అజంతా గుహలు cave16

Cave 16: this point commands a good view of a river. Down the slope, the entrance gate is carved with an elephant on either side. Here the stairway leading to the river has survived in part. This could have been the original approach to the temples. The architectural beauty of this cave temple makes it one of the most striking in the series. An inscription on the left end wall outside the verandah gives its history; a Minister of the royal court had it excavated as a gift for the best of ascetics. The date is late sixth century. The verandah has octagonal columns. The roof of the front aisle carries the contour of beams and rafters, an imitation of wooden construction of the time. The square windows for lighting the hall and the Buddha image make an architectural feature. Not many of the paintings have survived. The nativity story started in cave 2 is continued here in number of panels on the right wall. 

       Young Gautama goes to school and practices archery. He witnesses a ploughing contest and the sight of the tired toilers in the fields and the bleeding oxen throws into his first meditation about life’s realities, at the extreme right of the panel there is Maya Gautam’s mother, fast asleep, and the circular pavilion at its left shows: he royal couple possibly discussing the strange dream. The masterpiece in the cave is painting next to the front plaster of the left wall, famed as the dying princess. There is agony in the drooping, sightless eyes, the helpless abandon of fingers, and the farewell gestures. The emotion of the attendant beside the princess is well expressed in their faces and attitudes. The princess is possibly Sundari, the broken  hearted wife of the Buddha’s half-brother Nanda, who left his palace and gave himself to monastic life, 

J. Griffiths has commented. 

For pathos and sentiment and the unmistakable way of telling its story, this picture, I consider, cannot be surpassed in the history of art, the Florentines could have put better drawing and the Venetians better color, but neither could have throws greater expression into it.