Ajanta Paintings : Restored
Some of Ajanta paintings housed inside the Ajanta Gallery of Telangana State Museum in hyderabad are being restored with the collaboration of Noor International Microfilm Centre and the Department of Heritage Telangana.
- The Ajanta caves, an archaeological site consisting of around 30 rock cut caves, situated in Aurangabad (Maharashtra).
- The unfinished caves, of which five (caves 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29) are chaitya grihas (sanctuary) and the rest, sangharamas or viharas (monastery).
- The caves at Ajanta are excavated out of a vertical cliff above the left bank of the river Waghora in the hills of Ajanta.
- These are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art that influenced Indian art that followed.
- The caves were built in two phases-
- The first period spans the second and first centuries BCE, attributed the patronage of the Satavahana Dynasty and it is dominated by Hinayana/Theravadin followers of Buddhism.
- The second was during the late fifth CE, possibly during the reign of the Vakataka king Harisena.It is dominated by the Mahayana followers of Buddhism.
