Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s15: Arrival of a Rājā with His Retinue to Worship the Bodhi-Tree: Not Identified

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s15

Language: English

Arrival of a Rājā with His Retinue to Worship the Bodhi-Tree: Not Identified

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Plates XXIV*a*, XXV*a–b*, XXVI and XXVII *a–b

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*The scene is painted on the back wall of the left aisle, behind pillars 3 to 9 in Cave X.*

LIKE the preceding cave this also has frescoes of different periods on its walls, the oldest, according to a painted inscription, being almost coeval with the excavation of the temple, which, according to another inscription carved on the right side of the outer arch, may be fixed in the early part of the second century B.C.² The painted inscription is probably connected with the scene representing the arrival of a rājā, whose head, in spite of the very damaged condition of the fresco below the inscription, can be made out with certainty.³ The figures PLATES XXIVa, XXVa-b, XXVI & XXVII a-b

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² *Supra*, p. 1, f.n. 1, also Appendix, pp. 86 f.

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³ Appendix, Pl. I *c*.

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of the attendants of the rājā are more distinct on the rock-wall behind pillars 6 to 8. Here we see some soldiers who are all armed with spears, except one who holds a mace. The bust of the mace-bearer is intact, and he is wearing elaborate headgear. It is in the form of a turban at the top, and has flaps for the protection of the ears and also a band which passes below the chin and apparently was meant to keep the headgear firmly fixed to the head.

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Farther, to the right of the mace-bearer, are three soldiers armed with axes. Their heads are bare, but they are wearing short-sleeved shirts or jackets. Proceeding farther to the right there is a party of seven more armed men, four of whom are equipped with bows and arrows, and three with curved swords or large sickles. As the fresco, from the characters of the painted inscription, has been assigned to the second century B.C., the accoutrement of the soldiers and the shape and nature of their arms may be of interest to students of the military history of India.

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In front of the soldiers is the rājā, accompanied by ten ladies and a child. The fresco at this place has suffered a great deal, first by the inclemencies of weather, but more in recent times by the vandal scribblings of visitors. The figures can, however, be made out both in the colour and monochrome plates (XXVI and XXVII b), made from photographs taken direct from the rock wall, and the artistic features reproduced in the tracing (XXIVa) examined and scrutinized with the help of the former two plates. The rājā appears to be offering a prayer before the Bodhi-tree, which is represented here in the form of a pipal tree, bedecked with banners (XXIVa). The prayer may be concerning the child who stands just below the tree. The five ladies to the left proper of the rājā are looking at his face, while those behind him are watching the ceremony. Among the latter group a lady of short stature, who is at the end of the party, has apparently selected a high place to stand on so that she might see the ritual with advantage. The dress of the ladies is scanty, but they are wearing ornaments in abundance, comprising ear-rings, necklaces, armlets, and bangles. The bangles appear to be of conch or of ivory, such as were in fashion in the Deccan at that time, and specimens of which have been found in great abundance in our excavations at Maski, Paithan, and Kondapur.¹ They are worn in large numbers, covering almost the entire forearm, a practice still in vogue among some of the primitive tribes of the Deccan, notably the Lambāḍis. Some of the ladies have large scarves or veils covering their heads and backs, which appear only in this fresco and are not to be found in the later paintings of Ajanta. Perhaps the practice was discontinued owing to the influence of the North on the culture and social conditions of the Deccan in the third century A.D., after the extinction of the Andhra dynasty and the establishment of the Vākāṭakas, who were allied with the Guptas by intermarriage. The ethnic features of these figures also deserve special notice. The faces are almost round, noses short but pointed, mouths narrow with full lips, and eyes small yet bright. These are still features of the people of the north-western Deccan, including the Ajanta zone.² They are not Āryan, but offer a striking resemblance to the present local race, a resemblance which we find continued in the frescoes of Ajanta from the fourth century A.D. onwards. The rājā is not wearing any crown, but has a band of jewellery round the knob of his hair, arranged like the hood of a serpent.¹ The coiffures of the ladies represent several styles, some of them being very elaborate, while others are quite simple, as the parting of the hair on the left side of the head. Some of the ladies have the circular paint-mark on their foreheads, a feature of the toilet of an Indian lady up to this day. One lady has ornamented her head-band with three feathers of a peacock.

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¹ Annual Report of the Arch. Dept. of Hyd., 1936-7, Plate IX, and Journal of the Hyd. Arch. and Hist. Soc., January to August, 1941, Plate XX.

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² From the large number of megalithic tombs, which are specially associated with Scythians in all the countries where they migrated and settled down, it appears that they immigrated in large hordes into the Deccan also, in the second millennium B.C. or earlier, and became absorbed in

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¹ In the early sculpture of the Deccan the above style of dressing the hair of the princes and noblemen is quite common. Round the heads of rājās and ministers halos and crowns of actual serpent-hoods are also to be seen.

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On the other side of the Bodhi-tree is a large party of musicians and dancers, comprising fifteen artistes, all of whom are female. Women are reported to have joined the Buddhist sanghārāmas as nuns during the Buddha’s own lifetime, or shortly afterwards, but the presence of a well-developed orchestra, such as is shown in this fresco, in the second century B.C., indicates that the organization of female dancers and musicians attached to the temples was borrowed by the Buddhists from the earlier Brahmanical institutions. Two of the party have long trumpets, and the rest are clapping or dancing. Clapping is still used in India, and in other Oriental countries, to mark time or to produce the high pitch effect in music. Among the dancers the one nearest the sacred tree has raised and curved her arms in a curious manner, as if to give the body a writhing movement like that of a serpent. The poses and steps of the other two dancers are typically Indian, and may be observed in the dancing of the present day.

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The dresses and jewellery of the musicians and dancers are similar to those worn by the ladies accompanying the rājā (XXIVa). Further, six of the musicians are sitting on stools of beautiful wicker-work. These details show that the women attached to the religious orchestra held an honourable position in the life of the sanghārāma.

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Behind the musicians there are two trees, one a banyan and the other a mango (Mangifera indica), both of which are sacred to the Buddhist as being associated with the life of the Master in his previous births.² The drawing of these figures shows a well-developed art both in conception and execution, an art which must have taken several centuries to reach that stage. Further there is a close resemblance in matters of decorative detail between the figures painted in this fresco and the statuary carved on the façades, walls, and pillars of the chaityas at Kondane, Bedsa, and Karle.

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² Over the doorway of Cave XVII the seven Mānushi Buddhas and Maitreya are shown sitting in meditation under different trees, among which the banyan and mango are also included (Plates LXIX–LXX).

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The artist has attempted to present human life in all its aspects, religious as well as worldly, and the portrayal of the figures in the present fresco expresses not only spiritual feeling, but also a joyful outlook on the beautiful features of the world. The painting, apart from its high intellectual qualities, exhibits workmanship marked by much grace and beauty.

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the native population. Andhras, or the figures represented in the early sculpture and paintings of the Deccan, thus represent a hybrid race, a mixture of Scythians and the early inhabitants of the Deccan.

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The latter were emblematic, either of their mythical descent from a serpent-king, or of their representing a fabulous being, that is a water-spirit, in human form.

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The colours used in this fresco comprise yellow-ochre, red-ochre, *terre-verte*, and lamp-black. For the lower lip and the corners of the eye the artist has used a kind of bright vermilion apparently made from red-ochre. To indicate light and shade he has not, however, used any light or dark colour washes such as we notice in later frescoes of Caves I and II. The outline of the bodies is in dark red or black, and the drawing is firm and graceful, the bodies having been shown in the round, not dead and static, but pulsating with life.¹

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¹ The colour-plate XXVI gives a poor idea of the drawing; but it is better seen in monochrome plates XXV, XXVII, and XXVIII a and also in the tracing (Pl. XXIV).