Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v1.c5.s19: Fresco in the Right Aisle: Not Identified

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v1.c5.s19

Language: English

Fresco in the Right Aisle: Not Identified

THIS fresco does not seem to have been completed, for many of the figures show only the reddish outlines or the first light washes of colour. Again, as it is badly damaged it is difficult to interpret properly the story delineated therein. Commencing from the left side, we notice a Nāga king with two hermits, one of whom is receiving a gift from the king. The drawing of the figure of this hermit shows great skill. A little to the right of this is another scene representing a king sitting on a throne. There are also two attendants and four elephants with pink skins. The treatment of the heads and trunks of the elephants is very realistic, and the different poses of their bodies show play of fancy. Below these four elephants two young ones are painted, the skins of which are white. Farther to the right we notice a big cavalcade, including infantry, horsemen, and elephant-riders, like an army on the march. The trunks of the elephants in this scene also are painted with great care, and the treatment of their legs indicates rapid movement.

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Proceeding farther towards the right, we notice the outer court of a palace, with a large assemblage wherein the outlines of some horses may also be traced. The fresco is much damaged here, but some human figures are intact, and the high light on their foreheads, noses, lips, and chin is interesting. The treatment of the fingers is also highly ingenious, their position, curves, and loops varying in the case of each figure and suggesting different expressions. The features are uniformly sharp, and pearl necklaces, large ear-rings and bangles (karās), in pairs or singly, appear on the body of each. One of the figures is dressed in a robe (or sheet) with the right shoulder exposed;² he is holding a flower (lotus) in his right hand, and may represent a Bodhisattva.

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² The figure below the head of the horse at the right side of the reproduction (Plate XXXVI a).

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At the right end of the wall is painted the last scene of this story, representing a rājā and rānī in the interior of a palace. The figure of the rājā is almost destroyed, but that of his consort is in part preserved, and shows much grace and ingenuity in its delineation. The pose has a series of curves, all having a charming effect and adding to the supple elegance of the figure (Plate X c). The rānī is looking up sweetly at her husband, who is explaining to her some religious principle. There are a few other figures in this scene, but all of them too fragmentary to throw any light on the subject of the painting.

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The work of this artist, so far as preserved, is characterized by a love of beauty and grace in the delineation of form, but as regards expression his creations are rather dull; this, however, may be due to the fresco being in the first place not completed, and again to its having been damaged by various causes in later times.