Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 167

MAY, 1873.]
:
of them before sending them to be exhibited-and finally burnt and all we possess of this magnificent series of facsimiles are woodcuts, on a very small scale indeed, in Mrs. Manning's Ancient India-of two of the pictures and of eight detached fragments of others. Fortunately five or six of Major Gill's large paintings had not been sent to the Crystal Palace, but were afterwards found among the stores and are now hung in the corridors of the India Office.
NOTES AND MISCELLANEA.
Most of the frescoes have suffered much since they were copied by Major Gill,-some have almost, if not entirely, disappeared. Still representations were made to Government to attempt rescuing some portion of what still remains, and Mr. Griffiths of the Bombay School of Art was accordingly deputed to visit them and report on the feasibility of copying them. His report has not been published in extenso, but the following extracts from it are of interest :
"They are not frescoes in the true acceptation of the term, nor do they appear to correspond to the Italian Fresco secco,' where the entire surface of the wall was first prepared for painting on, and then thoughly saturated with lime-water before the painting was commenced, as the groundwork upon which the paintings at Ajanţâ were executed would, I think, hardly admit of this treatment. The groundwork, which appears to be composed of cowdung with an inimixture of pulverized trap, was laid on the roughish surface of the rock to a thickness varying from a quarter to half an inch. To increase the binding properties of this ground, rice-husks were introduced in some instances, especially in the ceilings. Over this ground was laid the intonaco of thin, smooth plaster, about the thickness of an egg-shell, upon which the painting was executed. This thin coating of plaster overlaid everything, the mouldings, the columns, the ornamental carving, and the sculptures,--and enough remains to show that the whole has been closed.
"Many of the paintings, as far as the hand could reach, have been wantonly defaced, hacked, and scratched in every direction, leaving not a square inch perfect. Bats by the thousand have done their work of destruction by clinging to the upper portions of the walls, and, to complete the havoc, water was percolating through the rock, converting some of the paintings on the walls and ceilings into a black unintelligible mass. It is surprising how these paintings have existed for so long under such treatment, when others which were not half their age have perished despite the care that was taken of them.
"The paintings in Cave No. I. are in a better state of preservation, and are more intelligible
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than those in any of the other caves. There are fragments of figures, some of them larger than life-size, of which the faces and hands are painted with vigour and expression; and although they are only shadows of what they were originally, still, I think, they are worthy of being copied. Portions of the ceiling to this cave are in a very good state of preservation, and were there nothing else remaining of the paintings this ceiling alone would be well worth copying, as being a marvellous piece of work and a school of art in itself. It is divided into panels, which are filled with painted fruit, such as mangoes, pineapples; in others are elephants, buffaloes; parrots,-all most delicately drawn. The panels are divided by bands filled in with the fret-guilloche and the patera, of infinite variety in design.
"I need hardly remark that the work of copying will be attended by many difficulties. But I am of opinion that no effort should be spared to obtain records, however slight, of what remains of the paintings of these famous caves. A few years hence the originals will be entirely obliterated; and I consider it will be a loss to art if some record be not made, even of the fragments that remain, of the works of these old Buddhistic artists, who evidently were keenly alive to the pleasures derived from, and who thoroughly understood the principles of, Decorative Art in its highest and noblest sense."
The Government of India having sanctioned an expenditure of Rs. 5,000 for this purpose, Mr. Griffiths and a party of students went to Ajanțâ early in the cold season, and it is satisfactory to learn that all of the ceiling worth copying, and four pieces of the wall-painting of Cave I. have been successfully copied. It is to this cave also that most of the paintings at the India House belong.
To the paintings at Ajanta, however, belongs only a part of the interest attaching to the remarkable remains there: in the architecture of the various caves is to be read a remarkably extended record of the history of the development of that art during a period of from five to eight centuries, and which could be fully supplemented from other groups of Buddhist remains in the Bombay Presidency and contiguous provinces. Materials for the illustration of Buddhist art at Ajanta and elsewhere exist at the India House and with private individuals, and in April 1871 J. Fergusson, D.C.L., F.R.S., laid before the Secretary of State a proposal for completing and utilizing these, and offering to edit the work for publication. This offer was at once accepted and referred to the Bombay Government to arrange for completing the materials and carrying into effect, but nothing has since been done in the matter.