10 Interesting Ajanta Caves Facts

Ajanta Caves Facts

Ajanta Caves Facts

  • The Ajanta Caves are mentioned in the memoirs of several medieval era Chinese Buddhist travellers to India and by a Mughal-era official of Akbar era in the early 17th century.
  • The Ajanta Caves are one of the oldest UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India.
  • On 28 April 1819 a British officer named John Smith, of the 28th Cavalry, while hunting tigers discovered the entrance to Cave No. 10 when a local shepherd boy guided him to the location and the door.
  • The second period of construction was carried out during the rule of Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty.
  • The Ajanta Caves are approximately 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state of India.
  • The Ajanta caves are home to paintings and sculptures that depict the heavy influence of Buddhist philosophy and religious teachings of the Buddha.
  • The Ajanta Caves constitute ancient monasteries and worship-halls of different Buddhist traditions carved into a 75-metre (246 ft) wall of rock.
  • The Ajanta Caves are generally agreed to have been made in two distinct phases, the first during the 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE, and a second several centuries later.
  • The caves are over 2,000 years old, the Buddha statues had been added close 600 years later.
  • The caves of Ajanta were excavated from a horse-shoe shaped cliff along river Waghora.
Ajanta Caves Facts
Interesting Ajanta Caves Facts