Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.3

v3.c12.3

THIS Part takes back the history of Ajanta frescoes to the second century B.C., for an inscription painted in Cave X on the left wall, behind the third pillar from the entrance, has been assigned by scholars to the middle of that century, while another inscription carved on the façade of the same cave is considered to be still earlier.¹ Further, from the affinity between certain paintings of this cave and those of Cave IX,² it appears that the early frescoes of both these caves are almost contemporary, and represent a style in which the artist depicts the story in a truthful manner without much decorative embellishment. The style is, however, fairly developed, the drawing being firm and accurate and showing due regard to the three dimensions. We also notice a balanced judgement in the grouping of figures and a cultured taste in the choice of poses (Plate XXIV). The colours used are only a few, red-ochre, terre-verte, lamp-black, and white of lime, which have been used pure or mixed to produce the desired effect in the scheme (Plate XXVI).³ The figures are not altogether devoid of expression, and they show considerable religious feeling; but this feature of the Ajanta paintings is more prominent in the frescoes of the right wall of Cave X; in the representations of the Śyāma Jātaka and the Shaḍ-Danta Jātaka. They are of course some five hundred to six hundred years later than their prototypes on the left wall,⁴ but during this period it appears that the artists of Ajanta had made very great progress in imparting life and giving definite characters to the dramatis personae of their productions. The grief of the blind parents of Śyāma at his tragic death by an arrow shot by the Rājā of Benares (Plate XXIX b) and the fainting of the Queen at the sight of the tusks in the Shaḍ-Danta Jātaka (Plate XXX c) are so vivid that it is difficult to find their match in the contemporary paintings of other countries.