Ajanta And Dambulla Tents And Awnings In Ancient Cave Paintings

Abstract

Tents and pavilions make occasional appearances in the paintings of the Ajanta Caves near Aurangabad in Maharashtra, amid other architectural spaces such as chaityas and palaces that are distinctly depicted all over the walls. The tents and pavilions are placed in courtyards, gardens and other open spaces, or shown as extensions to buildings. The paintings of Cave 17 have an especially elaborate depiction of bamboo tents. Here, the narrative of Indra Brahmana features people taking shelter under a bamboo pavilion with a jhallar (a long strip of patterned fabric cut into a series of downward triangles and used as decoration). In the episode of the Mriga Jataka, a king listens to the sermon of the golden deer in a pavilion erected especially for this event. In the Nalagiri episode painted in the verandah of Cave 17, townspeople are shown peering out of their houses with shocked expressions, fearful of the elephant rampaging the street below. Some of them have raised the cloth or blinds used to cover their balconies, for a better view. In the Hamsa Jataka, the Hamsa Bodhisattva is accorded a place of honour under a special bamboo pavilion with a pyramidal cloth roof. In the central province of Sri Lanka, the monolithic mass of Dambulla rises 600 feet above the surrounding plains. It covers roughly 2,000 square metres and comprises five major caves. The walls and ceilings of the Dambulla caves are painted to simulate textiles, producing, in the interior of the caves, the feeling of being inside a tented enclosure. This "textilisation" of rock surfaces probably sought to imitate a long tradition of impermanent structures like the panthal (Tamil; canopy, marquee) or maduva (Sinhala), which were built for various religious and ceremonial events and often utilised white or printed cloth. The textile panels, called vithanam or wiyana in Tamil and Sinhala, used in these impermanent buildings sometimes carried paintings of episodes from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Similarly, the murals on the interior walls and roofs of the Dambulla caves narrate Jataka stories, tales of multiplying Buddhas, of gods and nobles, and folk legends. This vibrant display includes painted allegories about the tensions between the monastery and the monarchy that still continue to enthral visitors. Dambulla provides evidence that makeshift, temporary structural forms informed and inspired permanent spaces. Today, the reverse is true and motifs from Dambulla are common in textile designs and represented in objects and sculptures.