Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s19.6

v4.c16.s19.6

The group of *devīs* painted on the left includes ten figures; the mother of the Buddha, Mahāmāyā, is probably the figure in front, close to the throne. She is dressed in a garment of striped material, but the painting being indistinct at this place, her face cannot be made out. The features of the other *devīs* are very pleasing, and the artist, to show their beauty to advantage, has placed high lights on their foreheads, noses, lips, and chins (Plate XXXVIII and XL *a*). The pose and the expression of the *devī* next to Mahāmāyā, on the left, is particularly striking. The attitude of another *devī*, shown in the foreground, and the way in which she is looking at the Buddha, are specially distinctive. In painting two *devīs* of the group the artist apparently had in mind the dress and physiognomy of Parthian women, whose number would not have been small in the Deccan and the provinces adjoining it on the north and the west, owing to the rule of the princes of Śaka origin, styled the Western Satraps in history, over Mahārāṣṭra and Malwa up to the fourth century A.D. One of these *devīs*, at the top, on the left side, is wearing an embroidered head-dress to which is attached a veil of white gauze such as is worn by brides in European countries. She has also an ornamental band round her forehead, from which either precious gems are hanging in the form of drops, or else her hair has been dressed in clusters so as to assume the same form. The head-ornaments of the other *devī* of this couple are also worthy of notice. Both of them are of a very fair complexion, while the other *devīs* of the group are either swarthy or quite dark.