Editing Ajanta Caves (section)

===Foreigners in the paintings of Ajanta===
The Ajanta Caves painting are a significant source of socio-economic information in ancient India, particularly in relation to the interactions of India with foreign cultures at the time most of the paintings were made, in the 5th century CE (Common Era). According to Indian historian [[Haroon Khan Sherwani]]: "The paintings at Ajanta clearly demonstrate the cosmopolitan character of Buddhism, which opened its way to men of all races, Greek, Persian, [[Saka]], [[Pahlava]], [[Kushan (clan)|Kushan]] and [[Huna people|Huna]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sherwani |first1=Harron Khan |title=Dr. Ghulam Yazdani commemoration volume |date=1966 |publisher=Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute |page=186 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tK7de_DTsW8C}}</ref> Depictions of foreigners abound: according to Spink, "Ajanta's paintings are filled with such foreign types." They have sometimes been a source of misinterpretation as in the so-called "Persian Embassy Scene". These foreigners may reflect the Sassanian merchants, visitors and the flourishing trade routes of the day.<ref>''Ajanta History and Development'' Vol IV p.153 Fig.27</ref>

;The so-called "Persian Embassy Scene"
[[File:Ajanta Cave 1 first frescoe to the right of the entrance with three foreigners detail.jpg|thumb|400px|Upper part of the so-called "Persian Embassy Scene", with detail of the foreigners.]]
Cave 1, for example, shows a mural fresco with characters with foreigner faces or dresses, the so-called "Persian Embassy Scene".{{sfn|Spink|2007|p=29}} This scene<ref>Visible on Streetview [https://www.google.com/maps/@20.5524934,75.702265,2a,75y,243.85h,120.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sczdf3FBMVCcAAAQWjJFwRQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en here]</ref> is located at the right of the entrance door upon entering the hall.{{sfn|Spink|2007|p=29}} According to Spink, [[James Fergusson (architect)|James Fergusson]], a 19th-century architectural historian, had decided that this scene corresponded to the Persian ambassador in 625 CE to the court of the Hindu [[Chalukya dynasty|Chalukya]] king [[Pulakeshin II]].{{Sfn|Spink|2009|p=132}} An alternate theory has been that the fresco represents a Hindu ambassador visiting the Persian king [[Khusrau II]] in 625 CE, a theory that Fergusson disagreed with.{{Sfn|Spink|2007|p= 29}}<ref>Jas. Fergusson (1879), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25196825 On the Identification of the Portrait of Chosroes II among the Paintings in the Caves at Ajanta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215172716/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25196825 |date=15 December 2018 }}, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Apr. 1879), pages 155–170</ref> These assumptions by colonial British era art historians, state Spink and other scholars, has been responsible for wrongly dating this painting to the 7th century, when in fact this reflects an incomplete Harisena-era painting of a Jataka tale (the Mahasudarsana jataka, in which the enthroned king is actually the [[Buddha]] in one of his previous lives as King) with the representation of trade between India and distant lands such as [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanian near East]] that was common by the 5th century.{{Sfn|Spink|2009|p=132}}{{Sfn|Spink|2007|p=27}}<ref>Anand Krishna (1981), An exceptional group of painted Buddha figures at Ajanta, The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Volume 4, Number 1, pages 96–100 with footnote 1;<br>{{cite journal|last1= Schlingloff|first1= Dieter|title= Kalyanakarin's Adventures. The Identification of an Ajanta Painting|journal=Artibus Asiae| volume=38| issue=1|year=1976| pages=5–28|jstor=3250094 |doi=10.2307/3250094}}</ref>

;International trade, growth of Buddhism
[[File:Ajanta foreigner 1.jpg|thumb|A foreigner in [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] dress drinking wine, on the ceiling of the central hall of Cave 1, likely a generic scene from an object imported from Central Asia (460–480 CE)<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/><ref name="DK">{{cite book|title=DK Eyewitness Travel Guide India|date=2017|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited|isbn=9780241326244|page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TTcnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT126}}</ref> The men depicted in these paintings may also have been [[Bactria]]ns, at that time under [[Hephthalite]] rule.<ref name="MC40">{{cite journal |last1=Compareti |first1=Matteo |title=Some Examples of Central Asian Decorative Elements in Ajanta and Bagh Indian Paintings |journal=The Silk Road |date=2014 |volume=12 |page=41 |url=https://www.academia.edu/10060191}}</ref>]]

Cave 1 has several frescos with characters with foreigners' faces or dresses. Similar depictions are found in the paintings of Cave 17. Such murals, states Pia Brancaccio, suggest a prosperous and multicultural society in 5th-century India active in international trade.<ref name="Brancaccio 81">{{cite book |last1=Brancaccio|first1=Pia|title=The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad: Transformations in Art and Religion |year=2010 |publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004185258|pages=80–82, 305–307 with footnotes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_4pXm7dD78C&pg=PA81}}</ref> These also suggest that this trade was economically important enough to the Deccan region that the artists chose to include it with precision.<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/>

Additional evidence of international trade includes the use of the blue lapis lazuli pigment to depict foreigners in the Ajanta paintings, which must have been imported from Afghanistan or Iran. It also suggests, states Brancaccio, that the Buddhist monastic world was closely connected with trading guilds and the court culture in this period.<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/> A small number of scenes show foreigners drinking wine in Caves 1 and 2.{{refn|group=note|In Cave 1, there are also four "foreign" [[bacchanalian]] groups (one now missing) at the middle of each quadrant of the elaborate ceiling painting.{{sfn|Spink|2007|p=27}} Cave 2 shows two foreigners, possibly from Central Asia, sharing wine. These scenes, interprets Brancaccio, show what are probably foreign ewers from [[Sogdia]] or [[Persia]] were used to consume imported wines. A text from the [[Periplus of the Erythrean Sea]] era states that silverware vessels and wine was one of the main products imported for kings of [[Barygaza]].<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/> Sassanian bowls dated to about 400 CE have been discovered in other parts of the Indian subcontinent.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Read |first=Charles Hercules |title=XI.—On a Silver Sassanian Bowl of about the year 400 A. D., found in the NW. Provinces of India |journal=Archaeologia |volume=63 |year=1912 |pages=251–256 |doi=10.1017/s0261340900011656 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1551870}}</ref> A copper plate in the [[Kanheri caves]] near [[Mumbai]] indicates that foreigners were active in trade in the city of [[Kalyan]] in the 5th century CE.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brancaccio|first1=Pia|title= The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad: Transformations in Art and Religion|year=2010|publisher =BRILL|isbn= 978-9004185258|page= 86|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=m_4pXm7dD78C&pg=PA86}}</ref>}} Some show foreign [[Near East]] kings with wine and their retinue which presumably add to the "general regal emphasis" of the cave.{{sfn|Spink|2007|p=27}} According to Brancaccio, the Ajanta paintings show a variety of colorful, delicate textiles and women making cotton. Textile probably was one of the major exports to foreign lands, along with gems. These were exported first through the [[Red Sea]], and later through the [[Persian Gulf]], thereby bringing a period of economic and cultural exchange between the Indians, the Sasanian Empire and the Persian merchants before Islam was founded in the Arabian peninsula.<ref>{{cite book|last1= Brancaccio|first1=Pia|title=The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad: Transformations in Art and Religion|year= 2010|publisher= BRILL|isbn= 978-9004185258|pages= 83–87 with footnotes|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=m_4pXm7dD78C}}</ref>

[[File:Ajanta Cave 17 frescoe.jpg|thumb|left|Cave 17: many foreigners are included as devotees attending the Buddha's descent from Trayastrimsa Heaven<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/>{{refn|group=note|Actual photograph are available on Google.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=m_4pXm7dD78C&pg=PA305 here], or [https://www.google.com/maps/@20.5536289,75.6995709,2a,50.3y,252.37h,86.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXMNqbnhNZc0AAAQfCOmgaQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en full view]</ref>}}]]
While scholars generally agree that these murals confirm trade and cultural connections between India and Sassanian west, their specific significance and interpretation varies.<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/>{{sfn|Spink|2007|p=27}} Brancaccio, for example, suggests that the ship and jars in them probably reflect foreign ships carrying wine imported to India. In contrast, Schlinghoff interprets the jars to be holding water, and ships shown as Indian ships used in international trade.<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/>

Similar depictions are found in the paintings of Cave 17, but this time in direct relation to the worship of the [[Buddha]]. In Cave 17, a painting of the Buddha descending from the Trayastrimsa Heaven shows he being attended by many foreigners. Many foreigners in this painting are thus shown as listeners to the Buddhist [[Dharma]].<ref name="Brancaccio 81 and Note 27"/> The ethnic diversity is depicted in the painting in the clothes ([[kaftans]], Sasanian helmets, round caps), hairdos and skin colors. In the Visvantara Jataka of Cave 17, according to Brancaccio, the scene probably shows a servant from Central Asia holding a foreign metal ewer, while a dark-complexioned servant holds a cup to an amorous couple. In another painting in Cave 17, relating to the conversion of [[Nanda (Buddhism)|Nanda]], a man possibly from northeast Africa appears as a servant.<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/> These representations show, states Brancaccio, that the artists were familiar with people of [[Sogdia]], [[Central Asia]], [[Persia]] and possibly [[East Africa]].<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/>{{refn|group=note|The expansion of Buddhism into Gandhara and Central Asia began during the 1st millennium BCE. Some early Buddhist worship halls in western India included [[Yavanas]] (Greeks) as donors.<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/> Inscriptions recording such donations are found at [[Karla Caves]], [[Pandavleni Caves]] or [[Manmodi Caves]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bhandarkar|first1=D. R.|title=Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture|date=1989|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120604575|page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUAvuYu-otEC&pg=PA60}}</ref><ref name="Brancaccio 81 and Note 27">{{cite book|last1=Brancaccio|first1=Pia|title=The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad: Transformations in Art and Religion|date=2010 |publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004185258|page=81 and Note 27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_4pXm7dD78C&pg=PA81}}</ref> }} Another hypothesis is offered by Upadhya, who states that the artists who built Ajanta caves "very probably included foreigners".{{sfn|Upadhya|1994|p=135}}

{{Clear}}
<gallery widths="125px" heights="125px">
File:Ajanta Cave 2 Veranda ceiling foreigners.jpg|Cave 2, ceiling: foreigners sharing a drink of wine<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brancaccio|first1=Pia|title=The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad: Transformations in Art and Religion|date=2010|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004185258|page=307|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_4pXm7dD78C&pg=PA307}}</ref>
File:Ajanta foreigner 2.jpg|Cave 1, ceiling: another Persian-style foreign group, one of the four such groups (one now missing) at the center of each quadrant of the ceiling{{sfn|Spink|2007|p=27}}
File:Ajanta Cave 17 foreign servant.jpg|A servant from Central Asia, Cave 17.<ref name="Brancaccio 81"/>
File:Ajanta Cave 17 Descent from Heaven Left Wall foreigners detail.jpg|Cave 17: foreigners attending the Buddha<ref name="PB305">{{cite book |last1=Brancaccio |first1=Pia |title=The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad: Transformations in Art and Religion |date=2010 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004185258 |page=305 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_4pXm7dD78C&pg=PA305}}</ref>
File:Ajanta Cave 17 Descent from Heaven Left Wall horsemen detail.jpg|Cave 17: foreigners on horses attending the Buddha<ref name="PB305"/>
File:Ajanta Cave 1, Padmapani attendant, Lady in blue dress with tiara.jpg|Lady in blue dress with tiara, of possible "Persian origin"."<ref>"The central figure is of colossal size and, whether it represents the Bodhisattva Padmapani or Prince Siddhartha, it bears the marks of both high rank and great spiritual stature. (...) The handmaid in long blue velvet coat and high embroidered cap appears, from her features, to be of Persian origin..."{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia Of World Art Vol. 1 |date=1959 |publisher=McGRAW-HILL |location=New-York, Toronto, London |page=165 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.462549/page/n113/mode/2up}}</ref>
</gallery>