356 INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEYS. 



attempted beyond a few outline drawings on a very small scale in 

 Mrs. Speir's " Ancient India." Dr. Burgess applied to the Govern- 

 ment of Bombay to endeavour to have what remained of these 

 frescoes copied again before they should entirely disappear under the 

 destructive agencies at work. This led to a grant of Rs. 5,000 per 

 annum being sanctioned by the Government of India for the 

 purpose, and Mr. John Griffiths of the Bombay School of Art was 

 appointed to take charge of the work in 1872. The copying went on 

 at intervals from this date till 1885, when it was brought to a 

 close. The copies were sent home to the India Office, and 

 transferred to South Kensington, where again, most unfortunately, 

 a number of these important paintings were destroyed by a fire. 

 Photographs of the copies were taken at the Bombay School of Art, 

 and recently steps have been taken to publish these most interesting 

 and instructive remains of ancient art. Of their artistic value, 

 Mr. Griffiths writes in his Report : — 



" The condition of mind which originated and executed these paintings at Ajanta, 

 must have been very similar to that which produced tin early Italian paintings of Ihe 

 14th century, as we find much that is common to both. Little attention paid to the 

 science of art — a general crowding of figures in'.o a subject, regard being had more to 

 the truthful rendering of a story rather than a beautiful rendering of it ; not that they 

 discarded beauty, but they did not make it the primary motive for representation. 

 There is a want of aerial prospective, the parts are delicately shaded, not, forced by light 

 and shade, giving the whole a look of flatness, a quality to be desired in mural decora- 

 tion. 



•■ Whoever were the authors of these paintings, they must have constantly mixed 

 with the world. Pcenes of everyday life, such as preparing food, carrying water, 

 buying and selling, processions, hunting scones, elephant fights, men and women 

 :n singing, dancing, and playing on musical instruments. Many are most 

 gracefully, and all are most graphically depicted upon these walls ; and they could only 

 i dun. by nuii who were constant spectators oi such scenes; by men of keen 

 observation and retentive memories. The artists certainly could not have observed one 

 of the ten commandments which Buddha imposed on his disciples, viz,, to abstain from 

 public spectacles. In every example that has come under my observation, the action 

 of the hands is admirable, and un mistakes! >ly conveys the particular expression the 

 artist intended."* 



Southern India. — In consequence of representations made by the 

 President of the Oriental Congress of 1874, the Secretary of State 

 addressed the Madras Government on the subject of appointing an 



* The frescoes are described in detail in " Xotes on the Bauddha Rock Temples of 

 Ajanta. their Paintings and Sculptures (illustrated), Ac" by .1. Burgess. (Bombay: 

 Government Central Press, lc-79) ; see ato Mr. Fergusson's paper on the portrait of 

 Chosroes II. at Ajanta, in Jour. li. As. Soe. L879, pp. 155 If. 



