Dieter Schlingloff Memorandum

7/24/2019 Dieter Schlingloff Memorandum

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Memorandum on the making of

reconstructive copies of the Ajanta paintings

DIETER SCHLINGLOFF

The wall paintings in the Buddhist cave monasteries of Ajanta are of equal significance for

the history of Ancient Indian culture as the frescos of Pompeii for Graeco-Roman antiquity: they

are almost the sole preserved records of an art which belonged to the greatest achievements

of its time. The Ajanta paintings are not just a milestone in the history of the development ofworld art, they also convey unique insights into the life of the Ancient Indians and their culture.

The painted Buddhist legends proclaim ethics, in which help for beings in distress is valued

higher than one's own personal welfare, and is often even worth more than one's own life.

If the Ajanta paintings until now have not received the attention that they deserve, then

this is very much due to their poor state of preservation and the resulting unsatisfactory

publications.

About 2000 years have passed since the creation of the oldest wall paintings and about 1500

years of the more recent ones, and the ravages of time have left their scars on the pictures.

Many paintings have fallen off the walls with the layer of plaster on which they were painted

and have thus been irretrievably lost; parts that are preserved are often faded or worn off,

darkened by soot from lamps or washed out by bats' urine, badly scratched by visitors' graffiti or

discoloured by amateur attempts at restoration. This is the reason why the books representing

Ajanta paintings almost always reproduce the same excerpts from the pictures, which' purely by

chance happened to be better preserved. It is as impossible to do justice to the character and

quality of the paintings with such reproductions of details, as it would be if one were to extract

one single small figure from a huge Baroque painting on canvas and reproduce it as a full-page

picture plate. In Ajanta too, it is not small, isolated genre pictures which form the contents of

the paintings' depictions, but extensive narrative representations which are composed of

numerous individual scenes and interwoven. A comprehension of the contents and appreciation

of their artistic merit is only possible if the extensive compositions can be viewed in theirentirety. The eye of the beholder first takes in the scenery of the town and country landscapes

in their harmonious alternation, and then proceeds, step by step, to recognise the narrative

actions imbedded in these landscapes - an aesthetic and intellectual sensation which can never

be conveyed by photographs of details.

The emphasis on details which are mostly of little significance for the contents and often of

inferior quality not only impedes an adequate artistic assessment, it can sometimes lead to

grotesque misinterpretations. Thus, for example, in one frequently published painting fragment

a woman is depicted, behind whose left arm a man's arm can be discerned. The usual

interpretation of this picture as a loving caress appears to be impossible for the mere reason


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that this arm reaches so far down, that the whole weight of the man's body is on the woman's

shoulders. A study of the picture in its context reveals unambiguously that this arm does not

belong to a lover, but to a shipwrecked man, close to death from exhaustion,, who is being

dragged by the woman from the coast of the island through the city gate to her house. In the

houses inside the city the shipwrecked merchants really do sit together cosy companionship

with the charming island women, who are in reality man-eating witches (Appendix 1).

The fact that for the most part only excerpts of the paintings are shown, is also due to the

fact that the pillars located a short distance away from the walls make it impossible to take

photographs of the paintings in their entirety.

Thus, extensive copies, made by artists, are the reproductions most suitable to do justice

to the character of the paintings. The most important of these copies are still the old oil

paintings made between 1872 and 1885 under the supervision of John GRIFFITHS by the students

of the Bombay School of Arts, which today are kept in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

The reason for their importance is that they reproduce the paintings in a far superior state of

preservation to the present state. Details are visible, which today, due to the progressivedeterioration of the paintings, either no longer exist or are no longer discernible. However,

these copies also demonstrate that, even a century ago, the paintings were already in a

deplorable state. All the discolourations and damage, even the tiniest scratches and the graffiti

of modern visitors are reproduced in the copies with the meticulous precision of photography

(Appendix 2). Any other procedure, like the attempt to bridge over small gaps or to correct

discolourations would probably not have been possible at the time. In the meantime, the

composition of the paints and binders used by the artists in Ajanta, unknown at the time the

old copies were made, has been clarified by chemical analyses. The outlines of the paintings

were copied in as much as they were discernible and were completed, where the original

could be reconstructed with certainty. The identification of almost all the narrative contentswas performed at the same time and allows us to understand even parts of pictures that are

almost completely destroyed or are difficult to comprehend (Appendix 3). An index of the

pictorial elements was compiled, which contains in hundreds of illustrations all the objects

depicted in the paintings, and which makes it possible to recognise their cliched basic forms

and the spectrum of variations (Appendix 4). All published colour reproductions of all the

paintings were registered. In connection with the chemical paint analyses, this material

provides a trustworthy basis for the creation of copies which conform with the original forms

and colour values.

Paintings of other cultures have been copied successfully several times on the basis of the

original colour values, e.g. wall decorations in the houses of Pompeii (Appendix 5). However,the copies of these paintings are certainly not of the same significance as the copies of the

Ajanta paintings would be, as for the most part, the paintings in Pompeii are in a much better

state of preservation, making their pictorial contents clearly discernible in photographs too.

There are no serious difficulties which speak against the making of reconstructive copies of

the Ajanta paintings. The colour values are known and the outlines are documented, so the

main artistic challenge for the copier would be bringing out the body shading, - a challenge which

was already mastered by the earlier copiers without problems.


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The time required for the making of the copies and the ensuing costs should remain within

reasonable limits. The artist who made the colour reconstruction of the Syma legend (Appendix

6) required ca. 9 hours for this task. This painting has an area equal to approx. 0.45 % of the total

area of all the paintings which are published in line drawings in the Guide to the Ajanta

Paintings, so that a total time of 1980 working hours = 330 six-hour days would be required. To

this must be added, on the one hand, the considerable difficulties posed by some paintings; onthe other hand, the reduction of working time due to increasing routine must be deducted. Thus

we can assume, under consideration of all these reservations, that the total time required for

the whole project would be one and a halfyears, even with an element of uncertainty of 100 %,

no more than three years.

The copies made by this procedure could be exhibited in displays in archaeological museums

and, of course, in Ajanta itself. For tourists visiting Ajanta, viewing the copies would be an

impressive ^addition to visiting the caves. At present, the visitors do get a lasting impression of

the fascination of the cave architecture, but they are only shown some remains of paintings,

which chanced to be in a better state of preservation and can hardly allow a real appreciation

of the true value of this paintings.

The increasing interest of the world in the caves of Ajanta as part of the world heritage is

more than justified. In contrast to the Mediterranean area, where tourists encounter the

monuments of ancient Graeco-Roman culture wherever they go, in India the cave monasteries,

especially those in Ajanta, are, together with the stpa complexes, the sole monumental

records of the classical Buddhist culture, a culture, which has influenced the culture of Asian

countries no less than the Graeco-Roman antiquity the culture of Europe.

The copies should be printed in a volume with approx. 30 colour plates, analogue to the

plates with the line drawings in the Guide to the Ajanta Paintings. Such a publication could gain

international recognition for the artistic merits of ancient Indian, painting, for - in contrast tothe aesthetic attraction of ancient Indian poetry, which can be appreciated only by the few

who understand the language - the beauty of visual art is open to everyone. In addition, the

paintings can help to understand literature better, by means of adding significant pictures to

translated texts as historic-cultural illustrations. This would be a unique opportunity for

everyone who is interested in ancient India and early Buddhism to grasp the phenomenal

worlds of this past epoch both mentally and visually. The gain for Indological studies which

would result from this is to be discussed in Appendix 7.

German Summary: Die Wandmalereien in den buddhistischen Hhlenklostern von Ajanta aus dem 2./1.

vorchristlichen sowie dem 5. nachchristlichen Jahrhundert sind - den Fresken von Pompeji vergleichbar -die fast einzigen, durch einen glcklichen Umstand erhalten gebliebenen Zeugnisse einer Malkunst, diezu den grten kulturellen Leistungen ihrer Zeit gehrte. Leider wurde das inhaltliche Verstndnis unddie sthetische Wrdigung dieser Malereien durch ihre weitgehende Zerstrung und den darausresultierenden sachlich und knstlerisch unbefriedigenden Publikationen wesentlich blockiert. DieForschungen des Unterzeichneten und die Rekonstruktionszeichnungen seiner Mitarbeiter erffnennun in Verbindung mit den bisher durchgefhrten Farbanalysen die Mglichkeit, den Originalzustandder erhaltenen Malereien auch farblich exakt zu rekonstruieren. Solche Farbrekonstruktionen, derenKosten sich in berschaubaren Grenzen halten drften, waren geeignet, die Schnheit und die ethischeBotschaft der ltesten buddhistischen Malerei weltweit bekannt zu machen und darber hinaus derErforschung der altindischen Kultur neue Impulse zu geben.


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APPENDIX 1

A 'loving caress' scene in the painting of the Simhala-Avadna in Cave XVII

GHOSH,A. (ed.):Ajanta Murals, An Album of eighty-five Reproductions in Colour, New Delhi 1967;

repr. 1987:

PLATE LXXX Part of the story of

the Simhalvadna.

For the story see explanations of pl. LXXVIII. Of

immense charm, the lady, perhaps an ogress feigning

love, languidly relaxes under the fondling touch of

the hand of a lover (figure damaged) placed around

her neck.

30 x 25 cm.

Cave 17.

The real meaning of the scene in the context of the wall-painting

(3) The demonesses are sitting in their houses in cosy companionship with the

merchants, whose every wish they grant; they have, however, forbidden them to

go to the south of the island.

(1)The ships of a merchant called Simhala are stranded on

the Coral shore

(SCHLINGLOFF,D.,Ajanta-Handbook of the Paintings,p. 269; id., Guide to the Ajanta Paintings, Pl.58)

(2) (In the guise of beautiful women, the demonesses lead the

shipwrecked men,) one of whom has laid his arm around a woman's neck

in exhaustion, through the city gate to their palaces.


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APPENDIX 2

GRIFFITHS'copy of a painting of the old period in Cave X

(Victoria & Albert Museum, 33-1885)

Line-drawing of the painting

(Ajanta-Handbook, p. 36; Guide, p. 27)


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APPENDIX 3

Photo of the painting of the Ksntivdin-legend in the left chapel of Cave II

Line-drawing and interpretation of the painting

(1) A king (is amusinghimself with his femaleattendants) in the park.

(2) After the king has fallenasleep exhausted, hisattendants listen to theinstruction of an asceticcalled Ksntivdin,Preacherof Meekness`.

(3) (Having awoken andfurious to find his womenwith the preacher, the king

rushes over and threatens)the ascetic (with his sword,accusing him of hypocrisy).

(4) With a gesture ofastonishment, (one of theking's attendants notes thatthe ascetic does not deviatefrom his principle ofmeekness and lets the kingmaim him withoutresisting.)

A anta-Handbook, . 155


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APPENDIX 4

Index of pictorial elements; catchword: Royal Elephants (2nd Period)


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APPENDIX 5

Photo and reconstructive copy of a wall-painting in Pompeii

(FRHLICH,Th., Casa delta Fontana piccola,=

Huser in Pompeji, Bd. 8, Mnchen 1996, 365,

370)

Tablinum 19, west wall, copy

LORIAS

APPENDIX 6

Photos and reconstructive copy of the painting of the Syma-legend in Cave XVII


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APPENDIX 7

The significance of reconstructive colour copies of the Ajanta paintings

for Indological research

Thirty years of the author's research on the narrative wall paintings found their conclusion in

the edition of the treatise:

Ajanta-Handbuch der Malereien / Handbook of the Paintings, 1: Dieter SCHLINGLOFF:

Erzhlende Wandmalereien / Narrative Wall-Paintings:

Vol. I, Interpretation (517pp.; 94 Nos.): Preliminary Remarks, Summaries of Contents,

Picture Descriptions, with 514 figs.; Critical Apparatus, with 5580 quotations; Commen-

tary (Summaries, Descriptions and Commentary in German);

Vol. II, Supplement: Parallels in Reliefs and Paintings (105 pp., 543 figs.); Index of Pictorial

Elements (50 pp.; 279 figs.); Bibliography (172pp., 1234 Titles, Index); Vol. Ill, Plates,

Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2000. English Edition New Delhi, Aryan Books Ltd. 2013.

A summary of the results condensed to short interpretations of the scenes in combination with

the complete reproduction of the line-drawings of the narrative paintings is published in India:

Guide to the Ajanta-Paintings, 1: Dieter SCHLINGLOFF:Narrative Wall-Paintings, V pp., 58 Plates,

New Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1999.

A continuation volume of each of these publications is containing the interpretation of thedevotional and ornamental paintings by Monika ZIN.

The picture analyses presented in the Handbook are meant to provide a basis for further

studies on the paintings, the themes of which could be the following:

- Comparison of the forms of depiction in Ajanta with the remains of paintings of the

same period found at other sites; the question of regional styles;

- The forms of depiction in the paintings in their relationship to the representation of the

same themes in relief art of the same period;

- Typological comparison of the pictorial presentation of narrative topics in the Ajanta

-paintings with narrative depictions in other cultures;

- Possible outside influences on the design of the Ajanta paintings; the consequences for

historical research;

- The influence of Ajanta on Buddhist paintings in Central, East and Southeast Asia; ethnic

influences in the conditions of regional style development;

- Comparison of the pictorial expressions in Ajanta with the literary cliches of poetry; the

possibilities and limits of mutual influence;

- The paintings as independent sources for the development of legends alongside the

literary tradition of the legends;

- The significance of the paintings for the comprehension of monks' religion and lay piety in

Buddhism;

- The paintings as pictorial sources of material culture in ancient India in comparison to liter

ary sources and excavation finds;


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- The paintings with respect to the hints on pictures and pictorial art which are to be

found scattered throughout literature.

This by no means exhaustive list of possible topics is meant to demonstrate that the Handbook

is certainly not the conclusion of the research on the paintings of Ajanta, but instead - just likethe annotated critical edition of a literary text-it should provide a basis for any further work on

this topic.

The research on the paintings - first the discernment of lines, forms and figures, then the

identification of pictorial compositions and individual scenes, and, finally, the comprehension of

the contents depicted in their various contexts - was accompanied by the tracing of the

outlines. The work of the copier and that of the interpreter had to go hand-in-hand; often the

contents could only be discerned when such lines as were still visible had been drawn; just as

often the lines could only be drawn correctly after the figures and contents had been

recognised.

These line-drawings, represented in reduced size in the Handbook and the Guide, contain all

the fragments of narrative paintings. Without these drawings, the publication of these books

would not have been possible in the present form. Nevertheless, anyone looking through these

volumes will sense that tracing outlines is by no means the best possible method of reproducing

paintings. In contrast to relief art, paintings live through their colour and only a colour reproduc-

tion can do justice to the paintings. This is true, not just with respect to the aesthetic aspect but

also with respect to the scientific meaning. It is only in the case of better preserved pictures

that the outlines on their own are enough to make the contents depicted intelligible; in the

case of larger gaps, the lines will often remain incomprehensible for the outsider:

Only a person who is most familiar with the design is capable of discerning the figures portrayed

in such incomplete outlines and can thus penetrate to the pictorial contents. Thus, the

simplest method to facilitate easier comprehension of the pictures would seem at first glance

to be to complete all the missing parts of figures as broken lines:


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This method, however, is restricted by the fact that in the original paintings the figures are

only rarely shown in full, but instead are usually overlapped by other figures. Therefore, the

completion of figures by means of broken lines can only be carried out with extreme caution,

even in cases where the figures themselves can be reconstructed with certainty. Thus, the prob-

lem of recognising fragmentary figures can hardly be solved satisfactorily by means of broken line.

A reproduction in the original colours on the other hand would allow any beholder to understandthe meaning of the portrayals immediately. Thus, in the examples given above, the dark blue

colour of the elephants and the brown colour of the horses allows one to recognise the figures at

once, even though their forms are not fully preserved.

The value of colour reproductions results also from the fact, that a number of pictorial

expressions are conveyed solely by means of the colours. The investigation of colours leads to

questions which could not even arise in the case of line drawings: What is the significance for the

history of religion when, for example, one of the Bodhisatva figures flanking the entrances to a cave

is coloured dark green like the Yaksas or Rksasas? Does the choice of colour for the Buddha's

body have a symbolic or meditative meaning, as is expressed, e.g., in the Buddhist Yoga Treatise,

where the Buddhas appearing before the eyes of the visionary make the regions of the world lightup in various different colours: sapphire-blue through their usnsas, white like the moon through

their rns, golden through their limbs and ruby-red through their nails? What shade of colour had

the monks' robes in Ajanta, which according to the old monastic rules should be ksya, a colour

designation which today is understood to be a bright yellow in southern Buddhist countries, earth-

brown in the north? The fact that recognising flowers and tree blossoms depends not only on

their shape but also very much on their colour, is as obvious as the fact that the species of certain

animals can be ascertained by the colour of their fur. Whereas in the Rksa legend, for example, in

Central Asia a brown bear is always depicted, the black fur and the white snout portrayed in

the Ajanta painting point to an Indian sloth bear (No. 23/XVII,22,4). Skin colour can be

significant even for humans' appearance. We know from literature that in ancient India dark skinwas considered beautiful - one needs only to think of the famous description of the Yaks in

Klidsa's Meghadta (79): tanv s y a m sikhara-dasanpakva-bimbdharausthi ... In keeping

with this, not only the Yakss in the mythical mountain landscapes, but also the wives of the

Bodhisatva kings guarding the doors are painted as having dark skin; the clear differences in skin

colour to the paler skin of the queens' ladies-in-waiting proves that this is no accident. The fact

that skin colour can even contribute to the ascertainment of the contents of a narrative depiction is

demonstrated by the painting of the story of Klodyin, "Black" Udyin, in the verandah of Cave

XVII (No. 69/XVII,20,5), where the protagonist's black skin is a clue for identification, even if not

the most important one.

Documents

Dieter Schlingloff Memorandum