Copy of painting inside the caves of Ajanta (cave 12)

The original mural depicts scenes from Buddhist narratives, likely illustrating Jataka tales or life events of the Buddha. These stories served as devotional and instructional imagery for monastic communities. The copy retains the compositional rhythm and symbolic gestures of the source, preserving the spiritual tone and narrative clarity intended by the ancient artists.

Unlike the tempera-based frescoes of the original caves, this reproduction uses oil on canvas, a medium unfamiliar to the ancient artisans. Griffiths and his students adapted their approach to match the color palette and brushwork of the originals, striving for fidelity despite material differences. The result is a careful translation of ancient surface textures into a modern pictorial language.

After Major Robert Gill’s earlier copies were destroyed in a fire in 1866, the Bombay School of Art initiated a new documentation project. From 1872 to 1885, Griffiths and his team lived seasonally at Ajanta, producing around 300 reproductions. These works became critical references for scholars and institutions, especially after the originals continued to deteriorate.

The Ajanta caves were rediscovered in 1819 during British colonial surveying. As interest grew in India’s artistic heritage, efforts to record its ancient murals became both scholarly and imperial projects. Griffiths’s team operated within this context, balancing preservation with the colonial impulse to collect and classify cultural artifacts for Western audiences.

The reproductions made by Griffiths and his students remain among the most comprehensive visual records of Ajanta’s early Buddhist art. Though not originals, they provided access to details lost to time and decay. Many are now held in public collections, serving as primary sources for the study of ancient Indian painting techniques and iconography.