Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s35: Floral Designs and Other Motifs

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s35

Language: English

Floral Designs and Other Motifs

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Plates LXXI a and c-d, and LXXII-LXXIV a-b

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*The designs are painted on the ceilings of the hall and the corridors of Cave XVII.*

THE ceiling of this *vihāra*, like its walls and columns, is lavishly painted, the designs comprising floral patterns, fancy creeper-motifs, and mythical animals. The subjects reproduced in the above plates are only a few out of a vast array, but the selection which has been made may give the connoisseur an idea of the artist's play of fancy, love of ornamentation, and exquisite workmanship. For example, the design reproduced in Plate LXXI *a* has seven concentric ornamental bands with a circular pattern in the middle. The outermost band contains a jewellery pattern, the next a rich lotus creeper, with leaves, birds, and flowers artistically represented. Next to this, that is, third in the serial order, is again a jewellery design, showing pearl-strings with clasps at the ends, the latter being set with gems. The fourth represents a lotus-creeper, but here the design is different from that shown in the second band, for the artist has painted large cup-shaped leaves between the bunches of flowers. The fifth band contains a simple five-petal floral design, so that the eye of the onlooker may not be tired by a succession of too many intricate patterns. The sixth band contains a wavy design which is still in vogue even at the present day. The fresco being much damaged near the centre, the designs of the seventh band and the central panel cannot be determined with certainty. These seven circular concentric bands are enclosed in a square, and the space at the corners and around them has been cleverly filled up with pairs of celestial beings and artistically designed scrolls. The celestial beings are shown bringing offerings of flowers from heaven to the Buddha. The modelling of the male figure at the right corner, and the rapidity of movement suggested by the position of his legs, witness to a vigorous style of painting.

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The panel shown in Plate LXXI *a*, described above, is further enclosed by decorative bands, among which one containing animal-heads and busts attached to ornamental scrolls is extremely pleasing (Plates LXXII-LXXIV *a-b*). The heads shown are of both real animals and fabulous creatures, the latter including a mermaid (Plate LXXII). The animals are most ingeniously shown sporting or fighting with one another, and the artist has tried to exhibit the characteristic features and habits of the various beasts represented. For example, in the top panel there is a fight between two cat-headed monsters, and the picture faithfully represents the way in which two ordinary cats fight with one another. The colour-schemes of these subjects also show a highly developed art, since the different colours are most harmoniously blended and most pleasant to the eye. Among the religious symbols the conch and lotus may be seen in the top panel of Plate LXXIV; the lotus (*padma*) was associated with Buddhism.

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from the beginning of the Hīnayāna period, but the conch shows the influence of the Brahmanic faith, and must have been adopted as a religious symbol by the Buddhists when the Mahāyāna doctrine came into vogue.¹

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¹ Conch and lotus combined are also painted on the ceiling of Cave II at Ajanta. Cf. Part II, Plate XLVII *d*. According to Coomaraswamy, a lotus and a conch associated with Kuvera are considered to signify his inexhaustible treasuries. See *Yakṣas*, ii, 13.

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The ceilings of the corridors are also magnificently painted, and on the ceiling of the front corridor there is a design in which three peafowl are represented around a lotus creeper adorned with flowers and buds. The design is highly conventional; even the tail-feathers of the birds have been changed into ornamental scrolls, yet the position of their necks and other parts of the body are very characteristic of the habit and carriage of the peafowl (Plate LXXI *d*). Similarly, on the ceiling of the left corridor is delineated a lion to whose tail the painter has given an artistic loop. The raised head and the shape of the muzzle are also unreal, but the entire motif, set in a circle of the lotus-creeper, is extremely attractive, and shows well the ingenuity and taste of the artist. In this period (fifth century A.D.) the decorative aspect of art from the creative point of view reached its climax; afterwards, perhaps, there was a retrograde movement, whether for political or other reasons is not known.