Book Description

This book is designed for students, educators, libraries, and general readers with keen interest in the subject of Indian or South Asian art, architecture, history, and culture. It is work of the author's fifteen years of on-site research. The uniqueness of the book lies on several counts. If you are looking for the most up to date information on the ancient caves of Ajanta (a World Heritage Monument) and want to learn about the subject matter of the paintings, sculptures, and how the caves were actually excavated step by step, year by year, and not willing to miss a single jataka, or a painted theme from the life of the Buddha, then this is the book for you. The book has about 70,000 words of texts and nearly 380 high quality photographs taken by the author himself. Each photo depicts either the whole or a part of larger narrative episode that are painted on the walls of the ancient Buddhist caves of Ajanta. Each photograph has a caption providing the latest and authentic identification of the theme depicted, which corpus is based on the world acclaimed researches by Professor Dieter Schlingloff. The identifications of the decorative themes are based on the researches by Professor Monika Zin. For the first time, we have a book that clears much confusion, and answers many questions: who were the people who created these magnificent caves? Which sects of Buddhism did they belong to? What was the period when the caves were excavated? What kinds of patronages were involved? What are the historical sources and evidence to give us a holistic overview of the caves and their times? What were the problems encountered during the excavation? The book sets aside many prevalent misconceptions and errors created by earlier historians and archaeologists. Here, a new and fresh perspective is given to the history and socio-cultural and political context. The book is a summary of the latest research carried out in the last three decades by many acclaimed scholars including that of the author. The language is carefully crafted so that the content is accessible to the general reader and students as well as the there is enough content, analysis, insights, and facts to keep the advanced reader engaged.