Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s30: Mānushi Buddhas
Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s30
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Mānushi Buddhas
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Plate LVa
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*The figures are painted above the third cell-door from the left, and are reproduced in monochrome.*
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FIGURES of four seated Buddhas in the teaching attitude are seen in the lower row, just above the cell-door, and of seven, or eight, more Buddhas in the same attitude in the upper row. The Buddhas of both the rows have cushions of check and other designs behind their backs, and besides the conventional haloes signifying lordship, the figures of the lower row have triple umbrellas over them. The drawing is of conventional type, showing neither imagination nor any special artistic skill, apparently being the work of a *bhikshu* prepossessed with stereotyped forms of the representation of the Great Being. There are two votive inscriptions, one each below the seat of the first and the second Buddhas and the third and fourth Buddhas in the lower row, and another inscription below the seat of the third Buddha from the left in the upper row. These inscriptions have been studied by Dr. N. P. Chakravarti in the Appendix (pp. 94 ff.). According to him they are of a later date than the fifth century A.D., the date of the Cave,¹ and the figures of the Buddhas may have been painted in the sixth century or even later, after the deterioration of the original frescoes on this part of the rock-wall. The figures of the Buddhas appear rather abruptly after the scene of the Conversion of Nanda, and appear to be later work both from the general decorative scheme of the cave and from the technique of this painting.
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¹ See Appendix, p. 87.
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The figures in the lower row bear the inscription *Bhadanta Dharmmadattasya*, ‘of the reverend Dharmadatta’, while those in the upper row have *Bhadanta Bapukasya*, ‘of the reverend Bapuka’.¹
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¹ For further information see Appendix, p. 95 ² The *gandharvas*, heavenly musicians, are often associated with *apsarases* as their consorts.