Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham2019-05-242019-05-24circa 1970IA-881IA-88117http://hdl.handle.net/1885/163549The drawing and color of the whole system of painting in Cave 17 is of an extraordinary refinement and beauty and probably dates a little earlier than the paintings of Cave 1, which have been assigned to the 6th and 7th centuries, Cave 17 is dated to approximately 475-500 A.D. and is within the Gupta Period, Two main subjects are dealt with in the murals of the porch of Cave 17: the first is the Visantara [sic] Jataka in which the Bodhisattva announces his banishment from his father's kingdom, and the second portrays Indra, king of the gods, coming to meet the Buddha on the occasion of his visit to the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods, The detail of elephants belongs to the first cycle where the elephants of the Raja are collected at the side of a palace scene wherein the announcement of banishment is taking place, We can just see the architectural framework of the scene of the palace grounds behind the elephants and some of the palace folk peeking from the balconies, The elephants show the characteristic monochromatic coloring of the Ajanta murals which is shaded by means of varying the tonal value of single hues, in this case brown, The outlining is very fine and is not harsh in order to give the figures a sense of volume rather than flatness,35mmmounted transparencyb&wsepiaimage/tiffen-AUCave 17 475-500 A.D. [Ajanta]architecturemuralsmounted transparency set2019-05-24This image is provided for research purposes only and must not be reproduced without the prior permission of the Archives Program, Australian National University.