Ajantha
Ajantha, commonly spelled Ajanta, is a group of 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments located on the left bank of the Waghur River near the village of Ajanta in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India. The caves are carved into a horseshoe-shaped cliff of volcanic basalt and were produced in two major periods dating from the 2nd century BCE to about the 6th century CE. They served as places of meditation and worship for Buddhist monks and reflect a long span of religious and artistic activity.
The complex includes chaitya halls, which functioned as prayer spaces, and numerous monasteries or viharas. The
Rediscovered by a British officer, John Smith, in 1819 during a hunting expedition, the site was subsequently