Ajanta, History and Development: Arguments About Ajanta (Handbook of Oriental Studies Handbuch Der Orientalistik 2, 18-2)

349 Pages·2006·1.27 MB·English

by  Walter M. Spink

AJANTA
ARGUMENTS ABOUT AJANTA
HANDBOOK OF ORIENTAL STUDIES
HANDBUCH DER ORIENTALISTIK
SECTION TWO
INDIA
INDIEN
edited by
J. BRONKHORST
VOLUME 18/2
AJANTA: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
ARGUMENTS ABOUT AJANTA
AJANTA: HISTORY AND
DEVELOPMENT
VOLUME TWO
ARGUMENTS ABOUT AJANTA
BY
WALTER M. SPINK
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2006
Cover illustration: Ajanta Cave 1, front wall “Persian Embassy”, detail 477.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISSN 0169-9377
ISBN-13:978 90 04 15072 0
ISBN-10:90 04 15072 2
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CONTENTS
VOLUME IIA. ARGUMENTS ABOUT AJANTA
Chapter One A discussion of H. Bakker’s The Vakatakas 3
Chapter Two Cave 26 as an inaugural monument .......... 22
Chapter Three Cave 26’s complicated development ............ 54
Chapter Four Cohen’s “Possible Histories” ........................ 97
Chapter Five Scholarly contributions to Maharashtra
Pathik .............................................................. 115
VOLUME IIB. PATTERNS OF PATRONAGE
PART I: PATRONAGE: CONSISTENT VS. COLLAPSING
Ajanta differs from most other Buddhist sites, generally created as
community undertakings, in that it was purely “elitist”, developed by
less than a dozen major patrons, who planned it with great care in
essentially one great burst of enthusiasm. This enthusiasm turned to
desperation immediately after Harisena’s death, when the patrons
anxiously rushed their shrine images to completion, in order to secure
the merit from so doing. During the fifteen years or so that the site
flourished under the aegis of these proud donors, including the
emperor Harisena himself, no “outsiders” ever could donate a single
thing. But once the great patrons had rapidly departed from the
collapsing site during the disastrous reign of Harisena’s successor, the
monks still resident there, along with local devotees, briefly sponsored
a helter-skelter spate of votive donations, also to make merit while
they could. After about 480 this activity probably stopped completely,
the craftsmen having gone away. The monks continued to live in
some of the caves for perhaps as much as another decade after
which the site was totally abandoned, except for the use of a few
cells by Saivite sadhus and the like in later centuries.
Chapter Six Patterns of Patronage at Ajanta:
Consistent vs. Collapsing .............................. 149
Chapter Seven Locating Intrusions in Time ........................ 158
Chapter Eight Could Any Intrusions Date Before
Mid-478? ........................................................ 161
Chapter Nine Caves 9 and 10: Their Redecoration
and their Intrusions Excavations:
Dead or Alive.................................................. 167
vi contents
Chapter Ten Crises and Cave 1 .......................... 174
Chapter Eleven The Breakdown of Patronage in the
Period of Disruption ........................ 192
PART II: PATRONAGE: THE HINAYANA CAVES
WITH EMPHASIS ON THEIR REDECORATION IN VAKATAKA TIMES
Although we can assume that, being so readily available, the old
Hinayana viharas and caitya halls would have been used both for
residence and worship when excavation work began again at Ajanta
in about 462, it appears that no one troubled to redecorate or
refurbish them until the new Vakataka phase was well underway—
perhaps not until the very last year of Harisena’s reign. The fact
that these efforts came all too late is evidenced by the manner in
which they soon had to be brought to a halt, due to the political
situation. After this, “intrusive” donors took over, filling most of the
still available areas with their votive offerings. All of these developments
contribute to our knowledge of Ajanta’s turbulent history.
Chapter Twelve Patronage of the Hinayana Caves:
Considerations .................................. 199
Chapter Thirteen Cave 10: Redecoration .................... 204
Chapter Fourteen Cave 10: Intrusions: Summary ...... 221
Chapter Fifteen Cave 10: The Aisle Paintings:
Original and Intrusive .................... 230
Chapter Sixteen Cave 10: Façade Intrusions ............ 233
Chapter Seventeen Cave 12: .......................................... 235
Chapter Eighteen Cave 9: ............................................ 239
Chapter Nineteen The Anomalous Painting on
Cave 9’s Rear Wall ........................ 245
Chapter Twenty Cave 9: Triforium Paintings;
Aisle Wall Paintings ........................ 251
Chapter Twenty-One Cave 9: Palimpsests and other
Transformations .............................. 257
Chapter Twenty-Two Cave 9: Intrusions on Pillars .......... 259
Chapter Twenty-Three Cave 9: Façade Intrusions .............. 262
Chapter Twenty-Four Cave 9: Considerations about
Usage.................................................. 266
Appendix Ajanta’s Inscriptions .............................................. 273
VOLUME IIA
ARGUMENTS ABOUT AJANTA

CHAPTER ONE
A DISCUSSION OF H. BAKKER’S THE VAKATAKAS
The Vakatakas: A Study in Hindu Iconology, by Hans Bakker (Groningen,
1997) is an impressive exposition of important Vakataka sculptures,
only recently being given their due, and of their revealing religious
and political context. However, some of Bakker’s conclusions are
highly controversial, particularly with regard to Vakataka history in
the late years of the dynasty. I shall attempt to show how a very
close—in fact, approximately year by year—analysis of the remark-
able developments at Ajanta (and related caves) can lead to a revi-
sion of such commonly held views. At the same time, this should
greatly magnify the image of the great emperor Harisena, who (in
my view) was responsible for the startling, and final, florescence of
the great Vakataka empire in central India during his brief reign
from about 460 through about 477 A.D.
Too long regarded as poor relations of the Guptas, the Vakatakas
themselves, under the powerful Harisena, were in fact the final spon-
sors and guardians of the so-called Golden Age.1 However, when
the great emperor Harisena died, the world of central India sud-
denly was disrupted, and the Golden Age suddenly ended. This
became evident almost immediately at Ajanta, dependent as it was
upon courtly patronage.
By the end of 478, Ajanta’s long established patronage had totally
collapsed; and by the early 480s, the huge empire itself, which
Harisena, through war, marriage, inheritance and intrigue, had put
together, had been broken back into the constituent parts which he
had gradually welded together as he extended his domains from the
eastern to the western sea.2 And that was the end of the Vakatakas.
1 To parallel this statement, I have taken the liberty of slightly revising the label-
ing of the map of India in this period, to give the Vakatakas (at least during
Harisena’s reign, equal status with the Guptas.
2 This spread of empire is evident from the listing of territories in his minister’s
(Varahadeva’s) Cave 16 inscription, verse 18; see Volume 1; the territories which
he (using Bakker’s term) “stood above” stretch from the eastern to the western sea.