Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.45

v4.c16.45

The doorway of the hall is elegantly carved, and the sculptures of the *Nāga* kings, appearing as *dvārapālas*, are most impressive. The figures of the *gaṇas* and the leaf-pattern on a round moulding also show a fertile imagination and masterly technical skill (Plate LXXVIII*a*). The representations of the *Nāga* kings as *dvārapālas* in Caves XX-XXIII and the figures of a *Nāga* king and queen in a prominent place in Cave XIX may lead to the conclusion that this group of caves was dedicated by chiefs or wealthy persons who preserved the *Nāga* tradition implied in their ancestry. It has been noted above (p. 3) that Vākāṭaka kings had matrimonial relations with the *Nāga* dynasty of Padmāvatī (Gwalior State), and the former were so proud of this connexion that the name of Bhavanāga of Padmāvatī, the maternal grandfather of the Vākāṭaka king Rudra-sena (*c.* A.D. 335-60), is mentioned in the genealogy of the dynasty, although the name of a maternal grandfather is not usually included in the genealogy of a ruling king.¹ It must, however, be made clear that this group of caves (XIX-XXIII) cannot be assigned architecturally to an earlier period than the close of the fifth century A.D., and it would be still safer to place it in the first half of the sixth century A.D.