Spink, Ajanta History and Development Vol. 3The_Arrival_of_the_Uninvited

Cover illustration: Aj a nta Cave 9, showing intrusive Buddha, 479. Published with courtesy of the Michigan Asian Art Archives.

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C O NTENTS

.Cave .Cave Cave Cav e

2 1 1

Intrusions vs. programmed paintings ......... . Inti·usl·ons 1.11 the orch ••••••• • • • •••••••• • • • •• • ••••• • • • •• Intrusions in tbe sbriu e ·-- -w-----.... .... .. ...... .. .. _ Upper 6 Origina1 and intrusive phases compared .. . . Srine antechamber and sh rine ..... ... . ·------- ·· ·· Rear wall fi ures ........................................... . Ri ht front shrinelet .................................... .. Ri ht rear shrinele t .................................. .. .. .. Court shrinelets left and ricrht .................. .. _ ____u_ L _ ___ _ _ sbr:1·ue. _ _ _ __ __l _et __ . • ..................... • .......... , ..... ~t "011rt I.e. Rio·ht court shrine1et .......... .. ........ .... ........ .. .. .. Tbe main shrine ..... ... ........ ... ..... . .. .. .. . ... . .. .. .. . . Porcb .. -~-------------Cave 1 Intrusions l utrll.Sive ....._ _...... .. ......... .. . _ ....... ... .. .. .... _ .. ... .. _ Cave 9A- 9ll Ca.ve l OA Iutrusi,,e .... ......... .... ......... ................. ........... .. .. Intrusions ........................................................ Cave l l Tn tr:u s1ve . .Cave 12A .... .-··-··-· .......... ..... ._.._.._.. ......... .... --·-·--·--. Cave l5_ Intrusions CavP. .L6. I utn1sions . . .___... . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .._..... .. .-.. . . . . ....- ·· .. ........ C ave l l l utrnsious • • •• •••• ••• • • •• •••• ••• •••• •••• •• ••••• •• •• ••• •••• •• •• ••• • Cave 19. Intrusions ...---·..-·...... ......... ...---·--·................---·--· Cave 2il In tru si on s • •• • • • • ••• • • •• • • • • ••• • • • •• • • • ••••• • •• • • • ••••• •• • • • • ••••• Ca.ve 21 Intrusions •• •••• • • • •• •• •••• •• •• • •• •• •• •• •••• • •• • • •• •••• • •• • • •• •••• Intrusions Cave 22 Cave 21 Intrusions Court • • • • ••• • •••• • • • •••••••• • • • •••••••• • • • ••••• Cave .21: Intrusions C ourt •••• • • • •••••••• • • • •••••• • • • • • •••••••• • • • •• Intrusions ........................................................ Cave 2.6. Ca.ve 26 Fa ade Intr,."'lSl.OnS ... ...................................... . Cave 2.6. Ambulator II1ti.,ISI.ons "' ................................. . Gha.totka cba. viha.ra. Intru sions .......... ........... .

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77 79 83

86 98 99 105

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l l7 122 126 131 16] 168

172 189

200 206 226 26 1

CAVE 2

INTRUSIONS VS. PROGRAMMED PAINTINGS

This analysis, placed at the beginning of this volume on Ajanta's intrusive phase, or Period of Disruption, is intended to show where and how the intrusions given by individual donors donors quite different from the site's original patrons fit into the total development of the caves. In Cave 2, such an analysis clearly reveals how logically one can distinguish the "original" from the added ("intrusive") programs, even though the latter are typically careless of the original patron's well-laid plan of significant decoration. The following is excerpted from the author's earlier Ajanta: A Briif History and Guide and has been written to guide students through the point by point development of the painting program in this splendid cave, which started in such an orderly fashion, and ended (as the site itself ended) so expediently. Entitled: DO YOUR OWN ANALYSIS, this is actually a stepby-step guide to understanding the relationships between "original" and "intrusive" work.

Do YOUR owN A NALYSi s!

You may be interested in critically reviewing the manner in which the sequence of events claimed to underlie the "Short Chronology" is reflected in the development of work in the caves. If so, the paintings of Cave 2, all assigned here to the last four years of activity at the site (4 77-480), can provide you with a test case. In analyzing the progress of the painted decoration in Cave 2, you will probably want to estimate the number of painters involved, decide what might be a reasonable time span for the work accomplished, and note the character of the painting as well as how much of the cave was actually finished. Finally, decide if changes in the style and/ or iconography reveal a relationship between the decoration of the cave and the historical circumstances that allegedly controlled it.

2

CAVE 2

477: Site still flourishing under Harisena's overlordship, with feudatory control of the region by the Asmakas. Cave 2's excavation having been essentially completed by 4 76, its plastering, and then its painting, began early in 4 7 7. All of the decoration of the porch and roughly half of the painting in the interior hall was acc01nplished during this final year of Harisena's reign. ' t\Tork on the beautifully organized ceiling proceeded generally rearward. As soon as these upper areas had been completed, the painting of the pillars and of the side aisle walls was started, working from the upper levels downward and from front to back. H owever, work on this carefully planned program was suddenly disrupted when Harisena died. On the left wall, the "narrative" decoration ends with the clearly unfinished Birth of the Buddha scene. At this point the wall beyond, although plastered, was still unpainted, as were all the walls in the rear aisle, as well as the dark front wall. As for the ceiling decoration, before its careful program was disrupted at the end of 477, the painters had already finished that of 'the shrine antechamber as well as those in the adjacent Nidhi and Hariti shrinelets to left and right. Indeed, the latter shrinelet had just been fully decorated when Harisena died, but neither the main Buddha shrine, nor the walls of the shrine antechamber, nor the rest of the Nidhi shrinelet had been painted by this time. Early 4 78: The "Period of Anxious Consolidation". Halting their overall programs, the site's patrons rush to finish their main Buddhas. Aware that a war for the control of the empire was looming, patrons throughout the site were now n1shing to finish only the most essential portions of their caves. Thus the patron of Cave 2, abandoning work on the lower priority narrative murals, con centrated on painting the shrine; this had not been possible before because the Buddha image had not yet been finished. The already carved shrine doorway would also have been finished by the painters, along with the shrine. 1 At the same time, the painters completed the all-too-hurried "Vajrapani" guarding the antechamber entrance at the right, as well as the similarly slap-dash paintings in the Nidhi shrinelet. Then, although the cave was still sadly incomplete, the involvement of the original patron came to an abrupt end.

1

Provide footnote text.

INTRUSIONS VS. PROGRAMMED PAINTINGS

3

Mid-4 78: The "Period of Disruption" begins in the "Vakataka" section of the site, along the main scarp. The original "V akataka" patrons, forced to leave the site, lose all control of their caves. New donors invade them with intrusions. By the end of 478, the Asmaka patrons, responsible for the caves in the site's western extremity, were suddenly forced to leave also, their courtly support cut off by the dernands of the developing insurrection led by the Asmakas against the Vakataka emperor. As the site's economic base and its administrative controls collapsed, new donors, previously excluded from sharing in the site's elitist patronage, "invaded" this and other caves with their own meritmaking votive images, placing them in the most desirable locations still available. Probably the first such intrusion made in Cave 2 was the Sravasti Miracle, so grandly disposed on the highly visible wall area of the rear wall just to the left of the antechamber entrance. Had his time not run out, the original patron would surely have put a "Padmapani" in this important area to match the "Vajrapani" to the right. The artist responsible for the Sravasti Miracle probably painted the small Eight Buddhas at the right of the shrine doorway, just at eye level, while another 1nore ambitious "intruder" took over all the rest of these high priority wall surfaces for his Myriad Buddhas. This makes a veritable radiation chamber of the antecha1nber, the walls of which had already been plastered but were still not painted when Harisena died. Interestingly, the disposition of the Eight Buddhas' inscription proves that it was not written until after the M yriad Buddhas were started. T hus both groups are essentially contemporaneous, surely dating early in the Period of Disruption, probably starting here in tnid-478, when such high priority locations would still have been available. 480: The "Period of Disruption" continues, but it will soon rapidly end, leaving 1nany available locations still untouched by intrusions. Cave 2's antechamber pillar bases had already been plastered, in 477; and now an inscribed Buddha image was painted on one of them in the cursory style of the nearby T housand Buddhas. The desirability of a location close to the shrine equally explains the addition of a similarly inscribed image in the unadorned corner of the left rear wall's Sravasti Miracle, resulting in an intrusion being painted upon an intrusion! At the same time (in 480) an inscribed row of Buddhas was placed just below the much larger group painted (in 4 79) toward the rear of the already plastered left aisle wall. A few

4

CAVE 2

other areas in the cave (notably the front wall!) could have had similar intrusions; but here, as in all of the other caves at the site, time all too rapicily ran out. This concludes our " mini-survey'' of four years of vigorous painting activity in one particular cave at the site an analysis, allowed by Ajanta's unique complexity, that could be paralleled b y a study of d evelop1nents in all of Ajanta's other caves as well. It is only through such point b y point considerations that one can rightly judge the validity of the so-called "Short Chronology". If such tests are passed one can then declare that Ajanta's Vakataka patronage provides us with the single most telling reflection of classical Indian culture at its apogee. And one can further say that this apogee was reached not under the Guptas but during the reign of the all-too-unsung Vakataka Emperor Harisena, who surely had no peer in his time. It was he and he alone who led that radiant world, reflected upon Ajanta's walls, insistently up to the very farthest horizon of the Golden Age. It cannot be d enied that these " monuments in the mountain" d escribe, with a remarkable resonance, this culminating moment in early Indian culture. However, at the same ti1ne they alone finally define the continent-shaking consequences, attendant upon Harisena's death, which accrued, when the golden vessel that h e had held aloft was so decisively shattered. This too is figured upon Ajanta's walls in the unfinished paintings, the half-cut images, and the abandoned dreams.

CAVE 4

INTRUSIONS IN PORCH

The largest excavation at the site, Cave 4 was the donation of the "viharaswamin" Mathura. (See Inscr # 17) Not only because work stopped on it from 469 through 474 (Recession and Hiatus), but because a portion of the ceiling collapsed during that period, necessitating massive adjustments, the cave was still quite inc01nplete when Harisena died. However, early in 4 7 8, Mathura rushed the main image to an expedient completion and dedication, and it is for this reason the cave now being "alive" that it attracted various donors during the Period of Disruption, which began only a few months later, perhaps as early as mid-478. At this point new donors, enthused by the visibility, spaciousness, and previous smoothing of the space on either side of the porch door, added intrusive and no longer sym1netrically disposed figures there, usurping the areas which were surely intended for the expected paintings of conventional paired bodhisattvas. The impressive Avalokitesvara Litany to the right of the Cave 4 porch doorway, and the carved bhadrasana Buddha panel to the left, are among the very first intrusions at the site. Considering the desirability of their highly visible locations, and the fact that the wall surfaces were already prepared, it is likely that both of these major intrusions were carved at the very start of the Period of Disruption; that is, relatively early in 479, or even in the latter part of 4 78, by which time l\llathura, "the owner of the cave", as he is referred to in his inscription, had had to renounce his control over the cave and to leave the region. Of different shapes, and asymmetrically placed, these two reliefs are typical of the intrusions which were made exclusively in the Period of Disruption. Their intrusive character also explains why they are the only features in the still s01newhat unfinished porch which were plastered and painted. As is the case with the intrusive

6

CAVE

4

reliefs in Cave 22, Cave U6, and elsewhere, they are set off as distinct and separate votive offerings not only by the fact that they were thus finished, but by the fact that such plastering and painting extended onto a small area of ceiling immediately above each of the1n, which was plastered and painted to form a small honorific canopy. One can make out a lotus medallion supported by two nearly obliterated flying celestials painted with a characteristically lavish late use of intense blue; the red (ground brick) plaster beneath is also of a characteristically composition . 1 T he original p atron's plan for the porch decoration was of course quite different, and would almost certainly have included a pair of large painted bodhisattvas on either side of this important entrance doorway; but the later donors were not concerned with such things as decorative programs. The Litany scene the identification usually assigned to the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara as Lord of Travelers was an immensely popular theme throughout the V akataka phase a t Ajanta. O ver twelve painted and/ or sculpted versions of the subject appear, which is remarkable, since all other iconic images are of Buddha images or of stupas (which often function as Buddha substitutes). It is reasonable to assume that since Ajanta was a remote site and the roads in the Period of Disruption would be full of hazards, offerings to the Protector of Travelers were very appropriate. This Avalokitesvara Litany, the most impressive example of the many versions of this theme at the site, shows the compassionate lord as protecting his devotees from the dangers of travel or perhaps from any journey into the unknown. The power of an invocation to Avalokitesvara, the Lord of Travelers, expressed here in stone, is revealed in the famou s Saddharmapundarika (The Lotus Sutra): "Be not afraid" the Sadclharma Pundarika (Lotus of the G ood Law) proclaims, "be not frightened; invoke all of you, with one voice the Bodhisattva M ahasattva Avalokitesvara, the giver of safety; then you shall be delivered from this danger by which you are threatened at the hands of robbers and enemies; if then the whole caravan with one voice invoked Avalokitesvara with the words: Adoration, ad oration be

1

1\il e re traces of plaste r rema in on the ceiling over the bhadrasana panel, which also would have had a canopy.

INTRUSIONS IN PORCH

7

to the giver of safety, to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Mahasattva! Then, by the mere act of p ronouncing that name, the caravan would be released from all danger." 2

On an esoteric level, the "bhayas" or fears represented may well have been intended as metaphors for various modes of wrong thinking or action, whereby fire = anger, drowning = desire, snakes = jealousy, etc., as suggested by J ohn Huntington.3 However, the moment when so rnany representations such as this were carved at the site was a moment when thoughts of physical rather than spiritual salvation must have been paramount. A concern for Avalokitesvara's protection for acquiring smne travel insurance must have been particularly intensified in these dangerous years when the feudatory Asmakas, now in control of the Ajanta region, rejected the imperial overlordship of Sarvasena III, Harisena's son. The Asm aka action, of cou rse, was tantamount to a declaration of war a war which was surely soon to cmne; and these "uninvited" donors may already have been anticipating the mounting dangers of travel, or even of continued residence at the site, which they might all too soon have to face. T he different astabhayas or Eight dangers which could quite actually confront the traveler on the now increasingly dangerous nearby trade-route are quite conventional in their representation here. The whole configuration reflects the textual description of how travelers can be protected by the grace of the bodhisattva, invoked by the ritual formulae preserved in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Saddharma Pundarika: (5) ... If one be thrown into a pit of fire, by a wicked enemy with the object of killing him, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and the fire shall be quenched as if sprinkled with water. (6) If one happens to fall into the dreadful ocean, the abode of Nagas, marine monsters, and demons, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and he shall never sink down in the king of waters ... Kern (trans.) 1884 (1963), 408. ~i According to H untington (1981 , 55, note 29) "The salvations from external p erils must be understood as popular level salvations while the freedom from internal fears is d1e technical soteriological level ... These (fears), of course are none other fuan fue fetters fuat, once cast off, allow one to reach enlightenment." 2

8

CAVE

4

(9) If a man be surrounded by a host of enemies armed with swords, who have the intention of killing him, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and they shall instantaneously become kindhearted ... (14) If a man is surrounded by fearful beasts with sharp teeth and claws, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and they shall quickly fly in all directions ... (17) He (Avalokitesvara) with his powerful knowledge beholds all creatures who are beset with many hundreds of troubles and afflicted by many sorrows, and thereby is a saviour in the world, including the gods. 4 The potential difficulties of the road revealed here can be listed as represented (counterclockwise from upper right): forest fire; encounter with snakes; attack on a couple (?);5 illegible; 6 shipwreck (travelers often had to risk crossing various rivers; attack by brigands (?); attack by lions/tigers; attack by wild elephants. 7 Avalokitesvara, assertively frontal, stands on a lotus pedestal, and once held a long-stemmed lotus with a "late" globular blossom in his now-broken proper left hand; the other hand (now missing) is in the expected abhaya mudra. The familiar Buddha Amitabha, seated in padmasana and with dharmacakra mudra, can be seen in the jatamukuta; Avalokitesvara represents the earthly emanation of this lord of the Western Paradise. However, it is of particular interest that another larger Buddha, presumably also Amitabha, appears in an arched niche above, seated in the bhadrasana pose, and also once in dharmacakra mudra (now broken).8 The emphasis accorded this " redundant" figure, and its very developed iconography, stresses the

4

Kern (trans.) 1884 (1963), 413-41 5; local travelers probably interpreted these "fears" somewhat differently, witl1 fire being the danger from forest fire, drowning the danger from river crossings in the monsoon, etc. ; The unusual amount of space at the right suggests that the stone broke in carving and that the attacker was painted in. 6 Possibly a woman holding an (eroded) baby, threatened by a demon(?), by analogy witl1 the well preserved Litany Scene in Aurangabacl Cave 7 (last half of sixth century). 7 For a rare "Tara Litany", elating to the seventh century, see R. Sen Gupta, A Guide to the Buddhist Caves of Elura, Bombay 1958, Plate XVII; R. Gupte, Iconography of the Buddhist Caves of Ellora, Aurangabad, 1964, Plate 2C. 8 The bhaclrasana figure in the arched recess probably elates from late 479, but small bhadrasana Buddhas in more conventional (squa re) formats probably were never carved until 480, judging from their contexts.

INTRUSIONS IN PORCH

9

relatively late nature of the conception. Similarly, the incorporation of seated Buddhas (the left in dharmacakra, the right in bhumisparsa mudra) in each of the upper corners of the relief links the conception to panels R2, R3, R4, and L8, carved in the Cave 26 ambulatory in 4 78, as well as to various others in very late, generally intrusive, contexts at the site. The typically late frarning demi-pillars further confirm the late date of the image, as does the fact that the rosette band on the right demi-pillar is cut righ t over the adjacent window frame at the lower left. Those concerned with geological matters Cave 4 b eing of particular interest in this regard should note the "fault" (between two sequential lava layers) that runs through the legs of the bodhisattva, and continues on its frustratingly undisciplined course along the porch wall on either side. 9 One can see how the gasses, bubbling upward from the lower levels of the upper layer, h ave formed globular pockets (amygdaloids), once of course filled with different mineral deposits which by now are mostly eroded away by time. The bhadrasana Buddha to the left of the doorway rests its fe et on the expected late lotu s p edestal with wheel and deer crowded beneath. The image is seated on a throne supported by typically late leonine throne legs with the expected "structural" thrust-blocks carried on the animals' heads and with capping nubs to cover and protect the legs where (at least in structural counterparts) they project up through the throne seat. Nearly all of the carved elements of the composition can be directly compared with those of "panel A" at the back of Cave 22's antechamber, an intrusive don a6on of early 4 79. The only 1najor difference is that the Cave 4 panel was provided with elaborate flanking pilasters, found in m any such late contexts throughout the site. 10 The attendant Avalokitesvara here h olds an aksamala also an appropriate attribute instead of a kamandalu as in Cave 22. Actually, it seems likely that this less usual feature was used because the stone for the kamandalu broke in the cutting: one can see that the rosary 9

Far greater problems were caused by the major flaw which, clearly visible a few feet above the porch colonnade, nonetheless descended at an angle inside the cave, causing the great problems described elsewhere (see Volu me I, Chapter 11 ). 10 See panels C, F, and H in Cave 22 itself; one of the intrusive panels in Cave 15; the intrusive panel at the left rear of Cave 20; a few within the projecting vault of the great chaitya arch of Cave 26; and one near the mid-point of the left facade frame of Cave 19.

10

CAVE

4

has a tellingly "kamandalu" shape. Unfortunately, the heads of the bodhisattvas, having been among the few at the site carved in essentially the full-round, have been broken off, either for profit or out of rival religious piety; but judging from a number of other related examples, there is no reason to think they differed from the norm. The presence of the antelope skin explains why Avalokitesvara's proper left armpit was not cut very deeply. However, the details of the antelope's head and feet must have been painted on, since no more than the outlines of the skin were revealed by the sculptor. Such a coordination of painted and carved details became increasingly common in the Period of Disruption, when speed was often necessary. The devotees are slightly different from Cave 22's, since one on the right is shown bending over to touch the ground with his heada unique position in this type of composition. It seems unlikely that this is a reference to the story of the Dipankara Buddha which had been represented various times at the site in earlier contexts, and which shows the worshipping Su1nedha in this pose; but it may well be the case that the stone needed for the expected conventional type of devotee broke in the course of carvin g, and that the sculptor cleverly substituted the well-known Dipankara-devotee type, which could be revealed from the re1naining matrix. 11 Behind this unusual figure are very obscure traces of a normally kneeling one, looking upward and apparently proffering a rather large and ill-cut lotus. At the left, two small and once charming figures of kneeling devotees are crowded in, one behind the other, as if to satisfy the late compulsion fo r multiple devotees. Although the bodhisattvas do not have carved haloes here, as do their counterparts in Cave 22, these features were painted in, as is clear frmn traces re1naining at the left, while a carved mandorla occupies the background. Furthermore, the makaras and vyalas, which had been carved in Cave 22, were also painted-in here, next to the sculptured bolster. Still clearly visible at the left, a leonine creature (also painted) leaps out of the makara's mou th; this is the only instance at the site where the more conventional running dwarf, or

11

For Dipankara scenes at Ajanta, see Suresh Vasant, 1991, 151- 155. For such iconographic adjustments clue to breakage of the rock, see VV. Spink, 1986.

INTRUSIONS IN PORCH

11

lotus frond, or long-necked bird's head is replaced by such a form. The fact that no other images at the site show similar creatures in this position suggests that the idea developed too late to come into common usage. It is interesting to note that similar forms are found in the Buddhist Cave 12 at Ellora; but this is more than two centuries later. The way in which the paws of the painted lions and vyalas are festooned is also a very late feature , at least in sculptured groups at the site. 12 Instead of the carved nagas which often appear over the makaras in this type of composition here we have two bodhisattvas painted in behind the throne back, their position following the lead of the prestigious image in Cave 16, completed only some months before. As in that image, the bodhisattvas hold cauris (still visible here in the one on the left) but otherwise do not have distinctive and/ or now-visible identifying attributes. A lotus medallion of an unusual design not a flower, but a composite of petal or leaf forms, is painted on the ceiling of the panel, above the slightly raised painted halo; a painted medallion is also to be found in the central Cave 22 Buddha, but it was much more cursorily clone, as was all of the painting on that image. The Buddha's proper left knee was broken in the course of carving and shows evidence of a characteristic contemporary repair. O f particular interest is the fact that a fragment of wood remains in the lower hole. Thus both here and in the somewhat similarly repaired panel C in Cave 22, we have clear evidence that such repairs were made at least in some instances with wooden inserts; wood repairs were made in a number of cell doorway fittings too, in Caves 1 and 17, in cases where projections broke. 13 For smaller repairs, iron was often used. 14 The main lotus pedestal has a curious appearance, the central petal or petals being "bent back", following the precedent of two of the lotus pedestals, carved in 4 7 8, under the great standing Buddhas

12

See for instance Cave 7's Buddha (second phase: 477-478) Somewhat similar instances appear in the depictions of bracket figures on palaces on Cave l 's left hall wall, painted in 4 77 . 13 See Cave 1, Cell R4. 14 For instance, see double repajr (with one inset) of two celestials over the main Buddha of Cave Upper 6, left side; also another small hole fo r a repair over the ruined portico of Cave l , at the left.

12

CAVE

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in the shrine antechamber of Cave U6, right side. Possibly the effect is exaggerated here, to better reveal the crowded wheel, because of the high placement of the relief. The panel was still quite unfinished when it was painted. Note the difference between the two pilasters only that at the right has fully carved designs. The left pilaster's shaft, being unfinished, reveals how the carvers facilitated the creation of cylindrical sections by first cutting it as an octagonal form. The fact that the left bodhisattva's lotus pedestal is also unfinished supports the argument that the panel was not started until 480 and that it had to be finished in a rush. The panel's inconvenient positioning might support such an assumption, but one must remember that even from the start this was a troubled period, when many donors and artists may have left rather precipitously, even in 4 79. There are various unfinished votive carvings which suggest this, since they are covered by (i.e. recut by) later finished images. The panel's colm·s are litnited, and would have been mostly local in origin: red, orange, green, white, and touches of lapis-blue, the latter presumably coming down to the site via the trade routes. Lapis lazuli was used most sparingly right up to the time of Harisena's death, but was probably a bargain by the time this bhadrasana image was underway. VIe can assume that increasing amounts of it were brought in while Ajanta was flourishing, right up to the ti1ne of Harisena's death, and that by the Period of Disruption the "importers" were stuck with a burdensome oversupply. 15 Although much unused wall-space remains in Cave 4's great porch, these two panels were the only ones carved there during the Period of Disruption. However, the enormous cave and its gigantic itnage are so impressive that it seems likely that it would have been attractive to donors during this Period of Disruption; so it might well be the case that other areas of the large porch wall were used for painted votive intrusions, and that all traces of plaster and paint have by now disappeared. This assumption is supported by the evidence that such a painted intrusion did indeed once appear in the area just beneath the bhadrasana Buddha panel. In fact, the location of the carved panel almost certainly reveals that the (hypothet-

13

This might well explain the lavish use of blue in the hypostyle of Cave 21, or on many intrusive Buddha images in Cave Upper 6, etc.

INTRUSIONS IN PORCH

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ical) painted panel below belonged to a patron who got there very shortly after Mathura had vacated the cave, perhaps as early as mid478, but certainly by early 479 after the cave's patron no longer controlled the cave. The donor of the bhadrasana Buddha panel obviously got involved a little later, and was apparently willing to put his own panel at its inconvenient height, in order to have it near the doorw·ay and the cave's axis. Both the carved bhadrasana group and the Litany have pairs of holes (surely for garland hooks) just above the upper corners of the niches in which they appear. A similar pair of holes is seen beneath the bhadrasana panel, but garlands were never hung below such panels. It can be reasonably assumed that this pair was for the painted intrusion below, which had been placed there before the bhadrasana i1nage was started. There were many such painted intrusive panels at the site, although often only traces, if anything at all, remains, other than revealing garland hooks or the holes in which such useful hooks once were fixed before being removed, presumably by nearby villagers. At the same time we must note that there do not seem to be other pairs of holes for garlands elsewhere on the wall. Although many intrusions do not have such holes, their absence hardly recommends the view that there were once other painted intrusions here. Besides the smaller holes which are found just above the Litany's recessed panel, very much like those over the bhadrasana panel, there are two very large holes high up over the Litany scene. Much larger than would be required for garlands, they undoubtedly held a covering cloth for this important and well-placed image. 16 This would have been in lieu of the double doors that sometimes protect such "shrines". 17 A hole to the left of the doorway, close to the right hole at the upper corner of our hypothetical painted panel, must have been intended for a garland hook or peg, placed there in 478, to provide for the decoration of this main doorway when the shrine Buddha was dedicated. This hole's expected counterpart at the right was cut away because the Litany scene was carved so close to the right margin

16

The smaller holes above the bhadrasana panel were probably for garlands, not a cloth. 17 Cave 2, right fa