Cave 14 is a large Vakataka vihara (monastery) that started around 475 CE and was sponsored by an identified patron from the Vakataka period. It is located directly above the Cave 13, the early Buddhist cave, where space was still available late in the site’s development. It is reached through an incomplete cave by an ancient staircase. Cave 14 is one of the two more ambitious Vakataka undertakings (the other one being Cave 28) started after the Asmaka feudatories took over the site a few years before Harisena’s death in 477 CE. However since it was not begun until a year or before emperor Harisena died, its development was soon aborted. The cave’s cistern chamber was one of its first features completed. The decoration of the pillars of the verandah is unique in the whole Ajanta site. The top corners of the central doorway leading up to the hall are adorned with sala-bhanjikas with attendants. 

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.