Site Name: Ajanta
Date: 462-480 CE
Subject: Porch, entrance door, Lower half
CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
Cave 15 was begun very early in the Vakataka phase - 463 CE. It was modeled directly on the simple astylar Early Buddhist Cave 12. Its cells, porch doorway, and even its Buddha image were well underway in 468 CE, but work on them was peremptorily interrupted by the Recession. Nearly a decade later all of these elements were reworked in a more up-to-date style. The Buddha image got rushed to completion in early 478 CE before Harisena’s death but the cave remained essentially unpainted and in fact little used.
The images on the left rear wall of the astylar hall, both once painted, are typical intrusions of 479 – 480 CE. There are eight cells on two sides of the hall. There are figures of Buddha in two panels on the back wall of the antechamber. The back wall of the shrine is carved with an image of Buddha seated on a simhasana. There are traces of painting on the roof of the antechamber and shrine.
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