Editing Ajanta Caves (section)

== Cave 19 (5th century CE) ==
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| footer = Entrance façade and inside worship hall, Cave 19, sponsored by king Upendragupta.{{Sfn|Spink|2007|pp=9, 237–238}}
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Cave 19 is a worship hall (chaitya griha, 16.05 × 7.09 m) datable to the fifth century CE. The hall shows painted Buddha, depicted in different postures.<ref name=asicave1to29/>{{Sfn|Spink|2007|pp=9, 237–238}} This worship hall is now visited through what was previously a carved room. The presence of this room before the hall suggests that the original plan included a mandala style courtyard for devotees to gather and wait, an entrance and facade to this courtyard, all of whose ruins are now lost to history.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=101–102}} Cave 19 is one of the caves known for its sculpture. It includes Naga figures with a serpent canopy protecting the Buddha, similar to those found for spiritual icons in the ancient Jain and Hindu traditions. It includes Yaksha dwarapala (guardian) images on the side of its vetayana (arches), flying couples, sitting Buddha, standing Buddhas and evidence that its ceiling was once painted.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=101–102}}

Cave 19 drew upon on the plan and experimentation in Cave 9.{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=26–27, 47–48}} It made a major departure from the earlier Hinayana tradition, by carving a Buddha into the stupa, a decision that states Spink must have come from "the highest levels" in the 5th-century Mahayana Buddhist establishment because the king and dynasty that built this cave was from the Shaivism Hindu tradition. Cave 19 excavation and stupa was likely in place by 467 CE, and its finishing and artistic work continued into the early 470s, but it too was an incomplete cave when it was dedicated in 471 CE.{{sfn|Spink|2009|pp=26–27, 34–35, 47–48, 56}}

The entrance facade of the Cave 19 worship hall is ornate. Two round pillars with fluted floral patterns and carved garlands support a porch. Its capital is an inverted lotus connecting to an ''amalaka''. To its left is standing Buddha in ''varada hasta mudra'' with a devotee prostrating at his feet. On right is a relief of woman with one hand holding a pitcher and other touching her chin.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=101–102}}{{sfn|Spink|2007|pp=44–46, 131–137, 231–239}} Above is a seated Buddha in meditating mudra. Towards the right of the entrance is the "Mother and Child" sculpture.<ref>[http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ic/id/6726 Mother and Child, Cave 19] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428041327/http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ic/id/6726 |date=28 April 2017 }}, Washington University</ref>{{refn|group=note|The "Mother and Child" theme is found in other caves, such as in the painting of Cave 17. These show the father Buddha with a begging bowl, with his son and wife looking up to him. Some show a towering figure of the Buddha looking below, with a small inset with the mother and child looking up. These images are interpreted as they offering food to him, or alternatively as the Buddha giving his son the begging bowl as his inheritance. The artwork signifies the belief that human values and spirituality is highest exchange across human generations.<ref>{{cite book|first=V A |last=Smith|title=Art of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WQ9gYUuP5acC&pg=PA137| year=2012|publisher= Parkstone|isbn= 978-1-78042-880-2|pages=137 with footnote}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=G |last=Yazdani|title=The early history of the Deccan, Vol. 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_D9uAAAAMAAJ|year=1961|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=766}}</ref>}} A figure with begging bowl is the Buddha, watching him are his wife and son.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=101–102}}{{sfn|Spink|2007|pp=44–46, 131–137, 231–239}}

The worship hall is apsidal, with 15 pillars dividing it into two side aisles and one nave. The round pillars have floral reliefs and a fluted shaft topped with Buddha in its capitals. Next, to the Buddha in the capitals are elephants, horses and flying apsara friezes found elsewhere in India, reflecting the style of the Gupta Empire artwork.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=102–103}} According to Sharma, the similarities at the [[Karla Caves]] Great Chaitya, built in the 2nd century CE, suggest that Cave 19 may have been modeled after it.<ref name="Sharma">{{cite book|last1=Sharma|first1=Ramesh Chandra|title=Bharhut Sculptures|date=1994|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn= 978-8170173083|page=51|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pIiOsQSUbBwC&pg=PA51}}</ref>

The walls and the ceiling of the side aisles inside the worship hall are covered with paintings. These show the Buddha, flowers, and in the left aisle the "Mother and Child" legend again.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=102–103}}

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File:Ajanta cave 19 plan.jpg|Cave 19 plan suggests that it once had a courtyard and additional artwork{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=101–102}}
File:Engravings in pathway of Ajanta.JPG|[[Nagaraja]] in ''ardhaparyanka asana'', with his wife holding lotus and wearing ''mangalasutra''{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=101–102}}
File:013 Cave 19, Buddha Meditating (33535639164).jpg|The nave has 15 pillars with Buddha reliefs{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=102–103}}
File:027 Cave 19, Buddha Paintings (34219246102).jpg|Buddha paintings in the side aisle of Cave 19{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|pp=102–103}}
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