Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s6.3

v3.c12.s6.3

THE miracle of Śrāvastī was a favourite theme of the artists of Ajanta, for it gave the religious-minded novices, as well as the trained craftsmen, an opportunity for painting the Great Being whose figure on account of the various conventional features had become almost stereotyped. The figures of the Buddha painted on the walls of the antechamber of Cave II represent a very poor art, and the work must have been done by beginners with the help of paper-stencils.² But in this chapel the artist has delineated the subject with extraordinary skill, making the features of the Buddha highly refined and giving a spiritual effect to his appearance by the judicious use of high lights (Plates VIII *b* and IX *b*). The head of the figure in the middle has almost a classical grace (Plate VIII *b*) and may be compared with some of the best works of Italian artists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It bears a striking resemblance to the figure of the standing Buddha on pillar 5 of the right aisle of Cave X,¹ and it is not unlikely that both the figures were painted by the same artist, although some of the frescoes of the latter cave date back to the second century B.C. These two Buddhas, like the other frescoes of Cave VI, are, however, not earlier than the sixth century A.D. This view is confirmed by the characters of a three-line inscription painted on the left wall of the upper story of this cave between the door of the cell and the chapel.²