Editing Ajanta Caves (section)

== Cave 30 ==
In 1956, a landslide covered the footpath leading to Cave 16. In the attempts to clear and restore the walkway, a small aperture and votive stupa were noticed in the debris by the workers, in a location near the stream bed.<ref name="Le 112"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://vmis.in/upload/Assets/Archive/379/1.jpg |title=A view of Cave 30, photographed by Walter Spink |access-date=31 October 2017 |archive-date=7 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107003356/http://vmis.in/upload/Assets/Archive/379/1.jpg |url-status=live }}</ref> Further tracing and excavations led to a previously unknown Hinayana monastery cave dated to the 2nd and 1st century BCE.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|p=106}}<ref>Walter Spink (1966), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629225 Ajantā and Ghatotkacha: A Preliminary Analysis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215224207/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629225 |date=15 December 2018 }}, Ars Orientalis, Vol. 6 (1966), pp. 135–155</ref> Cave 30 may actually be the oldest cave of the Ajanta complex.<ref name="Le 112">{{cite book|last1=Le|first1=Huu Phuoc|title=Buddhist Architecture|date=2010 |publisher=Grafikol|isbn=978-0984404308|page=112|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jb364g4BvoC&pg=PA112}}</ref> It is a 3.66 m × 3.66 m cave with three cells, each with two stone beds and stone pillows on the side of each cell. The cell door lintels show lotus and garland carvings. The cave has two inscriptions in an unknown script. It also has a platform on its veranda with a fine view of the river ravine below and the forest cover. According to Gupte and Mahajan, this cave may have been closed at some point with large carefully carved pieces as it distracted the entrance view of Cave 16.{{sfn|Gupte|Mahajan|1962|p=106}}