Ajanta Cave 17
Cave 17 is in its design very much like Cave 16, and belongs to the same, but it has in addition an ante-chamber. Its entrance, with the decorative panels and the female figures embellishing the corner projections, is considered to be a thing of supreme artistic value. This cave temple has the largest number of paintings in good condition and they include several outstanding ones. Murals decorate the walls and ceilings of the portico and the walls of the great hall and corridors.
On the portico’s left wall, there is the wheel of life depicting life in its different phases. This wheel is still a living symbol in Tibetan monasteries. The adjoin wall has an intimate posture in a place pavilion; the prince holds out a cup of wine to his wife. Then the two proceed to the city gate. There is a large grouping of many human types.
The flying gandharvas and apsaras are fascinating in their sensitive lines and their true purity form. A mural on the portico’s right wall illustrates the subjugation of a charging elephant, one of the eight great miracles attributed to the Buddha. Devadatt a, the Buddha’s jealous cousin, made three attempts the Great Ones’s life. When the first two failed, he set an enraged elephant against the Master. The beast as it came charging, stopped and prostrated itself in submission. Inside the cave, the front corridor, left, presents a famous Jataka story.
The Bodhisattva was once born in the Himalayan region as an elephant, the chief of a herd of eight thousand. He had two wives and happened to offend one of them. With the prayer to be reborn as a fair maiden and to become the queen of Banaras (Varanasi), so that she could avenge herself, she pined away and died. Her wish was fulfilled. In her position of power, she commissioned a hunter to bring to her the tusks of chief of the herd. The hunter having hit the elephant with a poisoned arrow struggled in vain to saw off the huge tusks. The Bodhisattva himself came to the hunter’s aid, pulling of his tusks and offering them as a gift to the queen. At right of them queen was stuck with remorse and died heart-break. The theme of self-sacrifice recurs often in these jataka pictures. One that covers a great a part of the left wall is based on the same idea and it also depicts a figure of great cruelty. The story goes that: the bodhisattva, born as price Visyanara, had a cravibf to give in charity whatever he possessed. When he had parted with the state elephant, which had the magical power to bring rain, the people of the kingdom forced him into exile. With him in the chariot went his wife and two little children. On his way he made a gift of chariot horses. Now they had to go on foot. When another supplicant appeared and asked for the children. The prince gave them away as well. The painting which presents this theme is badly preserved; but the supplicant’s intention depriving the exiled prince of his last treasures makes a striking portrayal. A large composing on the right wall is recognized as a great work of art. The story recounts Prince Simhala conquest of Ceylon. Shipwrecked, Simhala with his five hundred merchants was cast ashore on an island of ogresses who noticed them in the guise of beautiful women. Howell, amid the revelry, Simhala sensed danger and forthwith made his escape on the back of a flying white horse who was a Bodhisattva. One of the ogresses went in pursuit. Her beauty captivated the ruler of Simhalas homelands. He married her and was presently devoured by his spouse. Simhala rose to the occasion. He chased out the ogre and then led an expedition on the enchanted island where his men had perished. Conquest followed and the victor becomes the king of island. The sections of this painting threat treat realistically a line of boats ashore, a charming group of dancers, a procession of elephants and finally the coronation.
This painting is a work of art of great worth for the ensemble of the grandiose composition. The pilaster next to this mural has an attractive toilet scene in which a young, self-absorbed woman holds a mirror before her face and beatifies herself. The back wall of the anti-chamber contains the excellent mother and Child before Buddha. The Master’s return to his palace door, a begging bowl in his hand. The baby boy he had left is now seven year old. At his mother’s bidding, young Rahula begs of the Buddha his rightful inheritance as a son. Havell wrote in its exquisite sentiment it is comparable with the wonderful Madonna’s of Giovani Beliini Lawrence Binyon called this picture: One of the most unforgettable things in Ajanta, adding that no picture any-where more profoundly impressive in grandeur and in tenderness.
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