ABSTRACT
Ajanta had exerted powerful influence over other regions' artistic production long before the Ajanta Ballet appeared in the West: the beginnings of Buddhist painting in Tibet, Nepal, Central Asia, China, and Japan all can be traced to the inspiration of Ajanta. Indeed, Ajanta is unique in its scope, combining painting, sculpture, and architecture, and illustrating the development of Buddhism over the centuries of the caves' excavation. It is a Buddhist site that thrived in a Brahmanical world, and at the zenith of its artistic achieve ment it represented the pervasive classical culture of the Gupta age (c. A.D. 320-c. 540). No strict dynastic designation of this art is possible, however; the monks also received patronage from the Śaka (c. 80 B.C. to second century A.D.), Ābhīra (second century B.C. to tenth century A.D.), and Iksvāku (third to fifth centuries A.D.) rulers, and from minis ters and vassals of the Vākātakas (c. A.D. 250-470). Further more, commoners, merchants, and ministers joined with royalty to provide funds for monasteries and monuments. Not infrequently, monks and nuns are named as donors. They gave money before their ordination, or passed on what was given to them by lay followers.
