme achievements of world art. Sponsored by the Vakataka king Harishena (r. c.

460–477 CE) — a southern contemporary and ally of the Imperial Guptas — and his ministers and feudatories, caves such as 1, 2, 16 and 17 were carved as viharas and chaitya halls and adorned with vast painted cycles. The murals depict the Jataka tales of the Buddha's previous lives in fluid line, modelled volume and luminous colour, alongside celestial beings, princely courts and richly observed everyday life. Their naturalism, compositional sophistication and emotional expressiveness exemplify the classical idiom of Gupta-Vakataka India and profoundly influenced Buddhist art across Asia. Largely abandoned after Harishena's death, the caves were rediscovered in 1819 and are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the finest surviving record of ancient Indian painting.

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Further reading

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The Story of Art

E. H. Gombrich

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