The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c17.37

c17.37

The chief glory of Ajantâ is in the frescoes, which are now nearly all that remain of the greatest pictorial art of India, but barbarously mutilated and ruined both from lack of care and by inept attempts at conservation. Very rarely in the world’s history has there come together that true symphony of the three arts—painting, sculpture, and architectonic design—creating the most perfect architecture, which are so beautifully harmonised at Ajantâ. By a fortuitous circumstance a large fragment of one of the finest frescoes, and one of the greatest masterpieces of any age, in the first monastic hall, is one of the best preserved.