| Abstract: | An account of the development of wall paintings at Ajanta from the earliest phases to the last. The different caves and the influences that they exhibit in their art are analyzed. Thus, Caves IX and X carry examples of early Andhra painting, and it is suggested that the paintings in Cave IX may be an offshoot of Sunga art. Questions of subject style, chronology and succession, transitory stages, changes in the ethnic structure, and cultural affiliations are examined in the context of the political vicissitudes through the centuries, and through the Kshatrapa, Gupta, Vakataka, and other dynastic influences. It is concluded that all late Ajanta frescos belong to the Gupta tradition, that Ajanta was a Gupta art centre. Source of Abstract: Provided by Publisher |
