AJANTA: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT VOLUME ONE THE END OF THE GOLDEN AGE BY WALTER M. SPINK s ' 6 8 ^ s BRILL LEIDEN BOST&N 2005
To the Reader xi Introduction and a few Conventions 1 A THE END OF THE GOLDEN AGE Chapter 1 Ajanta in a Historical and Political Context 7 This summary of my views was originally published in MTDC's magazine Maharashtra Pathik (Sept. 1990), with the understanding that it would be used for the present purpose. It may be of particular interest because it was followed in later issues by the comments and/or criticisms of my colleagues. Concerned particularly with issues of history and epigraphy, these essays reveal clearly the bones of our contention. The various essays will be found in a later volume (Arguments about Ajanta). Chapter 2 A Query and A Response 22 This chapter is introduced by a probing letter by Dr. Heinrich von Stietencron, questioning the validity of the "short chronology" for Ajanta. Entitled "Questions addressed to Walter Spink", it was published at the request of Dr. Hans Bakker, in his recent volume, The Vakataka Heritage: Indian Culture at the Crossroads, Groningen, 2004, consisting of scholarly papers presented at a recent conference with that same title. This short letter is followed by a rather long response by the present author discussing the character of the site, as well as patronage, chronology, and other matters. Chapter 3 How the Monks Lived: Shrines and Cells at Ajanta 66 The Vakataka viharas at Ajanta were originally planned as mere dorrr'tories for the monks, a usage that would hardly justify the splen' ' s of their present decoration. This must be explained by their Lansformation, starting a half decade after the inauguration of the site's Vakataka phase, into shrines, in which not only the monks, but the Buddha himself was resident. The donation of the Buddha images in the shrines, and the creation of their richly meaningful decorative contexts, now became an obsession with Ajanta's courtly patrons, eager not only for religious merit but for worldly praise. However, the delights which such elite donors sponsored should not totally distract us from considering how the monks lived within the
Vlll caves how they slept, where they hung their clothes, and how they kept their humble toiletries. What can a survey of the few hundred cells at Ajanta and related sites tell us about matters of privacy, security, and convenience? Chapter 4 In Defense of Dandin: The Historicity of the Visrutacarita 119 Herein, I direcdy "bite the bullet" by presenting a detailed analysis of the historical evidence in Dandin's Dasakumaracarita, which I insist provides a remarkably trustworthy account of the specific events attendant upon the Vakataka fall. Admittedly, however, its convincing historicity goes against everything that we might otherwise expect. Perhaps because the "perfect world" which is mirrored at Ajanta fell apart so dramatically, the situation was unforgettably engraved in Dandin's familial memory. Chapter 5 A Revised Vakataka Chronology 163 To support my views, I present a Vakataka chronology somewhat different from the conventional one. In fact, such a revision is necessary if my analysis of the historical situation is to be valid. Chapter 6 Dandin's Visrutacarita and the Future of Harisena's Imperium 169 An analysis of Dandin's story of Prince Visruta, presented as a narrative, aimed at revealing the protagonist's motivations regarding his ultimate goal of taking over the power of the collapsing Vakataka house, and of establishing his own new dynasty on that ancient base. The reader will find justification for the arguments in Chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 7 Family Relationships bearing upon Ajanta's Short Chronology 179 Very shordy after the great emperor Harisena's death, his minister Varahadeva (donor of Ajanta Cave 16) took Harisena's grandchildren for safety to the court of their uncle (Harisena's "second son") at Mahismati, which was still resisting the assaults of the insurrectionist feudatories. Since Dandin, in the Dasakumaracarita, tells us that the granddaughter was "about thirteen years" old at the time, we can estimate that Harisena was roughly fifty years old when he died, probably at the hands of the Asmakas, in about 477; by the same token, the emperor would have been in his early thirties when Ajanta was started shordy after his accession. Chapter 8 "The Persian Embassy" 181 This innocent scene in fact a Buddhist Jataka tale in praise of kingship was the single even if unwilling source of the early but persistent misdating (by two centuries!) of Ajanta's great later phase. This chapter briefly considers how the confusion arose.
IX B THE SHOCK WAVE AND THE SITE Chapter 9 Ajanta Cave 1: Its Origins and its Aftermath... 184 Cave 1 is not only the most splendid vihara at the site indeed, in the whole of India but the course of its development must be understood if we are going understand what happened to the site as a whole. Its tragic abandonment foretells both the precipitous decline of the site and the destruction of the Vakataka empire itself. The fact that it was never dedicated bears directly upon the circumstances of the Harisena's death and the site's consequent collapse. Chapter 10 Ajanta's Latter Days: A Review 200 In 478, the troubled year after Harisena's death, first the "Vakataka" patrons, and then the Asmakas, gave up their longstanding patronage at the site, as a consequence of Harisena's death. But their reaction to this dire event and to the problems caused by Harisena's successor was quite different, as a study of their caves proves. Chapter 11 Understanding the Site's Collapse: The "Vakataka" Caves" 220 This chapter concentrates upon the earlier months of 478, after the emperor Harisena's death, during which the Asmakas rejected the Vakataka overlord, and put "Vakataka" patronage at the site in such sudden jeopardy, that these established patrons had to precipitously leave. Chapter 12 Understanding the Site's Collapse: The Asmaka Caves 272 The difference between the situation of the "Vakataka" patrons and those patrons under Asmaka "protection" illuminates the history of the difficult year, 478, at the end of which the Asmaka patrons also were forced to leave the site. Chapter 13 Caves Abandoned at the Time of Harisena's Death 315 These are the caves that were so incomplete when Harisena died that the patrons gave up on any attempt to get their shrine Buddhas finished. Because they were never dedicated, they contain no intrusions, even though there was much space available for such votive imagery. Chapter 14 Related Caves of the Vakatakas or their Feudatories 325 This is a survey of important related monuments (Aurangabad, Bagh, Banoti, Dharasiva, Ghatotkacha, Kanheri, Lonad in most of which patronage is severely affected or suddenly curtailed in the troubled year (478) after Harisena's death. Only Bagh, already, completed by that time, is not thus affected.
X Chapter 15 The Need for Study in Situ (Esp. Caves 17-20; 29) 366 This chapter, with particular attention to the caves of the local king, Upendragupta, attempts to show how an on-the-spot analysis contributes to an understanding of the various aspects of work at the site. It also explores a few of the telling relationships involving this special group of royal caves (17-20; 29); since work upon them ended in about 471, due to the defeat of Upendragupta by the Asmakas, they have had only cursory mention in the previous chapters of this volume, which focus on the events surrounding Harisena's death. Appendix I Visrutacarita of Dandin's Dasakumaracarita (Trans. Kale) 393 The reader should certainly have ready access to the relevant portion of this important text. The present author sees its eighth ucchvasa the account of Prince Visruta as having a startling and unexpected historicity. Even though it is richly fleshed out with compelling even if cautionary excursions into descriptions of the dangers of wine, women, and song, the bones of the story describe the events connected with the Vakataka collapse with such surprising precision that its author, Dandin, must have had first-hand knowledge of the unforgettable events described. Appendix II Inscriptions (16, 17, 26, Ghatotkacha) 412 These are the four long inscriptions of the major Vakataka patrons. The two inscriptions of the Prime Minister Varahadeva in Ajanta Cave 16 and the Ghatotkacha vihara and the Ajanta Cave 17 inscription of the local king, Upendragupta, have been translated by V. V. Mirashi. (See Mirashi 1963) The Cave 26 inscription of the monk Buddhabhadra, translated by Chhabra, is to be found in the fourth volume (text) of G. Yazdani's Ajanta (Yazdani, 1955) For a critical edition of these four records, see Volume II, Appendix: Inscriptions of Ajanta, by Richard S. Cohen, who provides a new reading and critical edition of all other inscriptions at the site, both Hinayana and Vakataka.