Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s8.3

v4.c16.s8.3

THIS story is also painted with much vigour and grace on the wall of the right corridor of Cave X, and is described in considerable detail in Part III of this book.¹ Here, although a large portion of the fresco has peeled off and the upper part of it has been obliterated by the droppings of bats, the artistic progress made in the course of a couple of centuries, since the previous painting was executed, is apparent from the subtle charm of the designs, the perfection of form, and the exquisite style of delineation to be noticed in the surviving fragments of the fresco. The story is presented in four episodes: (i) the bedroom scene in which the rānī plans her revenge; (ii) the lotus-lake in which the *Shaḍ-danta* elephant is bathing and enjoying himself with his herd; (iii) the hunters, who have been sent by the rānī, see the Six-tusked Elephant resting under a tree, close to a range of hills, and wound him with an arrow; (iv) the hunters bring the tusks of the *Shaḍ-danta* elephant to the royal court, and the rānī faints on seeing them.