CHAPTER TWENTY

CAVE 9: TRIFORIUM PAINTINGS; AISLE WALL PAINTINGS

At the triforium level, the story is quite different, for it was filled up, in the Period of Disruption, with fine but conventional intru- sions. Here too, as was common in many Hinayana caitya halls, there were wooden attachments—a series of parallel vertical mem- bers aligned with the pillars and the mid-point of the spaces between. Apparently “locked” at the top on the ridge under the vault, there must have been long crossbeams stretching across the nave to hold their lower ends in place, since no socket-holes were cut. All too tentatively attached, it appears that these had all fallen or (being quite accessible) had been taken for village use sometime before the Vakataka phase. If any remained at all, they would have been removed before the refurbishment of the whole cave was started, even if it was not to be fully realized, late in Harisena’s reign. In any case, it is clear that all of the wooden fittings were gone by the Period of Disruption, when the whole surface of the previ- ously mud plastered triforium could now be replastered in prepara- tion for the intrusions in that area. Perhaps the scaffolding, put up for the discontinued program of redecoration just a few months before, was still in place. This replastering was apparently accomplished in separate sections for different donors, who then filled the areas which they had appropriated with intrusions. Although the plastering was apparently done, quite typically, section by section, with a few different mixes, this surfacing bears no connection with the earlier positioning of the wooden fittings, its continuity confirming that the old fittings were no longer in place at this time. If they had been, the replastering would have only filled the spaces between them. On the left triforium the old mud-plaster, clearly much damaged, was not removed before the Vakataka layer was added, so that in many areas there are two distinct layers. Where the rock surface beneath the vertical beams was bare, the new mud plaster adhered differently from the old plaster, which probably accounts for the 252 volume iib, part ii, chapter twenty remaining beam “pattern” which is seen in many areas. This is admittedly confusing, since sometimes the new mud has adhered well to these originally bare rock surfaces, while at other times it has fallen away in a similar pattern, adhering better to the surrounding old mud plaster. On the right triforium, the mud plaster surfacing is much more consistent than on the left. It would appear that here (except for a meter or two close to the front) all of the old plaster was efficiently removed before the new was applied. Even so (near the front) there are subtle traces on the still painted surface reflecting the bare areas once under the old beams, which had to be filled in with the mud plaster. Since the adjacent areas are better preserved, this would sug- gest that it may have been the different character of the varied painted surfacing on the left and right triforiums which accounted for the losses in certain areas but not in others. We know, of course, that a painted surface often protects the plaster beneath; so whether a painted surface was weak or strong might account for the degree and character of the losses (or preservation) of the plaster in such filled-in areas. The splendid intrusive Buddha groups on the right wall are dis- tinguished to some degree by their different design, and by the fact that the third major group (near the stupa) are also differentiated by their preparatory plastering, reflecting the “each man for him- self ” approach to donations in the Period of Disruption. The splen- did (but ruinous) enthroned Buddha at the center was painted on the characteristic red ground-brick plaster which never came into use at the site until late 476 and possibly even 477, and was used increasingly throughout the Period of Disruption. Since it happily leaves a red stain when (as is very often the case) it falls away, we can clearly see here, in damaged areas, that the stained rock sur- face had been fully cleaned of its earlier mud plaster before this new plaster, for the intrusion, was applied. These triforium compositions are among the most complex and splendid at the site and the fact that they are “uninvited” intrusions in no way reduces their quality; in fact, they take full advantage of the fact that the painters by now had years of demanding experi- ence behind them. The sadly damaged central group (painted on the red plaster) is remarkable not only in the quality of its painting, but in the authority with which the painter has shown the enthroned