Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c15.25

v4.c15.25

In the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. Ajanta, under the enlightened patronage of the Vākāṭaka kings, became an important centre of Buddhist religion and art, and votaries from distant climes visited the place to be initiated into the religious orders, and also to acquire proficiency in the art of painting. This view is confirmed by the paintings at Sigiri (Sigiriya) in Ceylon, at Bāmiyān in Afghanistan, at Turfān in Central Asia, and at some places in China, which all exhibit clear influence of the Buddhist art of Ajanta. The support given by the Vākāṭaka kings to the propagation of the Buddhist faith and art may have been secured through the religious zeal of Hastibhoja and his son Varāhadeva, the ministers of the last two kings of the dynasty, Devasena and Hariṣeṇa, who apparently had embraced the Buddhist religion, and whose names are preserved in the inscriptions of Cave XVI at Ajanta and of the *vihāra* at Ghatotkacha in the vicinity.³