Few monuments in the world have inspired as much admiration, scholarship and artistic devotion as the Buddhist cave temples of Ajanta. Hidden for centuries within the secluded Waghora valley of Maharashtra, these extraordinary caves preserve one of humanity's greatest achievements in architecture, sculpture and mural painting. Yet the survival of their artistic legacy owes as much to the dedication of nineteenth-century artists and scholars as it does to the anonymous masters who created them more than fifteen hundred years ago.
First published in two magnificent elephant-folio volumes in 1896 and 1897, John Griffiths' The Paintings in the Buddhist Cave-Temples of Ajanta remains one of the greatest illustrated books ever produced on Indian art. Created after thirteen years of painstaking seasonal labour, the work was the achievement of Griffiths together with his students at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art in Bombay – among them Pestonji Bomanji, who led the Ajanta copying team by 1880, and M.V. Dhurandhar, later the School's first Indian Director. At a time when photography could not faithfully reproduce colour, the team copied the murals by hand, preserving countless details that have since faded or disappeared from the cave walls themselves.
More than a century later, Griffiths' publication has acquired an importance its creator could scarcely have imagined. It is no longer simply an illustrated record of Ajanta – it has become one of the primary historical sources through which the monument itself is studied. The chromolithographic plates preserve invaluable evidence of paintings that have continued to deteriorate with the passage of time, making this work indispensable to art historians, archaeologists, conservators and students of Indian civilisation.
This landmark edition presents a faithful reproduction of Griffiths' original publication, enriched by an extensive editorial introduction that places the work within the broader history of Ajanta's rediscovery, preservation and interpretation. Drawing on archival sources and modern scholarship, the introduction traces more than two centuries of Ajanta studies. Central to this edition is a long-overdue restoration of credit to the Indian artists of the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art whose skill and perseverance made Griffiths' achievement possible.
Essential for libraries, museums, universities, researchers, collectors and lovers of Indian art, this edition restores one of the foundational works of Ajanta scholarship to its rightful place – both as a masterpiece of nineteenth-century publishing and as an enduring document in the history of world art.
