Ajanta Caves, Buddhist rock-cut caves in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, India

Ajanta Caves form a series of 29 rock-cut structures extending along the Waghora River in a horseshoe arrangement along a cliff face. The complex consists of prayer halls (chaityas) with vaulted ceilings and residential chambers (viharas) featuring colonnaded verandas surrounding central courtyards.

The earliest chambers were created between the 2nd century before Christ and the 1st century after Christ under Satavahana rule. After a break of several centuries, a second building phase began under the Vakataka dynasty around the year 460 and ended approximately 480, when richly decorated rooms with extensive murals were completed.

The name Ajanta comes from the nearby village in Aurangabad district. The caves were a monsoon retreat for monks and a resting place for merchants and pilgrims, and the Chinese pilgrim Faxian recorded visiting around 400 CE. Cave 16's inscription names Varahadeva, a minister of the Vakataka king Harishena, as its donor.

The caves are cut into the northern wall of a horseshoe-shaped gorge of the Waghur River, 3.5 km from Ajanta village and about 59 km from Jalgaon. The caves stand 35 to 110 feet above the streambed, reached by a path along the base of the carved wall. Waterfalls in the gorge can be heard from outside the caves when the river is high.

Artists applied colors onto multiple plaster layers using natural minerals, plants and animal products as pigments for detailed murals. Some depictions contain lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, indicating far-reaching trade networks, while certain frescoes employ a technique with egg white as a binding agent that contributed to exceptional color preservation over fifteen centuries.