Excavated Halls Became Painted Spaces
During the fifth and sixth centuries CE, renewed work at Ajanta made walls, columns and ceilings into painted spaces. Images developed around entrances, halls and supports within places of worship and residence.
Caves 1, 2, 16 and 17 retain substantial paintings. Entrances and windows supplied light, including reflected light from the ground and opposite slopes; illumination varied across the interiors.
Preparing the Ground before Painting
Paint was applied over prepared layers rather than bare rock. Studies record mud grounds, finer surfaces and pigment layers, with earth, sand, grit and plant fibers supporting work over uneven stone.
Ground thickness varied with the rock. Finer surfaces carried outlines and colors, including red and yellow ochres and carbon black. Stoneworking, plaster preparation and painting formed connected crafts.
References: [2]
Stories Included Details of Life
Buddhist figures and narratives include attendants, musicians, animals, vessels and buildings. Gesture, dress, hair and movement organize stories, while boats, courts and plants give scenes concrete settings.
Griffiths’s field copies and descriptions record lotus-bearing imagery in Cave 1, figures and ceiling ornament in Cave 2, and musicians in Cave 17. Narrative brought detailed observation into planned compositions.
References: [1]
Paintings and Architecture Changed Together
Seepage, unstable plaster and surface alteration affected the paintings. Nineteenth-century copies record visible imagery, while material analysis identifies grounds, pigments and later interventions.
Together with cave layouts, these records trace use of architectural space and subsequent change. This phase joins Buddhist activity with stonework, plastering and painting, preserving details of collective building and image-making.