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Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c11: Part Three

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c11

Language
English

Part Three

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*With an Explanatory Text by* G. YAZDANI, O.B.E.

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*and an Appendix on Inscriptions by* N. P. CHAKRAVARTI, PH.D. DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN INDIA

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Coat of Arms of the Nizam of Hyderabad

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PART III

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TEXT

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PUBLISHED UNDER THE SPECIAL AUTHORITY OF HIS EXALTED HIGHNESS THE NIZAM

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Oxford University Press logo

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OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE

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PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY JOHN JOHNSON AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, OXFORD

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PART II of *Ajanta* was published in 1933, and although the material for Part III was collected and sent to the press shortly afterwards, yet the making of blocks and printing of plates, which require a great deal of care, took considerable time, and meanwhile broke out the war, which caused further hindrance in the progress of the work. I am, however, very grateful to His Exalted Highness the Nizam’s Government for financing the production of this Part, and also to the authorities of the Oxford University Press, particularly to Dr. John Johnson, C.B.E., the Printer, who managed to keep the work going under very trying circumstances. The production of the book during war-time is therefore a great achievement of the organizing capacity of the Oxford University Press on the one hand, and the generous policy and patronage of learning of His Exalted Highness the Nizam’s Government on the other.

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As this Part deals with some caves in which the original frescoes have deteriorated badly and become very dim, but artistic detail can still be copied and utilized for study, I have arranged for the inclusion of the ‘outlines’ of these subjects, which number as many as twenty-three and are shown in nine plates. Further, to avoid misunderstanding regarding the faithfulness of the ‘outlines’ I have also included the photographs of all these dim subjects, having taken them direct from the rock-walls. By this plan, although the number of plates has increased, yet it has served a double purpose: first the photographic survey of the frescoes of Ajanta has been made as complete as possible, and secondly the student of art will now be able to compare the ‘outlines’ with the photographs in regard to the salient features of the drawings. Apart from the reproductions of the inscriptions which are included in the Text volume and whose number is considerable, the Plates portfolio of this Part comprises five key-plans, fifty-two monochrome and seventeen colour-plates, the total number thus exceeding that of the plates contained in Parts I and II. The monochrome plates and the Text volume have been printed by the Oxford University Press, while the making of the blocks of the colour-plates and their printing have been done by Messrs. Henry Stone & Son of Banbury and London, and I have great pleasure in stating that the Directors and the staff of both these presses have not only observed the utmost care in executing the difficult task entrusted to them but have shown a genuine personal interest in making the efforts of the Archaeological Department of Hyderabad successful as regards the publication of this book.

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This Part also contains a large number of inscriptions, ranging in date from the second century B.C. to the fifth or sixth centuries A.D., and I have to express my deep gratitude to Dr. N. P. Chakravarti for kindly editing all these records in spite of his heavy duties under the Government of India, first as Government Epigraphist and afterwards as Deputy Director-General of Archaeology in India.

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Lastly, I should thank heartily my esteemed friends Mr. C. E. A. W. Oldham, C.S.I., Hon. Vice-President, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and Dr. L. D. Barnett, Librarian and Lecturer in the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, for their kind and willing help in the matter of the transliteration of proper

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names, the correction of proofs, and the furnishing of scholarly information from Buddhist literature and other books which are beyond the pale of study of an archaeologist like myself.

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G. YAZDANI

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ORANGE GROVE, KHAIRATABAD, HYDERABAD, DECCAN Dated 19th May 1942