Ajanta Caves Maharashtra, India

The Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE. The caves include paintings and sculptures described by the government Archaeological Survey of India as the finest surviving examples of Indian art, particularly painting, which are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, with figures of the Buddha and depictions of the Jataka tales.

The caves were built in two phases starting around the 2nd century BCE, with the second group of caves built around 400–650 CE according to older accounts, or all in a brief period between 460 to 480 according to the recent proposals of Walter M. Spink. The site is a protected monument in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, and since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The caves are located in the Indian state of Maharashtra, near Jalgaon, just outside the village of Ajinthā, about 59 km from Jalgaon railway station on the Delhi – Mumbai line of the Central Railway zone, and 104 km from Aurangabad. They are 100 km from the Ellora Caves. The Ajanta caves are cut into the side of a cliff that is on the south side of a U-shaped gorge on the small river Waghora, and although they are now along and above a modern pathway running across the cliff they were originally reached by individual stairs or ladders from the side of the river. The area was previously heavily forested, and after the site ceased to be used the caves were covered by jungle until accidentally rediscovered in 1819 by a British officer on a hunting party. They are Buddhist monastic buildings, apparently representing a number of distinct monasteries or colleges.

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