Site Name: Ajanta
Date: 99-1 BCE
Subject: Fa?de, standing Buddha in varadamudra
CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
Cave 9 is one of the oldest chaitya (sanctuary) and belongs to early Buddhism dated to first century CE. The cave once had applied wooden fittings in its now more elaborate arch, it has a rock cut door and windows and is decorated with typically early quasi-structural forms. The cave was excavated at a time when imagery of the Buddha was disallowed; it was newly decorated with multiple iconic forms in the site’s later fifth century phase. The chaitya hall contains paintings of different periods. Some of these belong to the first century CE, while others are assigned to fifth century CE. The main subjects painted are: ‘A Naga King with his Attendants’, on the inner side of the front wall above the left window, ‘A group of votaries approaching a Stupa’, on the left wall, ‘A Monastery’, on the rear wall towards the left, Two scenes from the life of the Buddha, on the rear wall to the right; ‘The Animal Frieze’, above the pillars of the nave on the left-hand side; and Buddhas (in various attitudes), on the triforium. Cave 9 was probably also the basic source for Upendragupta’s Cave 19 although the later cave is far more elaborate.
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