Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.42

v4.c16.42

The next cave (XXII) is a small vihāra, comprising an insignificant hall with a narrow veranda in front.⁶ The door of the hall, opening on the veranda, is, however, beautifully carved, and pairs of lovers are freely represented on its frame. The figure of a Nāga king is shown as a dvārapāla on the right jamb of the door. In the interior of the vihāra are four cells, all in an incomplete condition. The sculpture of the shrine is of an inferior order, and further there is an excess of the representations of the Buddha, showing poor taste in their arrangement. On the right wall of the shrine, the eight manuṣya, or earth-born, Buddhas, are painted, and the name of each of them is inscribed below his representation. The names of the Bodhi trees, peculiar to these deities, were also originally inscribed, and four of them may still be read. Below these figures of the Buddha there is a dedicatory inscription followed by a verse enumerating the rewards awaiting the donor of an image of the Lord. These inscriptions have been carefully studied by Dr. N. P. Chakravarti (Appendix, *infra*, pp. 111-12).