Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v1.c5.s22: A Bacchanalian Scene (Khusrau and Shīrīn?) and Decorative Motifs
Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v1.c5.s22
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A Bacchanalian Scene (Khusrau and Shīrīn?) and Decorative Motifs
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Plate XXXIX
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*These themes are delineated on the ceiling, and have been reproduced in colour in two half-plates.*
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IT is interesting to note that the artists of Ajanta, unlike their rivals in Europe, refrained from painting religious subjects on a ceiling, although this would seem to be the most appropriate place for the delineation of a divine theme. The exact reasons for this attitude may be difficult to advance, but on wall-surfaces it would certainly have been easier for the pilgrims to notice the various scenes depicting the life of the Master or the stories of his previous births (*Jātakas*), and to show their reverence to them in ceremonial style as they were conducted from aisle to aisle, than to do so if the subjects had been painted on the ceiling. Again, the gods of the Buddhist pantheon, as observed elsewhere, being essentially human in their character, the wall-surfaces, being near the ground, are, for the delineation of their dwellings and environment, more suitable than the sublime spaces of a ceiling, which would be suitable only for the abode of ethereal beings.
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The paintings of the ceilings at Ajanta have therefore been executed in a purely decorative style, and the artist, having no religious restrictions to observe, has given play to his fancy in an endless variety of form and colour. We see human beings of fantastic shape, most quaintly dressed, dancing or clapping, or sipping wine from large cups in which their aquiline noses seem to be dipped; birds and animals of exquisite design in most frolicsome attitudes, nestling, sporting, and dallying; flowers and fruits of the choicest form and colour with all the setting of their beautiful foliage; and last, but not least, jewellery designs and geometric patterns and devices, varying from the simplest to the most elaborate, among which the key-pattern may strike one as bearing resemblance to its prototype in Greek art.
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Mr. Griffiths in his monumental work, *The Ajanta Paintings*, has devoted a complete volume to reproductions of this decorative detail, and as the plates therein are quite faithful, as regards both drawing and colour, we have from fear of repetition refrained from reproducing the whole of the ceiling of Cave I in this work, but to give our readers some idea of its general character we show two panels.
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One of these represents a Bacchanalian scene, which, like the ‘Court Scene’ previously discussed (Plate XXXVIII),¹ has been the subject of great difference of opinion among archaeologists. Some of them have identified the figures shown therein as those of Khusrau and his beautiful consort Shīrīn. This view is mainly based on the information given by the historian Ṭabarī, that the fame of the King of the Deccan (Pulakeśin II) spread beyond the limits of India and reached the ears of Khusrau II, King of Persia, who in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, A.D. 625-6, received a complimentary embassy from Pulakeśin II. The courtesy was subsequently reciprocated by a return embassy sent from Persia, which was received with due honour at the Indian Court.² The exact year of this return embassy is not given, but it must have taken place two or three years after the Indian embassy attended the Persian Court, so that the event may be assigned roughly to A.D. 630, and the painting of the scene on the walls and ceiling of Cave I to a still later date. This view becomes practically untenable when we compare the styles of the architecture, sculpture, and painting of this cave with those of others which bear inscriptions; or, again, if we take into consideration the fact that during the reigns of the early Chālukyas (A.D. 550-750) Buddhism, although professed by a considerable section of the population, gradually declined and Hinduism grew popular. Magnificent temples were at that time erected and dedicated to Viṣṇu, Śiva, and other members of the Purāṇic pantheon.³
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¹ *Supra*, p. 46.
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² Smith’s *Early History of India* (fourth ed.), pp. 442-3; *J.R.A.S.*, April 1879; and Burgess’s *Notes on the Bauddha Rock Temples of Ajanta* (A.S.W.I., No. 9, Bombay, 1879), pp. 92-3.
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³ The great cave-temple of Bādāmi, dedicated to Viṣṇu, was hewn out at the instance of the Chālukya king Maṅgaliśa in *Saka saṃvat* 500 (A.D. 579), *Ind. Ant.*, vol. iii, pp. 305 ff.
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The presence of foreigners, resembling Bactrians or Persians (?),⁴ in the frescoes at Ajanta can, however, be easily explained by the fact that Buddhism, within a few centuries after the death of Gautama, penetrated into the regions to the north-west of India, and its votaries in those distant countries began to visit the sacred sites of India as pilgrims. Again, the establishment of Śaka satrapies in Surāṣṭra and Mālwā in the early centuries of the Christian era, and the domination of the Huns in the fifth century A.D.,⁵ leave no reason to reject the view that the inhabitants of the Deccan were familiar with the people of the north-west countries long before the embassy of Khusrau to King Pulakeśin in the seventh century A.D.
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⁴ According to Fergusson they represent Sasanians, while Rajendralal Mitra supposed them to be Bactrians. Burgess’s *Notes on the Bauddha Rock Temples of Ajanta*, pp. 26-7.
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⁵ Toramāṇa established himself as a ruler of Mālwā at the end of the fifth century.
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To describe the scene as painted: we notice a chief sitting on a well-padded cushion or divan,⁶ and holding a cup, apparently of wine, in his right hand. His nose is somewhat flat and his cheeks sunken, and although the beard is full, the general contour of the face proves him to be of Turanian race rather than Persian. The expression of the face is somewhat dull, perhaps suggestive of the stupor resulting from having drunk too much wine. He is wearing a long coat (*qabā*), of pale-blue broadcloth, the collar, arm-bands, and cuffs of which are of a lighter colour and probably embroidered. The cap is peaked and similar to the *kulāh* of the countries north-west of India, and on his legs there are either stockings or soft leather long boots, which also are suggestive of the habit of the people of the same countries. He has a belt round his waist, from which a sword is hung, and there is also a shield on his back.
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⁶ The check-pattern design of the sides suggests that it is a cushion or mattress rather than a divan.
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A handsome fair lady is sitting by this chief and looking amorously into his face. She has her right hand on his shoulder and with the left she is suggesting something agreeable to her lord. The features of this lady are partially effaced, but the dress is fairly distinct; she is wearing a white tunic with long sleeves, the collar, cuffs, and arm-bands of which are embroidered and finished with trimmings. The ends of ribbon flying at her back are interesting.¹ Behind the lady may be seen the embroidered end of the bolster, against which she and the chief are leaning.
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¹ Burgess writes that the triangular-shaped streamers or banderoles, appearing on their coins as well, are characteristic of Iranian art; but the device, like the key-pattern motif of Greek art which is also to be found at Ajanta, may have been introduced into India before the embassy of Khusrau II in the seventh century A.D.
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At her left hand, below the divan, is a female attendant of graceful features, who is holding a wine-flagon and stooping forward as if to replenish the cup of the chief as soon as it is empty. The dress of this attendant is interesting. She is wearing a round cap of red material (broadcloth or velvet) with a white border, which is either of fur or some woollen material. A white plume springs from the top of the cap. Her upper garment is a long coat with tight sleeves; it is embroidered at the collar, shoulders, and cuffs. The lower garment is a long white skirt with a frilled border of pale-blue colour. The style of the skirt may suggest Greek influence, but it is difficult to affirm this with any authority, for no data are available regarding the dress of the people of the North-West before the advent of the Greeks.
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In front of the divan are two burly figures of rather Mongol type, with small eyes, short noses, and prominent cheeks. The beards are, however, full. They are holding trays of dessert and looking with attention at the chief. Their looks are stupid, and the artist has apparently given this expression to impart a comic effect to the subject. They are wearing white skull-caps and long coats (*qabā*), one of the latter being white and the other pale blue. Between these two figures the carved (or painted) cover of a tray may also be observed.
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On the right hand of the chief, below the divan, is another female attendant who is also holding a wine-flagon, but of a different shape from that held by the attendant standing near the lady. The features of this woman are rather coarse, but her dress is similar to that of her rival, except that the skirt has a double frill near the border.²
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² This scene with slight variations is painted at three other places on the ceiling of this cave. But as several other motifs have been repeated in the ceiling, the recurrence indicates only the fondness of the artist for this theme.
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The background shows a wall or curtain with red flowers. The devices at the four corners of the scene give a fair idea of the artist’s play of fancy. The pair of geese with foliated tails, looking at one another amorously, are extremely effective; so are the bunches of mangoes, pomegranates, and pine-apples amid foliage of great beauty.
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The designs in the other panel (Plate XXXIX *b*) are still more varied and graceful. In the middle we see two pairs of freakish animals sporting with one another; their heads are like those of oxen, but lower down the bodies terminate in a foliated device of great delicacy. At the right and left of this theme are two jewellery designs representing chased gold-work set with sapphires and rubies. At the top may also be seen a parrot perched on a lotus-stalk, the flowers of which have been drawn with great skill. The figures of two little dwarfs, holding a *tête-à-tête*, which are in the top left corner, are cut in the reproduction (Plate XXXIX *b*), but another of their kin may be noticed, in the bottom row, playing with a large lotus-flower.
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The arrangement of the panels and the variety of the *motifs*, as regards form and colour, have an almost kaleidoscopic effect, and the fancy and skill of the artist cannot be too highly praised. As the ceiling is absolutely flat, it seems to follow inevitably that he painted the subject lying flat on a scaffolding.¹
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¹ The painting of a vaulted surface is not so difficult, and it can be done with ease either standing or sitting; but to paint an absolutely flat ceiling is extremely tiring, for the head must be thrown back at a considerable angle to draw the subject correctly.