Learning to See': The Visual Dharma Transmission of the Ajanta Caves

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Learning to See: The Visual Dharma Transmission of the Ajanta Caves.

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“Happy is the house where a man awakes. Blessed is his birth. Blessed is the teaching of the way.” -The Buddha, The Dharmapada

FIG. 1. - Ajanta Cave 2. Seated Buddha in Dharmacakra Mudrā.

Photograph by Benoy Behl, (2005)

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The paintings of Ajanta are profound visual documents that trace the evolution of Buddhist thought in

India from its quiet Theravādan inceptions, through to its vibrant proto-Mahāyānan and Mahāyānan

forms. Alongside accompanying doctrinal texts that may be garnered from the period stretching from

around the 2nd century BCE up until the 7th century CE, the layered tapestries that unfold across the walls

of Ajanta offer a rich and vivid exposition of the central themes, concepts and concerns of Buddhism as

they occurred throughout its early diversification. As Sheila Wiener has acknowledged: “To those

concerned less with aesthetics and more with the evolution of Buddhism in India, the significance of

Ajanta is overwhelming.”1

Ajanta is perhaps the last of the remaining Buddhist monuments seen today in India that can be said to

pre-date the incursion of esoteric influence, aligning itself as Weiner puts it, “on the very threshold of

Mahāyāna expression.”2 Furthermore, when assessed alongside (then nascent) Mahāyāna doctrine, and

more crystallized core concepts of the Theravāda – otherwise puzzling stylistic conventions that occur

throughout Ajanta seem to fall neatly into place. This essay attempts to illustrate how some of these

conventions relate to distinct philosophical themes and concepts present within early Buddhism.

By the time work at the caves had finished between the 6th and 7th century A.D., the site’s Theravāda

“nucleus”3 as Walter Spink calls it, had evolved into a veritable ‘playground’ of Mahāyāna bodhisattvas,

Buddhas, themes and ideas. Pertinent to this essay however, scholars such as Pramod Chandra have

recently argued that the paintings of Ajanta cannot be neatly divided into ‘Theravāda’ and ‘Mahāyāna,’4 as

has been done so often in the past. Chandra asserts how almost all of the narrative paintings at Ajanta are

based on the vinaya of the Mūlasarvāstivādins, and the poems of Aryasura and Aśvaghosa, and

therefore how “the commonly accepted understanding of the caves as Mahāyāna is incorrect.” Rather,

Chandra states, “it is the Sanskrit texts of the Theravāda that are the source and inspiration for the

painting at Ajanta, to the extent that it has been preserved.”5 Given this alleged realignment of core

assumptions about Ajanta therefore, and taking into account the undeniably abundant Mahāyāna

iconography that manifests itself through this apparent Theravādan visual language; Ajanta in many

1 Weiner, Sheila L. (September - December 1976), Ajanta: Iconography and Chronology. East and West Vol. 26, No. 3/4, p. 343. 2 Ibid., p. 344. 3 Spink, Walter M. 2005. Ajanta: History and Development. Volume Five. Brill Leiden, Boston, p.9. 4 Chandra, Lokesh. Buddhism: Art and Values. 2007. International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, p.9. 5 Ibid., p. 421.

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ways presents a convenient accessibility for the art historian who wishes to view these paintings simply as

‘Buddhist’, in the faith’s most unified sense.

At their essence, according to Mittal and Agrawal, the Ajanta caves functioned as, “art galleries to inspire

the common man with the Buddha’s message of love and compassion, morality, piety and concentration.”6

Their spiritual purpose was to convey core Buddhist doctrines through painting in a way that was clear,

concise, compelling and easily readable for native and foreign audiences alike; countless numbers of

whom were travelling along the nexus of nearby trade routes.

Their ultimate goal was to equip visitors with profound insights into the nature of reality through visual

transmissions of the Buddha-dharma. Such a transmission (it was likely hoped), would shatter the

mithya or ‘illusion’ of the everyday material world, dispel avidyā or ‘ignorance’, and awaken the viewers’

inherent Tathāgatagarbh or ‘Buddha Nature’- a characteristically Mahāyāna concept that was to no doubt

become increasingly important at the site in its later years. On top of this, the merit accumulated by

simply creating a visually pleasing experience for the beholder was in itself, an action propelled by

Dharma. As the treatise on painting entitled the Chitrasutra of the Vishnudharmottara Purana (ch.43)

states:

‘A painting cleanses and curbs anxiety, augments future good, causes unequalled and pure delight,

[and] … kills the evil spirits of bad dreams.’7

Nonetheless, the paintings of Ajanta are didactic in nature, and reflect the education-driven heart of the

Vinaya. 8 Indeed, it is no coincidence that (with the exception of Cave 7), the shrine images of the Buddha

at Ajanta are pre-dominantly in Dharmacakra mudrā.9 Furthermore, there are countless identifying

inscriptions beneath many of the paintings, which narrate the themes, stories and individual painted

figures presented to audiences who may not have been familiar with them; some even displaying entire

Sanskrit verses relating to that particular story. Given this fact, and regardless of the accumulation of

merit that was the ultimate end goal of many donors also leaving their own personal inscriptions; the

6 Mittal, Kewap Krishan and Agrawal, Ashvini, eds. 1993. Buddhist Art and Thought. Harman Publishing House New Delhi, p. 16. 7 Trans. Kramrisch, Stella in Behl, Benoy K. 2005. The Ajanta Caves: Ancient Paintings of Buddhist India. Thames & Hudson, p. 12. 8 Dehejia, Vidya. 1997. Discourse in Early Buddhist Art: Visual Narratives of India. Munishiram Monoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, p. 211. 9 Weiner, Sheila L. Ajanta: Its Place in Buddhist Art. 1977. University of California Press, p. 349.

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paintings of Ajanta are clearly didactic tools of spiritual transmission. Importantly also, whilst the

commentarial inscriptions may have been efficient didactic tools to an extent; it is likely that monks were

also present in the caves to act as tour-guides for visitors; illuminating different scenes one by one with

the light of a small butter lamp and helping to decode apparently ‘jumbled’ narratives. As I posit however,

much of the spiritual art of Ajanta is visually decipherable on its own, and merely needs a pair of eyes and

an open heart to comprehend.

As is well known, at Ajanta the ‘Jātakas’ (the stories of the Buddha’s previous lives) achieved a central

role in the transmission of Buddhist values and concepts. As Sangitika Nigam puts it, “the Jātakas

persuade us, through the exemplary and inspiring lives led by the Bodhisattva, to follow a life of virtue

and compassion in this world.”10 The Visvantara Jātaka for example is concerned with the virtues of

selfless charity, the Vidhurapandita Jātaka with the theme of wisdom, and the Shaddanta Jātaka with

that of absolute generosity. Whilst some of the Jātakas had clear Brahmanical sources, they were always

tactfully chiselled into Buddhist transmissions.

The scene depicted below (See FIG. 2.) presents a crucial moment in the ‘Mahajanaka Jātaka’, when

Mahajanaka, the newly crowned (though deeply unfulfilled) King of Mithila, takes his abhiseka or ‘ritual

bath’ before renouncing his kingdom in order to pursue a spiritual life spent meditating upon truth in the

Himalayas.

10 Nigam, Sangitika. Behl, Benoy K. 2005. The Ajanta Caves: Ancient Paintings of Buddhist India. Thames & Hudson, p. 59.

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FIG. 2. - Ajanta Cave 1. King of Mithila, taking ‘abhiseka’, Mahajanaka Jātaka. Photograph

by Benoy Behl, (2005)

Its beholders would most likely never have seen the ‘interior life’ of a king depicted so candidly as it is in

the Mahajanaka Jātaka, and given the theme of ultimately unsatisfactory kingship seen throughout this

cave, it is surprising that commentators such as Walter Spink have insisted that Cave 1 is Emperor

Harisena’s cave.11 Indeed, the Jātakas themselves seem positively anti-kingship; perhaps in order to

impress upon their beholders the fact that Buddhism is an all-inclusive, humanistic creed without

restrictions, rank or bias.

One might also note in the Mahajanaka Jātaka, that the artists of Ajanta achieved the impressive feat of

mastering a complex range of tones and depth with a simple palette of only five colours; even conveying

sculptured modelling through use of colour. As Stella Kramrisch notes, the Ajanta artists’ use of colour,

“makes crystal-cold the rock, blood-warm the human figure, turgidly cool the plants.”12 Without a doubt,

11 Dehejia, op cit., p. 231. 12 Kramrisch, Stella. 1937. A Survey of Painting in the Deccan. The India Society, London, p. 28.

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this vividness of colour and form creates a fertile atmosphere for inspiring a spiritual connection with the

spectator.

Whilst commentators such as Dehejia and Sanyal have gone to great lengths to compartmentalize the

paintings of Ajanta into broad categories or ‘modes of narrative’, this task realistically speaking, seems too

monumental to ever be conclusively achieved. Indeed, one only needs to look to the areas behind

Avalokiteśvara Padmapani in Cave 1 to see how space is overwhelmingly full of forms, shapes and figures

at Ajanta, without a single empty patch of space remaining that might be perceived as connoting the

‘infinite’. (See FIG. 3+4).

FIG. 3. - Ajanta Cave 1. Avalokiteśvara Padmapani. Reproduction by Lady Herringham,

plate x, (1910)

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FIG. 4. - Ajanta Cave 1. Illustration of Avalokiteśvara Padmapani, from Sanyal, (1984)

Juxtaposed against a rocky landscape that houses restless monkeys, shrilling peacocks, and a variety of

mythical beings; the (resoundingly effeminate) bodhisattva Padmapani appears admirably detached,

conveying perfect indifference and perfect compassion, both existing simultaneously13; both key qualities

of this bodhisattva as is doctrinally stated in Mahāyāna texts such as the Saddharmapundarikasutra and

the Karandavyuha.14 (See FIG. 5.).

13 Sanyal, Narayan. 1984. Ajanta: A Guide Book as well as critical analyses of the murals and other artworks of Ajanta in the perspective of Indian Art. New Central Book Agency Ltd, Calcutta, p. 33. 14 Schlingloff, Dieter. 1988. Studies in the Ajanta Paintings: Identifications and Interpretations. Ajanta Publications, Delhi, p. 175.

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FIG. 5. - Ajanta Cave 1. Detail of Bodhisattva Padmapani. Photograph by Benoy Behl,

(2005)

Indeed, Padmapani and likewise; his fellow bodhisattva Vajrapani who appears on the opposite wall (See

FIG. 6.), showcase transcendent expressions which are markedly ‘unclassifiable’ within the language of

bhavas conventionally used in Indian painting of the time. Their soft glow almost melts the surrounding

chaos into the delicate formations of clouds in the sky.

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FIG. 6. - Ajanta Cave 1. Detail of Bodhisattva Vajrapani. Photograph by Benoy Behl, (2005)

Another deeply compelling visual meditation on the virtues of naiskramya or ‘non-attachment’, can be

found in the serene inward-looking gaze of the Buddha on the left of the antechamber of Cave 1, as he

transcends all the temptations of Mara that attempt to engulf him. (See FIG. 7.).

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FIG. 7. - Ajanta Cave 1. Maravijaya Jātaka, or, ‘The Assault and temptation of Mara on the

eve of Enlightenment’. Photograph by Benoy Behl, (2005)

A profoundly potent image throughout historical Buddhism, this scene depicts Śākyamuni sitting beneath

the Bodhi tree (as represented by a branch with three leaves on it) at his pivotal moment of ‘ultimate

awakening’. Mara, lord of the sensual world, seen here on the right hand side as a princely figure adorned

with sumptuous jewellery, tries his best to stop Śākyamuni from achieving this aim; sending fearsome

demons, aggressive warriors, tempting offerings and even his seductive daughters to distract him. The

epitome of the virtues of a calm, mindful state of mind; the bodhisattva here remains still and unmoved.

With a nimbus around his head and his right hand extended pointing to the ground in Bhumisparsa

mudrā, he summons the goddess of the earth (standing on his right-hand side) to testify to his virtue.

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FIG. 8. - Ajanta Cave 1. Illustration of Maravijaya Jātaka, from Sanyal, (1984)

Even though the fresco we are now discussing is heavily damaged, one can feel how powerful it must have

appeared in its prime. Indeed, a reproduction by John Griffiths (See FIG. 9) helps us begin to understand

not only the wealth of iconographic significance conveyed in this scene, but also its visually powerful

(perhaps even ‘mandalic’) qualities of perspective, tone and composition.

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FIG. 9. - Ajanta Cave 1. Maravijaya Jātaka, or, ‘The Assault and temptation of Mara on the

eve of Enlightenment’. Reproduction by John Griffiths and students from the Bombay

School of Art, India, 1875-1876. Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Museum number

IS.13-1885

As demonstrated through the images presented so far, life and action within the paintings of Ajanta erupt

from every inch of its walls panoramically, and with unprecedented vivacity; without ever allowing

blankness to creep in. Indeed, as Ghosh states: “Like collective living, these are collective paintings where

no area has been left alone, each depending on the other and partaking of the whole.”15 Indeed, far from

beings some sort of ‘horror vacui’ on the behalf of the artists, I posit that this overlapping, interweaving,

tapestry-like compositional style used throughout Ajanta may in fact be a visual transmission of a core

doctrinal concept that holds every Buddhist teaching together from Theravāda to Dzogchen, to the extinct

schools; that of ‘pratītyasamutpāda’, also known as ‘Mutual Causality’ or ‘Dependent Arising’.

15 Ghosh, A. Eds. Ajanta Murals. An album of eighty-five reproductions in colour. 1967. Archaeological Survey of Indian, New Delhi, p. 12.

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As perhaps the core metaphysical corner stone of Buddhism, the concept of pratītyasamutpāda’ presents

the world as a causally governed, endless wheel of becoming, whereby phenomena are sustained only so

long as their sustaining factors, ‘nidānas’ or ‘aggregates’ remain. These twelve aggregates are: ignorance

(avidyā), impressions (samskāra), consciousness (vijñāna), mind-body frame work (nāmarūpa), six

organs of sense (sadāyatana), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), desire (trsnā), grasping or clinging

(upādāna), will to be (bhāva), birth (jāti), and old age and death (jarāmaraa).16

Essentially, according to pratītyasamutpāda; all beings ultimately exist in a state of perpetual inter-

dependence. Furthermore, due to the law-like behavior of causation, pratītyasamutpāda gives rise to

every other doctrine in Buddhism (be it in the Mahāyāna or Theravāda form) including rebirth, samsāra,

dukkha or sunyata. 17

This causal relationship is expressed in its most general form as follows.

When this exists, that comes to be.

With the arising of this, that arises.

When this does not exist, that does not come to be.18

In examining the mechanism of pratītyasamutpāda at Ajanta, it is perhaps best to look provisionally at

one of its most significant, yet surprisingly overlooked features; the ‘bhavacakra’ or ‘Wheel of Life’, which

appears on the left of the veranda inside the vihara of Cave 17. (See FIG. 9.).

16 Mittal and Agrawal, op cit., p. 155. 17 Williams, Paul. 2000. Buddhist Thought. Routledge, p. 125. 18 Assutavā Sutta. 2005–2011. Trans. Thanissaro Bhikkhu, 2005–2011

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FIG. 10. - Ajanta Cave 17. ‘Wheel of Life’. Courtesy of: www.flickr.com Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/prasp/248917908/

The wheel itself (although now highly deteriorated) functioned as a comprehendible diagram of the

cyclical, yet causal nature of reality. It visually expounds the mechanisms of pratītyasamutpāda through

seven different causally connected sections that signify: ignorance, karma, samsara, the twelve nidānas,

impermanence, liberation, and, the Buddha. The significance of this wheel in transmitting core Buddhist

doctrine cannot be stressed enough. In fact, walking into any Lamaistic temple today one is likely to

discover an almost identical depiction of the Wheel of Life as the one at Ajanta, located in exactly the

same position as it is in Cave 17.

After recognizing the clear importance of the concept of pratītyasamutpāda at Ajanta, we find visual

expressions of it occurring repeatedly within a breadth of different caves. One area where we witness the

concept manifested surprisingly vividly, is upon the often-overlooked ceilings of caves such as Cave 1. (See

FIG. 11.).

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FIG. 11. - Ajanta Cave 1. Ceiling decoration. Photograph by Benoy Behl, (2005)

Indeed, whilst the vast majority of modern commentators of Ajanta have focused their investigations

almost exclusively towards more ‘narratively tangible’ visual occurrences such as the Jātakas, Buddha’s

life story and the serene bodhisattvas; the critically important concept of pratītyasamutpāda can perhaps

most vividly be seen in the ostensibly ‘decorative’ marginal areas of Ajanta. On this panel from the ceiling

of Cave 1, a creature that is (or was, or is becoming) a bull can be seen merging into the curving lines of

the surrounding flora. With the arising of the bull, the flora comes to be; and with the existence of the bull,

the flora comes to be. This phenomenon could also be read in reverse, whereby the fauna is evolving itself

into the form of a bull. Either way it is a perfect visual transmission of the interconnected, causally

governed, fluid-like chain of becoming that is pratītyasamutpāda.

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FIG. 12. - Ajanta Cave 1. Ceiling decoration. Photograph by Benoy Behl, (2005)

Particularly intriguing in this panel also, is the green bull on the right (See Fig. 12.), whose entire

physical ‘form’ is composed of negative space, or, in the Buddhist context, ‘Śūnyatā’, ‘voidness’ or

‘emptiness’. Indeed, within this green bull, we find a perfect visual counterpart to Buddha’s words to

Śāriputra in the Prajñāpāramitā Hrdaya Sutra, or ‘Heart Sutra’:

“Form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not

differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form […] all

dharmas are marked with emptiness; they are not produced or stopped, not defiled or immaculate, not

deficient or complete.”19

Pertinently, without the green ‘emptiness’ of the bull to juxtapose it with, there would be no delineated

physical ‘form’ to the fauna that surrounds it. This of course applies vice versa. As Stella Kramrisch notes

of this characteristic phenomenon of Ajanta, “space is form [and] as space penetrates into form, form is

space.”20 We find this visual phenomenon occurring in many other forms at Ajanta, be they human, plant

or animal. Indeed, an understanding of both the early doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda and the Mahāyānan

Prajñāpāramitā Hrdaya Sutra reminds the spectator of Ajanta to constantly read a figure in relation to

those that surround it.

19 The Prajñāpāramitā Hrdaya Sutra or ‘Heart Sutra’. Accessed at: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/heartstr.htm 20 Kramrisch, op cit., p. 5.

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Similar to the example of the ‘floral bulls’ of Cave 1, pratītyasamutpāda is also depicted within the birds’

heads that emerge from the makara mouths at the throne-backs of the Buddhas in the scenes in Cave 2, as

well as another scene in Cave 2 (See FIG. 13.), where the delicate, cloud like forms of lotus flowers seem

to visually evolve into geese as one’s eyes pan up the scene; artfully suggesting the doctrine of rebirth.

FIG. 13. - Ajanta Cave 2. Lotus Lake with Hunters and Wild Geese. Reproduction by Lady

Herringham, plate xxxiii, (1910)

We can also find profound expressions of pratītyasamutpāda in earlier Theravādan caves such the

Saddanta Jātaka in Cave 10. (See FIG. 14.). Throughout its rhythmic narrative, (as helpfully illustrated

by Sanyal in FIG. 15.), we find bodies all interlaced in a dynamic net-work of repetition; as Kramrisch

notes, “each of them doubly connected with the other one, caught within the web of rhythms which they

uphold.21” As Kramrisch later adds, “while they move in it, they knit its meshes.”22

21 Kramrisch, op cit., p. 32. 22 Kramrisch, op cit. p. 5.

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FIG. 14. - Ajanta Cave 10. Scene from the Saddanta Jātaka. Reproduction by John Griffiths and students from the Bombay School of Art, India, 1881-1883. Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Museum number IS.13-1885

FIG. 15. - Ajanta Cave 1. Illustration of scene from the Saddanta Jātaka, from Sanyal,

(1984)

Indeed, one of the mysteries about the paintings of Ajanta has always been, according to Ghosh, “their

power to captivate the eye and hold it on to the wall, yet not allowing it to rest still at a spot but

multiplying the focal points along with the continuous moving lines.” 23 With an established

understanding of pratītyasamutpāda, one might be better armed to decode the dynamic narratives of

Ajanta.

23 Ghosh, op cit., p. 12.

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FIG. 16. - Ajanta Cave 17. Yasodharā and Rahula before the Buddha. Photograph by Benoy

Behl, (2005)

As if often noted, logical notions of time, space and perspective are regularly inverted, ‘scrambled’, and in

many cases, completely ignored at Ajanta. Indeed, as in both Theravāda and Mahāyāna Buddhist ontology,

time and space are mere forms of sensibility interweaving with each other in a dynamic tapestry.

Therefore when they are transcended, it could be said that there is no time. In Cave 17 we witness one of

these rare occasions within the Ajanta murals, where a figure (in this case the Buddha) could be said to

have successfully transcended both. (See FIG. 16.) Indeed, the ethereally black empty space surrounding

the border of his frame may be read as his ‘breaking away’ from the boundaries of worldly space and time.

However, his wife, Yasodharā and his son, Rahula still appear to be a part of this realm, as demonstrated

by the way the line and colour of their forms overlap with the background behind them. Whilst Yasodharā

directs her son forward towards Siddhartha (the man she once recognized as her husband) with her left

hand, she pulls him back in fear of losing him the same way she lost Siddhartha with her right. The young

boy is frozen in awe; inevitably soon to become one of the Buddha’s most devoted disciples.

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The final concept that I wish to discuss in the context of Ajanta is that of anicca or ‘impermanence’; one of

the ‘three marks of existence’ posited in all forms of Buddhism alongside duhkha (unsatisfactoriness) and

anātman (non-selfhood); and furthermore, how it may relate to a curiously consistent convention

followed in many of the paintings at Ajanta whereby rocky surfaces appear in puzzling geometric patterns,

usually, beneath the feet of characters within a scene. (See FIG. 17+18.)

FIG. 17. - Ajanta Cave 17. Detail of ‘unstable’ surfaces. Photograph by Benoy Behl, (2005)

FIG. 18. - Ajanta Cave 1. Detail of ‘unstable surfaces’ in Mahajanaka Jātaka. Photograph by

Benoy Behl, (2005)

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Indeed, as part of the trilaksana the Buddha stressed that all manifested things or phenomena are

inseparable from ‘anitya’ or change. “All things arise and pass away,”24 he boldly stated. It seems a logical

interpretation therefore, to view these rocky foundations upon which so much of Ajanta rests as constant

reminders of the ultimately unstable nature of the manifest world.

Through close examination of its paintings, one understands the tremendous role Ajanta has played; not

only in spreading the Dharma across an incredible trajectory throughout Asia, but also in inventing a

veritable glossary of Buddhist visual language that was to be harnessed countless times, and in countless

foreign lands, no doubt beyond the scope of its early progenitors’ collective imaginations.

As illustrated through a relatively fractional handful of specific examples, this essay has discussed the

broad extent to which the cave paintings at Ajanta served as rich visual transmissions of Buddhist thought,

concepts and doctrine. Through the form, composition and iconography of the surviving paintings we

witness a clear attempt by the Ajanta artists to forge a profound spiritual connection with the spectator

through a visual language that is born distinctly out of Buddhist concepts and ontology.

Beyond loftier ideas of Buddhist transmission and legacy however; the paintings of Ajanta function quite

simply, as a means of brightening a flame that lies dormant within each and every sentient being- a flame

of insight, transcendence and compassion.

24 The Dhammapada: The Saying of the Buddha. 2008. Trans. Byron, Thomas. Rider & Co, London, ‘Impurity’.

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Buddhist Texts

Assutavā Sutta. 2005–2011. Trans. Thanissaro Bhikkhu. (Accessed at:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.061.than.html)

The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. 1995. Trans. Bhikkhu Ñaa. Namoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi.

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The Heart Sutra. 2006. Trans. Red Pine. Avalon Group; New Ed edition.

The Dhammapada: The Saying of the Buddha. 2008. Trans. Byron, Thomas. Rider & Co, London.

The Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya Sutra or ‘Heart Sutra’. Accessed at: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-

learning/heartstr.htm

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Vol. 29, No. 160 pp. 154-155+158-161. Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd.


Schastok, Sara Weisblat. (2000), Short Chronologies at Arm's Length: Ajanta and Beyond. Ars Orientalis,

Vol. 30, Supplement 1. Chāchājī: Professor Walter M. Spink Felicitation Volume (2000), pp. 7-14

Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the History of Art,

University of Michigan.


26

Schlingloff, Dieter. (1976), Kalyānakārin's Adventures. The Identification of an Ajanta Painting. Artibus

Asiae .Vol. 38, No. 1 (1976), pp. 5-28. Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers.


Spink, Walter M. (1985), Ajanta's Chronology: Solstitial Evidence. Ars Orientalis

Vol. 15, pp. 97-119. Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the

History of Art, University of Michigan.


Spink, Walter M. (1991) The Archaeology of Ajantā. Ars Orientalis

Vol. 21, pp. 67-94. Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the

History of Art, University of Michigan.


Spink, Walter M. (1975), Ajanta's Chronology: The Crucial Cave. Ars Orientalis

Vol. 10, pp. 143-169. Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of

the History of Art, University of Michigan.


Spink, Walter. (1989), Reviewed work(s): Ajanta Paintings: Identification and Interpretations by

Schlingloff, Dieter. Ars Orientalis . Vol. 19, pp. 119-120. Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The

Smithsonian Institution and Department of the History of Art, University of Michigan.


Spink, Walter M. (1968), Ajanta's Chronology: The Problem of Cave Eleven. Ars Orientalis

Vol. 7, (1968), pp. 155-168. Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and

Department of the History of Art, University of Michigan.


27

Weiner, Sheila L. (September - December 1976), Ajantā Iconography and Chronology. East and West

Vol. 26, No. 3/4, pp. 343-358. Published by: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO)

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29756316.

Documents

Learning to See': The Visual Dharma Transmission of the Ajanta Caves