Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.48

v3.c12.48

In summing up these remarks it may be observed that the main two types of the rock-hewn temples of Ajanta, that is, the *chaitya* and the *vihāra*—the former beginning with a rectangular portico and a nave with side aisles arranged in the form of an apse at the end, in the second century B.C., and the *vihāra* starting with only a square hall having cells excavated on three sides of it—kept to these plans under the Hīnayāna school, which seems to have continued in the Deccan up to the third century A.D. But in the fourth century, under the influence of the Mahāyāna school, the representations of the Lord himself in various *mudrās* (attitudes), either carved in rock or painted, and a well-developed pantheon comprising a number of other gods and goddesses, necessitated the excavation of niches in the aisles and other prominent parts of a *chaitya*, such as the *dāgoba*, for the insertion of these deities. Similarly, the same causes brought about a change in the original plan of the *vihāra*, which, instead of comprising a bare hall, began to have a corridor on all four sides of the hall and a shrine with an antechamber at the end. The shrine was added to house the figure of the Lord, and the antechamber for the accommodation of the principal deities of the faith. At Ajanta the earliest *vihāra* of the latter class is Cave IV,² which has a colossal image of the Buddha in the shrine and some dainty carvings on the doors and the windows of the hall opening on the veranda. The large dimensions of this cave,³ combined with the massiveness of its architectural features and the frugal use of decorative work, present a faithful picture of Buddhist religious dignity, reflecting the restraint of monastic life on the one hand and the expansiveness of spiritual life on the other. The *vihāra*⁴ was probably excavated in the third century A.D. or still earlier;⁵ but the decorative work may have been done at a later date.