One of the oldest surviving murals of the Indian subcontinent, the Ajanta Caves were carved in the 4th century AD out of volcanic rocks. It consists of a set of 29 caves carved in a horse-shoe shape. These caves are quite popular for their exquisite mural paintings that took around four to five centuries to complete under the reign of the Mauryan Empire. Murals in Cave No. 9 and 10 belong to the Sunga period, while the rest belong to the Gupta period. The paintings in Cave No. 1 and 2 are the most recent of the caves in Ajanta.
The walls of the caves have both murals and fresco paintings (painted on wet plaster). They use the tempera style, i.e., use of pigments. The paintings portray human values and the social fabric along with styles, costumes, and ornaments of that period. Emotions are expressed through hand gestures. The unique feature of the paintings is that each female figure has a unique hairstyle. Even animals and birds are shown with emotions.
The common themes of these paintings range from Jataka stories to the life of Buddha and elaborate decorative patterns of flora and fauna. Graceful poses of humans and animals adorn the walls of the caves. The medium of painting was vegetable and mineral dyes. The outline of the figures is in red ochre, with contours of brown, black, or deep red.
Some important paintings at Ajanta are scenes from the Jataka stories of the Buddha’s former lives as a Bodhisattva, the life of Gautama Buddha, and paintings of various Bodhisattvas in tribhanga pose in Cave No. 1 such as Vajrapani (protector and guide, a symbol of Buddha’s power), Manjusri (manifestation of Buddha’s wisdom), and Padmapani (Avalokitesvara), symbol of Buddha’s compassion. Other notable paintings include The Dying Princess in Cave No. 16, the scene of Shibi Jataka where King Shibi offered his own flesh to save the pigeon, and the scene of Matri-Poshaka Jataka where the ungrateful person saved by an elephant gives out his whereabouts to the king.