Editing Ajanta Caves (section)

== Cave 16 ==
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| image2 = 003 Cave 16, Main Shrine (34298723855).jpg
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| footer = Entrance stairs to the single-storey Cave 16, with stone elephants and front with pillars (left). Inside hall with seated Buddha statue (right).<ref>[https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/ajanta-cave-no-16/EQHGrRl_AS01EA ajanta-cave-no-16]  ''Google Arts & Culture''</ref>
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Cave 16 occupies a prime position near the middle of site, and was sponsored by Varahadeva, minister of [[Vakataka]] king [[Harishena]] (r. {{circa|475|500 CE}}). He was a follower of [[Buddhism]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=History and Sociology class sixth |publisher=Maharashtra rajya pathyapustak nirmiti va sanshodhak mandal |year=2021 |edition=5th |location=Pune |page=44 |language=mr |script-title=mr : इतिहास आणि नागरिकशास्त्र इयत्ता सहावी |trans-title=9 . Ancient kingdoms of South India |script-chapter=mr : ९ . दक्षिण भारतातील प्राचिन राज्ये |type=High-school Textbook}}</ref> He devoted it to the community of monks, with an inscription that expresses his wish, may "the entire world (...) enter that peaceful and noble state free from sorrow and disease" and affirming his devotion to the Buddhist faith: "regarding the sacred law as his only companion, (he was) extremely devoted to the Buddha, the teacher of the world".{{sfn|Spink|2007|pp=179–181}}<ref>For a full translation of the inscription see: {{cite book |last1=Burgess |first1=James |last2=Bhagvānlal |first2=Indrājī |title=Inscriptions from the Cave-temples of Western India: With Descriptive Notes &c. |date=1881 |publisher=Government Central Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/inscriptionsfro00indrgoog/page/n148 71]–73 |url=https://archive.org/details/inscriptionsfro00indrgoog}}</ref> He was, states Spink, probably someone who revered both the Buddha and the Hindu gods, as he proclaims his Hindu heritage in an inscription in the nearby [[Ghatotkacha Cave]].{{sfn|Spink|2007|p=180}} The 7th-century Chinese traveler [[Xuan Zang]] described the cave as the entrance to the site.{{sfn|Spink|2007|pp=179–181}}

Cave 16 (19.5 m × 22.25 m × 4.6 m)<ref name=asicave1to29/> influenced the architecture of the entire site. Spink and other scholars call it the "crucial cave" that helps trace the chronology of the second and closing stages of the entire cave's complex construction.<ref>Walter M. Spink (1975), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629287 Ajantā's Chronology: The Crucial Cave] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215173420/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629287 |date=15 December 2018 }}, Ars Orientalis, Vol. 10 (1975), Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution, pp. 143–169</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Dhavalikar | first=M. K. | title=Sri Yugadhara: A Master-Artist of Ajanta | journal=Artibus Asiae | volume=31 | issue=4 | year=1969 | doi=10.2307/3249338 | pages=301–307| jstor=3249338 }}</ref> Cave 16 is a Mahayana monastery and has the standard arrangement of a main doorway, two windows, and two aisle doorways.{{sfn|Spink|2007|pp=181–183}} The veranda of this monastery is 19.5 m × 3 m, while the main hall is almost a perfect square with 19.5 m side.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=83–84}}

{{multiple image|total_width=300|caption_align=center
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| image1   = Ajanta cave inscription of Varahadeva.jpg
| image2   = Ajanta inscription of Varahadeva (translation).jpg
| footer=Cave 16 inscription of Varāhadēva, with translation
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[[:Commons:Category:Cave 16, Ajanta|The paintings in Cave 16]] are numerous. Narratives include various Jataka tales such as Hasti, Mahaummagga and the Sutasoma fables. Other frescos depict the conversion of Nanda, miracle of Sravasti, [[Sujata (milkmaid)|Sujata]]'s offering, Asita's visit, the dream of Maya, the Trapusha and Bhallika story, and the ploughing festival.{{sfn|Upadhya|1994|pp=9–14, 68–84}}{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=ix–xiii}} The Hasti Jataka frescos tell the story of a Bodhisattva elephant who learns of a large group of people starving, then tells them to go below a cliff where they could find food. The elephant proceeds to sacrifice himself by jumping off that cliff thereby becoming food so that the people can survive.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=83–84}}{{refn|group=note|Similar morals and virtue-defining fables are also found in Jainism and Hinduism, in texts such as the ''[[Panchatantra]]''. The antiquity of these tales has been a subject of scholarly debate. The pictorial narrative in Ajanta Caves attests to their influence by the 5th century.<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. T. |last1=Francis|first2=E. J. |last2=Thomas |title=Jataka Tales|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYjRAwAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-41851-6|pages=1–10, 168, 389 with footnotes}}</ref> In some cases such as the Sibi and Hasti Jataka, the Ajanta friezes more closely match the version of the same fables found in Hindu or Jain texts, suggesting a common root and shared heritage.<ref>{{cite book|first=G |last=Yazdani | year=1964 |title= Ajanta: Part I|publisher= Oxford University Press|pages= 4–6|oclc= 2980379}}</ref>}} These frescos are found immediately to the left of entrance, in the front corridor and the narrative follows a clockwise direction.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=83–84}}

The Mahaummagga Jataka frescos are found on the left wall of the corridor, which narrates the story of a child Bodhisattva.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=84–85}} Thereafter, in the left corridor is the legend surrounding the conversion of Nanda – the half brother of the Buddha. The story depicted is one of the two major versions of the Nanda legend in the Buddhist tradition, one where Nanda wants to lead a sensuous life with the girl he had just wed and the Buddha takes him to heaven and later hell to show the spiritual dangers of a sensual life.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=84–85}} After the Nanda-related frescos, the cave presents Manushi Buddhas, followed by flying votaries with offerings to worship the Buddha and the Buddha seated in teaching asana and ''dharma chakra mudra''.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=85–86}}

The right wall of the corridor show the scenes from the life of the Buddha.<ref name="Dehejia1997p210">{{cite book|first=Vidya |last=Dehejia|title=Discourse in early Buddhist art: visual narratives of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lb6fAAAAMAAJ|year=1997|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|isbn=978-8121507363|pages=210–229}}</ref>{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=86–88}} These include Sujata offering food to the Buddha with a begging bowl in white dress, Tapussa and Bhalluka next to the Buddha after they offering wheat and honey to the Buddha as monk, the future Buddha sitting alone under a tree, and the Buddha at a ploughing festival.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=86–88}} One mural shows Buddha's parents trying to dissuade him from becoming a monk. Another shows the Buddha at the palace surrounded by men in ''dhoti'' and women in ''sari'' as his behavior presents the four signs that he is likely to renounce.<ref name="Dehejia1997p210"/>{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=86–88}} On this side of the corridor are also paintings that show the future Buddha as a baby with sage [[Asita]] with [[rishi]]-like looks.<ref name="Dehejia1997p210"/>{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=86–88}} According to Spink, some of the Cave 16 paintings were left incomplete.{{sfn|Spink|2009|p=74}}
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File:018 Cave 16, Bodhisattva Painting (34141156892).jpg|The conversion of sensuality-driven Nanda to Buddhism, left corridor<ref>{{cite book|first=G |last=Yazdani|year=1964|title= Ajanta: Part III|publisher= Oxford University Press|pages= 49–56|oclc= 2980379}}</ref>
File:017 Cave 16, Colonnaned Hall (34141160892).jpg|Palace scene fresco, right corridor of Cave 16<ref name="Dehejia1997p210"/>
File:027 Cave 16, Buddha on Almsround (33914608490).jpg|The Buddha in [[asceticism]] stage, getting sweet milk-rice from Sujata{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=86–88}}
File:019 Cave 16, Buddha Paintings, with Inscription (34141152992).jpg|Manushi Buddhas painting in Cave 16{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=86–88}}
File:Ajanta Cave 16 King paying hommage to the Buddha.jpg|Cave 16: king paying homage to the Buddha
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