Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c17.35

v4.c17.35

No. 1. This is the longest of all. It is engraved on the back wall of the façade, over the doorway on the right side. It has already been edited by both Bhagwanlal Indraji and James Burgess.⁵ It consists of 17 lines, not 27 as misprinted in the *Descriptive Notes* by Burgess. The inscribed surface has been damaged a little, as a result of which portions of the text in lines 1 and 15-17 have been lost to us (Facsimile II). The composition of the record is metrical throughout, there being altogether 19 verses in various metres. Its language contains expressions that are peculiar to Buddhist literature, and here and there shows the influence of Pāli. The record is not dated, but palaeographically it can be placed between A.D. 450 and A.D. 525.⁶