The first Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta date from the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. During the Gupta period (5th and 6th centuries A.D.), many more richly decorated caves were added to the original group. The paintings and sculptures of Ajanta, considered masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, have had a considerable artistic influence.
More than the two hours of the old city of Aurangabad if points out the famous caves of Ajanta, thirty and two grottos that are not of all natural but that the thousand had been cut in hills of years for workers who had only used cinzies and hammers. Sculptured in the volcanic basalt rock, the craftmen had been meticulously cinzelando the rock little by little, cutting the columns in strategical places and creating some rooms insideof the rock. the walls and ceilings wonderfully had been decorated and with plaster applications had created colourful paintings.
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