Ajanta
murals are famous all over the world as one of the finest examples of
art from a period that extends from 200 BCE to about 300 CE. These
famous murals were painted with natural colours on the interior and
exterior walls and ceilings of rock cut temples by artisans from
ancient times at Ajanta about 106 Km from the city of Aurangabad, in
Maharashtra state, India. These 30 rock-cut caves, attract over
three hundred thousand Indian tourists and 30,000 foreign tourists
every year.
The
caves at Ajanta are very old and are rapidly deteriorating with time.
The evidence suggests that the excavation of this monastery began
during period of Satvahana rule over Maharashtra in 3rd Century BCE.
( Evidence mainly comes from the writing style of characters in the
script used in the rock inscriptions and which are considered purely
Mouryan or emperor Asokan style.) Excavation work continued up to the
middle of Sixth century CE. A fragmentary inscription in cave no. 26
proves that the monastery was in use even up to 8th or 9th century CE
or during Rashtrakuta dynasty regime. With Ajanta monastery
construction or extension continuing for 700 years and it being used
for as long as 1000 or 1100 years, the extreme importance of this
monastery to the then Buddhist world and it's impact thereupon can
well-nigh be imagined.
The
rock cut Buddhist temples of Ajantha are located in a deep ravine on
the south side of a mountain range known today as Satamala or
Indyadhri, about half way up from the ravine bottom. No private
vehicles are allowed up to caves and one has to use special buses
provided by the Government, which drop you almost at the bottom of
ravine. Well paved steps have been provided to the cave entrances,
but the climb is rather steep. I remember that during my visit to the
caves I had to stop a few times to catch my breath on way up.
Two
types of visitors come to Ajanta. Majority of the visitors come here
as tourists and just walk through appreciating the ancient works of
art. These include large number of school children and holiday
makers. There is an another small group of tourists, who want to
view the caves at length and spend much time inside the caves.
Presently they find it difficult because of the large crowd of
visitors of the first category. Presence of such large number of
visitors each and every day also means that caves would have greater
concentration of carbon dioxide inside, which affects the paintings.
To
overcome both these difficulties, hardship to certain class of
visitors like small children and aged in approaching the caves
because of a steep climb and detrimental effect on paintings due to
presence of large number of visitors, Government of Maharashtra
envisaged a plan few years back. This plan included building of a
grand visitor centre at a cost of Rupees 720 Million, few Kilometers
away from the cave entrance. The approximate area of the Ajanta
visitors' centre is 3.23 hundred thousand sq m, while the floor area
is about 20,000 sq m, of which 6,000 sq m is the exhibition space.
Three cafeteria including one for the school children have been
built. The centre has a huge parking area, which can accommodate 280
cars, 20 Buses and 200 two wheelers.
There
would be an audio visual show at the centre that will narrate the
story of the caves. However the real attraction of the visitor centre
are the five galleries, where experts have recreated exact replicas
of cave Nos. 1, 2, 16 and 17 complete with the frescoes that adorn
the walls and ceilings of the caves. The idea is that majority of the
visitors would visit the center and avoid going up the caves.
The
replicated caves have been provided with panels and audio visual
guides that talk about the heritage and art in the caves. The
contract for this project was given to Industrial construction giant
L&T (larsen and Toubro) and consultation work was done by by
TCS(Tata Consulting Services) and Oriental Consultants, Japan.
The
replicas of the stone statues have been created from regular cement,
sand and a concoction of special chemicals by a Mumbai-based design
company, Superstone Koats. Explaining the methodology and technique
of making the statues, Managing Director of the company, Rakesh
Rathod, says that a basic skeletal frame of the statue is made, on
which the cement is sprayed with a special device. Before the cement
starts setting in, the sculptors start carving the cement. The
sculptors depend on digital photographs and their own skills to
create the statues. Once the cement is carved into an image, it looks
like a real stone statue. The sand used, has been imported from
Dubai.
The
technology behind creating the statues has been sourced from a US
company. A team of 70 international artists have created these
replicas after working on the project for the last three months.
Another project using the same technology has been used at a Mayan
archaeological site in Mexico.
The
centre would be opened for public visits from September 2013 and for
most of the casual visitors, Ajanta would no longer remain a tough
obstacle to visit and the serious visitors would find solitude and
would be able to spend long hours watching the ancient statues and
Frescoes. It would provide perfect orientation and would be a great
prelude in any case, before visiting the real caves
28th
August 2013
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