Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s29: A Toilet Scene

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s29

Language: English

A Toilet Scene

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*The subject is painted in the upper part of the pilaster between the front and right corridors in Cave XVII.*

THIS scene represents a princess engaged in her toilet, with two maids and a female dwarf in attendance. One maid, who is standing in a graceful manner, holds the *chauri*, while the other has a tray in her hands, containing requisites of the toilet in artistically shaped phials and vases. The dwarf has a sack slung on her back, which probably contains various parts of the princess's raiment. The poses of all the four persons in the group are very typical and show not only the manners of the court life of those days but also in an indirect way the feelings of the persons represented. The princess is looking into a mirror which she holds in her left hand, while in the right she has either a flower or a sachet (?) of perfume to apply to her face. The dainty way in which the princess holds this requisite of the toilet indicates a person accustomed to luxury and refined surroundings. Her emotional reactions are further illustrated by the way in which she has crossed her legs and inclined her left foot to one side.

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Her apparel is of the gossamer-like fabric for the manufacture of which India has been famous from early times. The dress therefore is invisible where it covers the body, and is only to be deduced from the long ends of the lower garment which have been artistically shown in the form of wavy edges at the sides. The jewellery is, however, abundant and prominent, and takes away the otherwise inevitable impression of nudity. She has a band of rubies with pearl drops round her forehead, and another ornament of pearls, which may be a coronet, on the upper part of her head. The ruby ornament has a crest in the middle which is also set with rubies of good colour. Ruby ornaments can also be seen round the neck and waist of the lady, which may suggest that she was particularly fond of this gem. There are pearl ornaments as well on her body; for example, there are five strings of them, with clasps in the middle, on her breast, and several strings of them round her waist. The bracelets on the wrists are also set with rubies and pearls. The hair of the lady is dressed in the form of clusters, and is arranged on the forehead so as to be seen below the ruby ornament.

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The dim outline of the facial features and the fading of the colour of the lower lip have deprived the painting of a great deal of its charm, but such lines and colours as have survived present a magnificent picture of feminine beauty and adornments as conceived by the artist in the light of the ideals of his time.

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As regards pose, the one assumed by the *chaurī*-bearer on the left is more spontaneous and elegant than that of the princess. She holds the *chaurī* in an unaffected manner, looking aside naively with a graceful turn of her head, and she is bending the left knee and raising the heel of the left foot so that only the toes touch the ground, these youthful poses exhibiting a pleasing undulation of the body-line which reveals both high artistic skill and refined taste.

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The pose of the other maid, holding the tray and standing on the opposite side, may not be so graceful as that of the *chaurī*-bearer, but the expression of her eyes suggests a refined temper worthy of the attendant of a princess.

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The figure of the dwarf, drawn with a long body and short legs, and with a meek, submissive look on the face, introduces a pleasant change in the otherwise formal scheme of the painting.

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The most notable feature of this subject is, however, the lovely chiaroscuro, shown in the splashes of light on the rose-coloured ranges of conventional hills, and the dark-green shade of the foliage of the mango-trees in the background. Touches of light have also been shown on the head of the princess in order to brighten her coronet and other jewels. This use of chiaroscuro, so skilfully employed in this work, is rarely to be found in the other paintings of Ajanta, and shows the artist's individual appreciation of the beauty of contrasts of colour in Nature.