Buddhist Murals from Ajanta to Alchi
The cave-to-temple evolution across the Buddhist world Overview Picture a horseshoe-shaped ravine in the Deccan plateau of western India, carved by the Waghora River over millions of years into a crescent of basalt cliff roughly seventy-five metres high. Into the face of this cliff, over a span of some seven hundred years, Buddhist monks cut thirty caves – prayer halls and monasteries – hollowing out the living rock with iron chisels, shaping pillars and doorways and vaulted ceilings from the stone itself. Then they painted the walls. ...