Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c15.30

v4.c15.30

In Cave IX there is another painting representing a herdsman controlling fabulous animals through his herculean strength by holding their necks, hind-legs, or tails. The subject has evidently some mythical significance, because it is represented in the early sculpture of the Deccan at several places, notably at Kuda, Nāsik, and Amarāvatī. The representations at the latter three places belong either to the first century B.C. or to the first century A.D., and the painting at Ajanta also appears to belong to the same period, when the subject was popular with both sculptors and painters. The drawing of this painting shows distinct progress both in indicating movement and in showing a realistic effect in the form of animals.¹ The advance of art may further be noticed in the delineation of the *Shad-danta Jātaka* on the right wall of Cave X, where the portrayal of the animals, the beauty of trees and flowers, and the expression of human feelings are represented in a very effective manner. The colours are the same, the human figures represented are still non-Aryan, and there is no deepening or lightening of colour-washes such as are to be noticed in later paintings; yet the grandeur of trees, the grace of human forms, and the beauty of animal figures are admirably depicted. This painting probably belongs to the third century A.D., to which period belong some of the sculptures of Amarāvatī, which have a close affinity to the paintings of Ajanta in regard to the pose and plasticity of the female figures. In this subject the painter has also shown a well-developed conception of ideas in the arrangement of the various episodes of the *Jātaka* and a certain dramatic effect in the scene in which the rānī faints at the sight of the tusks of the *Shad-danta* elephant who had been her husband in a previous birth.²