Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s5.7

v3.c12.s5.7

To the right of these panels, on the jamb of the door, there are three panels representing Parthian male and female figures in a joyous mood, sipping wine or love-making. The male figures have beards, and their caps also prove them to be non-Indian. Corresponding to the last three panels there are three on the right jamb of the door again representing Parthian figures whose blue jackets and peaked caps form a prominent feature. Below these is a female figure accompanied by a small male figure with long hair. The latter is resting on a crooked stick which passes through his legs. To the left of the figure of the woman is a dwarf, the drawing of which has become very dim (Plate IX *a*). Close to the right jamb of the doorway, on another facet of the door-frame, there are three more panels, the lowest of which bears the figure of an *arhat* or a Bodhisattva to correspond to the figure on the left side of the doorway. The remaining two panels contain the figures of females carved in beautiful poses (Plate IX *a*). The presence of figures with sunken cheeks and short beards, wearing peaked caps and full-sleeved coats, as shown in some of the panels referred to above and also in several of the later frescoes of Caves I and II, point to a period in Indian history when Partho-Scythian dynasties were established in Surāṣṭra and Malwa, whose territories occasionally included the northern parts of the Deccan.¹