Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s2: Dvārapālas and a Female Votary

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s2

Language: English

Dvārapālas and a Female Votary

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*These figures are painted on the back wall of the antechamber, on either side of the shrine-door, in the lower story of Cave VI.*

THE door of the sanctuary in the lower story of Cave VI originally had richly dressed *dvārapālas*, whose heads and other parts of the body are almost obliterated now, but there still exist fragments showing that they wore long coats and lavishly bedecked girdles and waistbands. The figure of the *dvārapāla* to the right of the shrine-door is reproduced in Plates III *b* and IV *a* by way of illustration.⁴ The latter is based on a photograph taken direct from the rock-wall, while the former is a faithful tracing of the original fresco. Of this *dvārapāla* a part of the left arm had survived, which has now been carefully preserved by the mechanics of the Department. The arm shows skilful drawing and perfect command in expressing inner feeling, which in this case may be interpreted from the gesture of the sensitive fingers of the *dvārapāla*. The figure represented some rājā, for the Bodhisattvas and *Yakshas* are not generally delineated as wearing coats. The *dvārapāla* has ornaments on his arm, wrist, and little finger, but what strikes one most is the design of his girdle, which contains scrolls, flowers, and check-patterns in alternating divisions. The design was apparently worked out in embroidery, the material being silk or gold and silver threads, or all three.

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⁴ The two *dvārapālas* are also reproduced in *The Paintings of Ajanta*, by J. Griffiths, vol. ii, figs. 134-5.

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The *dvārapāla* is further adorned with a belt of pearls or gold beads, and also with chains of the same metal which hang down to the border of his dress. The jewel-rooms of the Deccan kings seem to have abounded in pearls and gold at all times, for beside the lavish display of such ornaments in the paintings of Ajanta, when we come to the medieval period we find ‘Alāu’d-Dīn Khaljī carrying off a booty of 50 maunds of gold and several maunds of pearls in addition to valuable stuffs and a large number of elephants and horses, after his conquest of the Deccan.¹

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¹ Briggs’s translation of the *Ta’rīkh-i-Firishta*, vol. i, pp. 307-10.

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The figure of the *dvārapāla* to the left of the shrine-door is still more damaged;² but in the lower part of the fresco the head of a lady can be made out with certainty, and the fresco when complete must have been one of the masterpieces of the later style of Ajanta³ (Plates II *b* and III *a*). The face shows much serenity, and the features which are intact are beautifully drawn. The most attractive parts of the fresco are the ornaments and the coiffure. The former comprise a necklet of large pearls and several strings of smaller pearls round the neck, two types of ear-rings, and a pearl ornament round the forehead, the strings of which along with a garland of flowers are intertwined with the hair. A large flower has been placed above the temple on one side, while the hair above the forehead is arranged in small clusters like the drops of an ornament. The effect is extremely charming. The large ear-rings owing to their weight have been attached to the middle of the ear, but still the ears are elongated, being rather conventional in shape, as noticed in contemporary Buddhist sculpture. The small ear-rings with pearl drops shown in the upper parts of the ear are still in vogue in the Deccan.

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² A colour-reproduction of a fragment of this fresco has been given by Griffiths in Part II, Plate 134.

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³ Griffiths has reproduced this figure in Part I, p. 10 (Fig. 12) and apparently reconstructed it with a view to showing the full beauty of the drawing.