Editing Ajanta Caves (section)

== Cave 10 ==
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| footer = Exterior view and interior hall of Cave 10<ref>[https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/streetview/ajanta-cave-no-10/MQFuFVppaC4MXQ ajanta-cave-no-10]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} ''Google Arts & Culture''</ref>
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Cave 10, a vast prayer hall or [[Chaitya]], is dated to about the 1st century BCE, together with the nearby [[vihara]] cave No 12.{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=1}}{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=135–137}} These two caves are thus among the earliest of the Ajanta complex.{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=1}} It has a large central apsidal hall with a row of 39 octagonal pillars, a nave separating its aisle and stupa at the end for worship. The stupa has a ''pradakshina patha'' (circumambulatory path).<ref name=asicave1to29/>{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=135–137}}

This cave is significant because its scale confirms the influence of Buddhism in South Asia by the 1st century BCE and its continued though declining influence in India through the 5th century CE.{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=135–137}} Further, the cave includes a number of inscriptions where parts of the cave are "gifts of prasada" by different individuals, which in turn suggests that the cave was sponsored as a community effort rather than a single king or one elite official.{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=135–137}} Cave 10 is also historically important because in April 1819, a British Army officer John Smith saw its arch and introduced his discovery to the attention of the Western audience.<ref name=asicave1to29/>

;Chronology
Several others caves were also built in [[Western India]] around the same period under royal sponsorship.{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=1}} It is thought that the chronology of these early Chaitya Caves is as follows: first Cave 9 at [[Mahakali Caves|Kondivite Caves]] and then Cave 12 at the [[Bhaja Caves]], which both predate Cave 10 of Ajanta.<ref name="Le 108">{{cite book|last1=Le|first1=Huu Phuoc|title=Buddhist Architecture |date=2010|publisher=Grafikol |isbn=978-0984404308|page=108|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jb364g4BvoC&pg=PA108}}</ref> Then, after Cave 10 of Ajanta, in chronological order: Cave 3 at [[Pitalkhora]], Cave 1 at [[Kondana Caves]], Cave 9 at Ajanta, which, with its more ornate designs, may have been built about a century later,{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=1}} Cave 18 at [[Nasik Caves]], and Cave 7 at [[Bedse Caves]], to finally culminate with the "final perfection" of the Great Chaitya at [[Karla Caves]].<ref name="Le 108"/>

;Inscription
[[File:Ajanta Cave 10 dedicatory inscription.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Ajanta Cave 10 dedicatory inscription]]
Cave 10 features a Sanskrit inscription in [[Brahmi script]] that is archaeologically important.<ref name=asicave1to29/> The inscription is the oldest of the Ajanta site, the [[Brahmi]] letters being paleographically dated to circa the 2nd century BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sivaramamurti |first1=C. |title=Vijaynagra Paintings |publisher=Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting |isbn=9788123030005 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buqSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP31}}</ref> It reads:{{refn|group=note|The inscription has been connected to the [[Satavahana]] ruler [[Vasishthiputra Pulumavi]] (c. 170 CE), who is also known for inscription at the [[Nasik Caves]], although there are disagreements since he is very posterior to the 1st century BCE.}}
{{Blockquote|𑀯𑀲𑀺𑀣𑀺𑀧𑀼𑀢𑀲 𑀓𑀝𑀳𑀸𑀤𑀺𑀦𑁄 𑀖𑀭𑀫𑀼𑀔 𑀤𑀸𑀦𑀁<br>''Vasithiputasa Kaṭahādino gharamukha dānaṁ''<br>"The gift of a cave-façade by Vasisthiputra Katahadi."|Inscription of Cave No.10.{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=1}}<ref>{{cite book |first1=James |last1=Burgess|first2=Bhagvānlal |last2=Indrājī|title=Inscriptions from the Cave-temples of Western India: With Descriptive Notes &c.|date=1881|publisher=Government Central Press|pages=67–68 |url=https://archive.org/stream/inscriptionsfro00indrgoog#page/n143/mode/2up}}</ref>}}

;Paintings
[[:Commons:Category:Cave 10, Ajanta|The paintings in cave 10]] include some surviving from the early period, many from an incomplete programme of modernisation in the second period, and a very large number of smaller late intrusive images for votive purposes, around the 479–480 CE, nearly all Buddhas and many with donor inscriptions from individuals. These mostly avoided over-painting the "official" programme and after the best positions were used up are tucked away in less prominent positions not yet painted; the total of these (including those now lost) was probably over 300, and the hands of many different artists are visible. The paintings are numerous and from two periods, many narrating the Jataka tales in a clockwise sequence.{{Sfn|Spink|2007|pp= 101–103, 137–139, 184}} Both Hinayana and Mahayana stage paintings are discernable, though the former are more faded and begrimed with early centuries of Hinayana worship.{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=2–3, 135–137}} Of interest here is the Saddanta Jataka tale – the fable about six tusked elephant, and the Shyama Jataka – the story about the man who dedicates his life serving his blind parents.{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=135–137}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Dieter |last=Schlingloff|title=Studies in the Ajanta paintings: identifications and interpretations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RsbqAAAAMAAJ |year=1987 |publisher=South Asia Books|isbn=978-8120201736|pages=24–27}}</ref>{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|pp=293–295}} According to Stella Kramrisch, the oldest layer of the Cave 10 paintings date from about 100 BCE, and the principles behind their composition are analogous to those from the same era at Sanchi and Amaravati.{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994|pp=293–295}}

{{Clear}}
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*Plate 3* == Ajunta-- Interior of Chaitya Cave, No. 10.jpg|Cave 10, condition in 1839<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/019xzz000000590u00005000.html Ajunta. Interior of Chaitya Cave No 10] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123135903/https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/other/019xzz000000590u00005000.html |date=23 November 2022 }}, Dibdin, Thomas Colman (1810–1893) (1839), British Library Archives</ref>
File:089 Cave 10, Buddha Drawing on Column (33896473480).jpg|The Buddha in long, heavy robe, a design derived from the art of [[Gandhara]]<ref>{{cite journal |journal=The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies |volume=4 |date=1981 |number=I |url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/viewFile/8536/2443 |title=An Exceptional Group of Painted Buddha Figures at Ajanṭā}}</ref>
File:Ajanta Caves 71.jpg|Later painting with devotional figures, on pillars and ceiling
File:106 Cave 10, Paintings in Arches (33438399444).jpg|Paintings of Buddhas and [[Bodhisattva]]s on the arches
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