Site Name: Ajanta
Date: 451-499 CE
Subject: Veranda, pillar, racket, woman standing under tree
CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
Cave 20 is a richly colonnaded vihara or monastery on which work started in 470CE. The pilaster at the left end of the verandah contains a fragmentary inscription recording the gift of the mandapa by one Upendra. This cave had to be hastily dedicated and then abandoned because of the Asmaka takeover in the early 470’s. It has a difficult history since, more than Upendragupta’s other caves, it suffered from cutbacks during the Recession. As a result, parts of Cave 20’s main Buddha image had to be expediently completed with mud plaster just before work on the cave broke off in 471 CE. This vihara presents a new feature in its antechamber advancing into the hall. The pillars and pilasters of the verandah, while resembling those of Cave 1, have bracket figures of graceful sala-bhanjikas on each side of the capitals. The roof of the verandah has imitation beams and rafters. The design of the lintel of the door with two arches, in the firm of elephant’s trunk issuing from the mouths of makaras (sea creatures in Hindu mythology) is again an innovation. The capitals of the pillars’ antechamber support an entablature carved in panels with seven Buddhas accompanied by attendants. The hall has no pillars, and some of the cells are somewhat unfinished. Most of the paintings have disappeared.
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