1889.] on the Civilization of Ancient Tint la. 175 



paintings, or to determine definitely their place in the history of art * 

 I think that any qualified critic who undertakes the study of these 

 works will find that they are well worth attentive examination, from 

 the points of view both of the archteologist and the artist, but such 

 qualified critic, competent to grasp alike archoeological and artistic 

 problems, has not yet come forward. 



I cannot pretend to write a criticism on the Ajanta paintings. T 

 have not had time to study them minutely, nor have I the technical 

 knowledge requisite to enable me to determine their aesthetic value. 

 But 1 am fully persuaded that they are to be numbered among the fruits 

 of foreign teaching, either by Greeks, or "Roman pupils of Greek masters, 

 and, holding this opinion, I cannot omit all notice of them from an 

 essay which aims at giving a general, though imperfect, view of the 

 manner and degree of Groeco-Roman influence on the art and other 

 elements of the civilization of ancient India. 



At Ajanta fragments of painting exist in thirteen caves, but the 

 principal remains are found in seven. " The Ajanta pictures are not 

 frescoes in the true acceptation of the term. The painting was executed 

 on a coat of thin, smooth plaster, the thickness of an egg-shell, which 

 was laid on a groundwork composed of a mixture of cowdung and pul- 

 verized trap, rice-husks being sometimes added to increase the binding 

 properties of the mixture."t _ _ 



As regards the style of the pictures Mr. Griffiths' general criticism 

 is to the effect that there is " little attention paid to the science of art— 

 a general crowding of figures into a subject, regard being had more to 



* The most competent account of the Ajanta paintings yet published is ( hat given 

 in the second work referred to in the preceding note. The fall title of the book is 

 "No. 9, ArckMeal Survey of Western India. Notes on the Bauddha MMmpUs 

 of Ajanta, their Painti, W s and Sculpture,, and on the FMfanp of tho B&gh Caves, 

 Modem Bauddha MytkolW, etc. By J- Barged, M. R. A . S . etc., Bombay, - to 

 Printed by order of Government at the Government Central Press, 1879^ Tta. 

 work is now ont of print, and sells at doable ite ongmal pneo It is illustrated 

 by twenty-nine plates, uncoloared, fifteen of which are devoted to the P™tings 



Four pretty good uncoloared plates illustrate Dr. RamndraMa M.tra s paper 

 on the paintings in Vol. XLVH (1878) of the Journal of the Asmtu, Society of 



B °"tL archiiectnro and sculpture of the Ajanta caves are discussed with great 

 fnlne^ n Yo V of the Reports of the Archaeological Survey of Western Imha, 

 and are there DtarinM * splendid autotype plates, but the paintings are scarcely 



^t^^Tmes, the fall title of which has been given above belongs to 

 a Job of minor treatises in paper covers, issued by the Bombay Government 

 preliminary to the publication of the costly and elaborate senes of Reports, 

 t Indian Antiquary, Vol. IIj p. 152. 



