The finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive painting that present emotion through gesture, pose and form.
400–650 CE
Hidden away in the hills of Northwest India, some 200 miles from the busy streets of Mumbai, emerge a magnificent jewel of art and religion: the Ajanta Caves. There are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE. The Ajanta cave paintings and rock cut sculptures are described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive painting that present emotion through gesture, pose and form. According to UNESCO, these are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art that influenced Indian art that followed. The caves were built in two phases, the first group starting around the 2nd century BC, while the second group of caves built around 400–650 AD according to older accounts, or all in a brief period of 460 to 480 according to Walter M. Spink.
