Cave 12, an early Buddhist vihara (monastery) is one of the oldest hewn and most probably belongs to first century BCE. In its own heyday, the cave probably housed many of the monks associated with the great chaitya hall, Cave 10. An inscription on the back wall of the monastery records the gift of a cell by one merchant called Ghanamadada. The walls of the hall above the cell-doors are ornamented with chaitya window motifs connected at places by a railing motif; the right wall is decorated with stepped merlons of Assyrian pattern.

The monastery once bore paintings of which hardly anything now exists. The cave’s pillar-less hall is surrounded by carefully cut cells, each with two stone beds and that once must have housed at least twenty-four monks. The cave must have provided a ready model for the new excavators, who copied its typically astylar, shrineless plan quite directly during the first years of Vakataka.

During the time of the site’s renewal in the fifth century, this vihara must have been put to use as a residence for the craftsmen, which is suggested by the typically “late” red-brick plaster on the walls that is associated with the Vakataka building activity. 

References:

• Debala Mitra, Ajanta, 1964.
• Walter Spink, Ajanta: A Brief History and Guide, 1990.
• Walter Spink, Volume 18/5 Ajanta: History and Development: Cave By Cave, 2007.