The Ajanta Caves: Ancient Paintings of Buddhist India - Softcover

Behl, Benoy K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0500285012 ISBN 13: 9780500285015

Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 2005

Synopsis

A potent and beautiful symbol of India's rich artistic past and a major treasury of Buddhist art. In 1819, a group of British soldiers on a hunting expedition chanced upon the Ajanta caves some 200 miles northeast of Bombay. Ranging in date from the second century BC to the sixth century AD, the exquisite Buddhist paintings and sculptures found there now rank among the world's most important cultural treasures. The murals were created using only the glow of lamps and candles, quite unlike the harsh light employed in modern professional photography. For this book, Benoy K. Behl has used long exposures that pick up natural ambient light, capturing the art for the first time in all its glory and luminosity. The early followers of the Buddha created an isolated haven where they could meditate in peace. Stonecutters carved out massive caves decorated with lithe and graceful figures, fashioning beams and rafters from the rock in imitation of wooden buildings. Painters worked on exquisite murals that depict scenes of princely processions, ladies with their handmaidens, bejeweled animals, ascetics in monasteries, fantastic birds and beastsall demonstrating a startling degree of sophistication. Ajanta provides virtually the only evidence remaining of painting styles that first developed in India and then traveled with the spread of Buddhism into the Himalayan regions, across Central Asia into China, and from there to Japan and Korea. Over 200 illustrations, 189 in color.

About this title

About the Author:

Benoy K. Behl is a graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India. His work on documentaries has informed his acclaimed photographic technique.

From Library Journal:

Some 2000 years ago, the first of the magnificent temples of Ajanta were carved directly into the great volcanic cliffs of the Waghora River in western India. In a series of creative bursts over the centuries, they were decorated with hundreds of subtle and beautiful murals depicting scenes from the lives of Buddha and the Buddhist cosmology. Although most of the other ancient temple murals of India disappeared long ago, those in Ajanta have survived in the dark of the cavelike temples. To further the murals' preservation and enhance the viewer's understanding of how beautiful they are in their original setting as seen by an oil lamp's dim light, the author has photographed the murals for the first time without using strong artificial lighting. Since Buddhist art spread with the wandering monks into Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, these murals are a fascinating glimpse at the wellspring of a great deal of Asian art. The 189 superb color photographs are complemented by a concise text and a series of explanatory line drawings and maps. Highly recommended.?David McClelland, Philadelphia
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0500285012
• ISBN 13: 9780500285015
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256