AJANTA(Introduction)

Changes in Buddhist thought in the first century BCE had made it possible for the Buddha to be deified and consequently the image of the Buddha as a focus of worship became popular marking the arrival of the Mahāyāna sect.
The vihāras are of various sizes the maximum being about 52 feet. They are often square-shaped, some are with simple facade, and others ornate; some have a porch and others do not. The hall was an essential element of a vihāras. In the Vākāṭaka phase, early viharas were not intended to have shrines because they were purely meant to be halls of residence and congregation. Later, shrines were introduced in them in the back walls. The shrines were made to house the central object of reverence that is the image of the Buddha often seated in the dharmachakrapravartana mudra (the gesture of teaching). The facades of many viharas are decorated with carvings, and walls and ceilings were often covered with paintings.
The facades of the Chaitya halls show intense ornamentation and carvings. Rocks were hewn out to make figures.

The interesting features in the construction at Ajanta are the pillars, architrave, and walls and the decoration done on them. The architecture of Ajanta is stunning, the paintings that adorn the walls and ceilings of the caves are amazing, which are some of the finest examples of earliest Buddhist architecture, cave-paintings and sculpture. They depict incidents from the life of the Buddha as well as the lives of the Buddha in his previous births, jataka tales (the most famous), illustrating different stories relating to the previous incarnations of the Buddha as Bodhisattva.

A distinct method was followed in the excavation of the caves of Ajanta. The layout was marked on the rock-face and the rock-cutting was started from the top and continued downwards towards the floor. The facade-doorway and the verandah were dug out first and then the interior portions like the central hall, antechamber and cells were excavated. In the two or three-tier caves, cutting of rock started from the topmost tier. A sharp pick-axe was used to make deep incision into the rock followed by breaking of the intervening rock mass till the floor was reached. Solid columns of rocks were left as supports, wherever necessary. The finishing and carving were done mostly by hammer and chisel. The entire works of quarrying of stones, dressing and finishing were done simultaneously with great care and precision. The pillars of large halls are 3 m to 6m high. The spacing of the rock pillars in the verandah varies from 1.5 to 3.5 m and the height from 2.6 to 3.5 m in the verandah. The pillars and columns are circular, squarish or octagonal in cross section. The lintel length cut in the rock varies from 1.5 to 4.2 m. Where the rock cover is 50 m or more, the verandahs or chambers up to 21 x 15m and galleries and halls up to 15 x 6.5 m are not supported with pillars as the rock is self-supporting at such places.

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