Ajanta-Fountainhead of Buddhist Art

Ajanta: Fountainhead of Buddhist Art-1

INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM IN MAHARASHTRA

Buddhism was introduced in Maharastra in the time of Ashoka (Mirashi V.V., “History and inscriptions of the Satavahanas and the Western Khsatrapas”, Maharashtra Board for Literature and Culture, Bombay, pp 137-143(1981) The Buddhist historical works Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa were written in Lanka and the fourth or fifth century A.D. They state that the third Buddhist Council was held in the reign of Ashoka., and Mogaliputta Tissa was its President. After the work of the council was over, Mahasthavira Tissa sent monks for preaching Buddhism in certain countries. They were as follows (see Askoka’s Rock Edict XIII) Sthavira Majjhatika was sent to Kashmir and Gandhara, Maharakkhita to the Yavana country, Majjhima to the Himalayan country, Dharmarakshita to Aparanta (North Konkan), Mahadharmarakshita to Maharashtra, Mahadeva to Mahisha Mandala (Southern Part of former Hyderabad State), Rakshita to Vanavasi (North Kanada District), Sona and Uttara to Suvarnabhumi (Brahmadesa) and Mahendra and his associates to Shri-Lanka. This Buddhist council was held in the seventeenth year of Ashoka’s reign. So Buddhism seems to have been introduced into Maharashtra in the seventeenth or the eighteenth year of Askoka’s reign.
How, Mahadharmarakshita preached Buddhism in Maharashtra is described in the gatha :“That sage Mahadharmarakshita went to Maharashtra and there he narrated the Jatakas of Mahanaradakassapa. Then eighty four thousand obtained reward of conversion to the Buddhist path, and thirteen thousand took orders from him.(1) Huang Tsang, the famous Buddhist pilgrim who visited Maharashtra about 630 AD, records that there were over a hundred Buddhist viharas and equal number in Karnataka, in which lived some six thousand monks.
As Buddhism spread in Maharashtra and the number of Buddhist monks increased, the need for Viharas for their residence, of Chaityas for their prayers and of Stupas for their worship began to be felt and they were excavated and carved in the hills of Maharashtra. These caves and the inscriptions in them testify the spread of Buddhism there. There are numerous caves excavated in the other parts of the country also, but they are not as many, and as beautiful as those in Maharashtra. They number more than twelve hundred in Maharashtra. These excavations were of three types, Stupas, the semicircular structures carved out in caves or constructed of stones, mud, bricks, housing the relics of the Buddha or his disciples. This one is also called Dagoba ( Dhatrugarbha ) or Chaitya.. The second type is known as Vihara or a monastic hall for the residence of the monks. The third one is the chaitya griha or Gandhakuti, which was a prayer hall. There generally used to be a cistern (water reservoir) by the side of the cave. The Buddhist monks moved from place to place for preaching the tenets of Buddhism in winter and summer, and spent rainy season in some place of shelter like vihara.

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