A
long a horseshoe-shaped cliff
above the Waghora River in cen-
tral India, a cadre of British soldiers
set out in 1819 hoping to bag a ti-
ger. Their hunting party stumbled
upon something surprising: a network of man-
made caves ingeniously and dramatically cut into
the rock. The beauty of the stonework was just
a hint to what awaited inside those stone halls.
The interiors of the caves, home to bats and
familiar to local tribes but otherwise unknown
to the rest of the world for roughly 14 centuries,
revealed a singularly astonishing collection of
religious art. The immense murals, rock-cutsculptures, shrines (stupas), monasteries, prayer
halls, and inscriptions created over centuries
exemplify masterpieces of early Buddhist art
and the creative achievements of classical India
under the influential Gupta dynasty. And yet,
surprisingly, only a few local residents knew of
their majestic splendor.Geologic Origins
About 66 million years ago, a hundred thousand
or more years before the so-called Chicxulub
impact (the asteroid collision credited with the
extinction of the dinosaurs), one of the larg-
est volcanic eruptions in history began floodingCARVED
IN
STONE
2nd century b.c.
The first Buddhist
temples are excavated
at Ajanta during the
rule of the Satavahana
dynasty.a.d. 320
The Gupta dynasty is
founded and will rule for
more than 200 years, a
“golden age” in India’s
history.ELEPHANT
ENTRYWAY
Carved circa the late
fifth century a.d.,
a pair of carefully
carved stone
elephants (above)
flank an entrance to
Ajanta Cave 16.
LLEONID ANDRONOV/ALAMY EONID ANDRONOV/ALAMY
5th century a.d.
A second wave of
construction begins at
Ajanta but will end when
Gupta power declines in
the sixth century.1819
The Western world
learns of the Ajanta
Caves’ existence, and
outside study of the
site begins.82 MAY/JUNE 2022