PAINTINGS
AJANTA
CAVE PAINTINGS
the many-splendoured delights of Ajanta compiled by Subramanian Swaminathan
e-mail: sswami99@gmail.com
September 2007
Portrayal of Women
Women of Ajanta are the art connoisseur's
delight. The Ajanta artist has painted the whole range of women characters:
ladies of court and their maids, dancers, common women in their house-hold
chores. The woman was the theme that gave full scope for expression
of creative genius for the Ajanta artist.
The artist had succeeded in reproducing
the soft roundness of her breasts, the curves of her hips, the turn of
her head, the gestures of her hands and the slanting glance of her eyes.
It is intriguing that most of Ajanta heroines are depicted naked, or in
near nudity, while all the others in the same scene are fully clothed.
Clothed in Nakedness
Conversion of Nanda
Cave 1
Queen Shivali
Maha-janaka Jataka, Cave 1
Nanda's wife, the central figure,
is naked whereas all the maids are fully clothed.
Maya-devi, Siddharta’s Mother
Nativity of the Buddha, Cave
2
The Dying Princess
Conversion of Nanda, Cave 16
Black is Beautiful
Many heroines of Ajanta are dark
complexioned. Perhaps contemporary taste included black as an attractive
complexion for skin.
Shakti Pandara, Cave 1
Black Apsaras
Cave 17
Consort of Padma-pani
Padma-pani panel, Cave 1
Common People
Village Woman attending Coronation
Vishvantara Jataka, Cave 17
Woman braiding Hair
Vishvantara Jataka, Cave 17
We wonder why very sensuous women
were painted at all in these religious caves
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