Ajanta Caves.A horseshoe-shaped cliff of 30+ rock-cut Buddhist caves overlooking the Waghora River, full of mural paintings, chaitya halls and monasteries. Ajanta is world-famous for its 2,000-year-old paintings and sculptures, which depict Jataka tales, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas with incredible grace and colour. Visitors walk along a ledge from cave to cave, entering dim halls where paintings glow under low light, giving a powerful sense of being inside a living museum of ancient Indian art.
About this place
History & highlights
The earliest caves were excavated in the 2nd–1st century BCE as Hinayana Buddhist prayer halls and viharas. A second, richer phase came during the Gupta period (5th–6th century CE), when Mahayana patrons and Vakataka rulers sponsored elaborately painted caves. After being abandoned for centuries and overgrown by jungle, Ajanta was “rediscovered” in 1819 by a British officer. Since 1983 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and conservation work balances visitor access with protection of fragile paintings that have influenced Indian art history worldwide.
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