Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v2.c8.s27: Decorative Designs

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v2.c8.s27

Language: English

Decorative Designs

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*These designs are executed on the ceilings of the front and back corridors and the hall, and are reproduced both in colour and monochrome.*

THE ceiling of the interior of the cave, like the walls, has suffered much from the smoke and heat of the fire, and the result is that the colours and fine brushwork of the beautiful patterns and artistic figures which were painted on the ceiling have much faded, if they have not altogether perished. The variety of these designs is almost endless, representing not only floral patterns, geometrical devices, and jewellery motifs, but a large number of mythical beings, religious objects, and sportive scenes, which throw a flood of light on the rich imagination and technical skill of the painter on the one hand, while on the other they elucidate the religious and domestic life of the time. We have therefore ventured to get five of these designs copied by our artist, Mr. Sayed Ahmad, and as a guarantee of the fact that he has not over-emphasized the beauty of the original drawing of the frescoes by his own artistic imagination, we have reproduced two of the subjects by photographic process in monochrome (Plates XVII *b* and XLIX *d*), reproduction in colour being considered useless owing to the scorched condition of the frescoes.

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One of these designs (Plate XLVII *a*) represents a pair of geese (?)², the natural beauty of whose forms have been enhanced, in the imagination of the painter, by the addition of ornamental wings and tails. The fancy of the artist is equally discernible in the choice of colours. He has illuminated the general dark brown of the birds' feathers by the silver-white of his fine brushwork along the outline of the figure. A jet-black background adds further to the beauty of the colour scheme, while it also shows the design almost in relief.

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² Geese frequently occur in Buddhist religious stories, and there are three *Jātakas* (Nos. 502, 533, and 534) in which the Bodhisattva is said to have been born as a golden goose. Cf. *Jātaka*, ed. Cowell, iv. 266 ff. and v. 175 ff.

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The designs *b* and *c* represent a mermaid and a boar-headed man respectively, and have been painted with the same flourishes and colour effect as those shown in the pair of geese. The selection by the painter of these mythical and real animals for his composition was apparently due to their being frequently mentioned in the religious tales extant at the time, though they might have appealed to his imagination by reason of the grotesqueness of their forms as well.

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The design *d* shows a conch-shell resting on a full-blown white lotus-flower. The lotus-flower (*padma*) being the symbol of self-creation has a religious significance among the Buddhists, but what its combination with the conch implies is a matter for conjecture. A lotus and a conch associated with Kuvera are considered to signify his inexhaustible treasuries.¹ Have they the same significance in this device as well? The conch independently is an important symbol among the Hindus, and the combination might have acquired a religious significance at a time when a fusion of the Buddhist and Brahmanical beliefs was taking place.

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¹ *Vide* Coomaraswamy's *Yaksas*, ii. 13. M. Goloubew, on account of these fanciful motifs, has suggested that the ceilings of some caves at Ajanta represent the Paradise of Kuvera.

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The bracket-like device at the top of the conch-shell is rather puzzling, for it is too inelegant to be considered an artistic feature of the scheme.² The colours of this subject are lovely, the white flowers contrasting beautifully with the green leaves, and both of them almost glistening on a dark background. The red outline of the leaves and the flowers adds to the delicacy and perspective effect of the design.

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² *Vide* also Plate XLIX *d*.

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The fifth design (*e*) represents a young hermit (*Arhat*?) flying in the air amid white clouds.³ The features of this figure are very beautiful, and the legs, though rather conventionally bent, give an impression of movement. Movement is also indicated by the borders of the hermit's *dhoti* waving in the air. He is carrying flowers and a fruit like a mango, probably as an offering to the Buddha. The delineation of the clouds, though conventional, is pleasing to the eye.

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³ *Vide* Plate XVII *b*.

Linked texts (1)

Jātaka — Pāli