The Ajanta Caves are a group of Buddhist rock-cut cave monuments carved into a horseshoe-shaped cliff above the Waghora River gorge in Maharashtra, India. They were made in two main phases: the earliest caves are generally dated to the second century BCE, in the period of the Satavahana dynasty, and a second, more elaborate phase followed in the fifth century CE under the Vakataka dynasty. The caves include simple prayer halls and monasteries as well as richly decorated ones, with sculpture and some of the finest surviving ancient Indian wall paintings, depicting the life of the Buddha and his earlier incarnations. After the site was abandoned, it lay forgotten until a British officer on a hunting trip came across it in 1819. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
Before and after
- from 206 BCE to 220 CEHan dynasty
- 203 BCEPo Valley Raid
- 203 BCEScipio defeats Hannibal at Zama
- from 202 BCE to 46 BCEKingdom of Numidia
- 3rd century BCEConstruction of Ajanta Caves
- 200 BCEOrigins of Nazca Lines
- from 200 BCE to 197 BCESecond Macedonian War
- 196 BCERosetta Stone
- from 192 BCE to 188 BCERoman–Seleucid War
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The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires.