Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.66

v4.c16.66

In the above survey it has been made abundantly clear that no *chaitya* or *vihāra* at Ajanta, on the basis of contemporary incised or painted inscriptions, can be assigned to a period later than the middle of the sixth century A.D., which marks the beginning of the Cālukya supremacy in the Deccan. The views of those scholars who have associated the name of Pulakeśin II with certain paintings at Ajanta have therefore no historical foundation. Similarly the opinions of those pioneers are not worthy of consideration who did not make a comprehensive study of the subject and who have regarded the paintings of Ajanta as examples of the Gupta art. The influence of the Gupta kings did not penetrate politically into the Deccan until the latter part of the fourth century A.D., whereas the art of painting was fairly well developed in the Deccan by the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century A.D., as is shown by such paintings as the *Shaḍ-danta Jātaka* or the *Śyāma Jātaka*, executed on the right wall of the *chaitya*-Cave X. Some paintings in this cave can, on the basis of contemporary inscriptions, be assigned with certainty to a period as early as the second century B.C.